Soccer-loving mother becomes famous in Brazil after she’s seen narrating matches to her blind and autistic son… and admits she doesn’t hold back ‘when I need to curse the referee!’
A passionate Brazilian football fan has drawn nationwide attention for narrating her local team’s matches to her blind and autistic son.
Silvia Grecco and her son Nickollas, 12, have become minor celebrities after she was spotted on TV narrating a game in Sao Paulo last year.
Footage shows Ms Grecco, 56, relaying the players’ every move on the pitch to her son, both dressed in the football shirts of their favourite Sao Paulo team: Palmerias.
‘I describe details: this player is wearing short sleeves, the color of their football boots, hair color,’ Ms Grecco told AFP during a recent game between Palmeiras and Botafogo de Ribeirao Preto.
‘My narrating is something of my emotions. I’m not a professional.
‘Everything I see and feel, I tell him, even when I need to curse the referee!’
Ms Grecco and Nickollas have been featured on various Brazilian TV programs, and even visited a Palmeiras training session.
Ms Grecco – a die hard Palmeiras fan – revealed that she got her son to support her favourite team, by involving his big idol: Brazilian international football player Neymar.
The mother and son were lucky enough to meet the Paris Saint-Germain player at an event in Sao Paulo.
‘Neymar lifted him on his shoulders and he passed his hand through Neymar’s hair, it was a big moment!
‘So I asked Neymar what team he used to support as a child, and he said he was a Palmeiras fan!
‘So I said “Do you see, Nickollas? Your mother, your player … I think your team should be Palmeiras!”
A local businessman recently hosted the duo and some of Nickollas’ friends for the season opening match in a stadium box at the Allianz Park in Sao Paulo.
One little boy with Down Syndrome, who wore huge earphones and the national football jersey, threw his arms in a trusting hug around every stranger.
Another, with autism, wildly rocked to the live DJ music.
But when the match started all attention was on the football pitch, with Grecco narrating throughout – and Palmeiras won the game 1-0.