Figuration in clip guaranteed Cléston at Rockgol, theme of exhibition at the Football Museum

Few people remember Cléston’s participation in the music video for “2345meia78”, by rapper Gabriel o Pensador, released in 1997. The musician appears for about 30 seconds in line at a pay phone —an old public telephone—, making faces and mouths while the singer tries to arrange a date.

“It’s the ball of the day, Elizabete. They say she’s good at…”, sings Gabriel in the passage in which the DJ appears making a gesture that refers to oral sex.

Cléston is amused when he sees the clip. “It must have been 15 years since I’ve seen that,” he tells Sheet. “It was this clip they sent to MTV for me to play.”

The scene is not so remembered today, but it was because of it that the musician saw his name become one of the most famous catchphrases of Rockgol, a program that marked generations on the extinct MTV Brasil in two phases, the first from 1995 to 2008 and, later, from 2011 to 2013.

“There came a time when everyone wanted to win so much that they suspected if whoever was on the team was really a musician”, says Paulo Bonfá. “Then, when it was someone nobody knew, they asked: who is this guy? ‘ah, it’s Maurício Manieri’s keyboardist’ ‘the guy plays tambourine in the band do…’, and then he played.'”

Bonfá gave a good-natured narration of the matches alongside Marco Bianchi. The two created catchphrases that became famous, among them the “Cléééston” at each save by the amateur goalkeeper. Detail: the musician’s real name is Cleyston, but he ended up adopting the catchphrase as his stage name after the program’s repercussion.

“If the criterion [para jogar] it was ‘you need to know how to play football’, it would have been just another tournament”, says Bianchi. “But the criterion was not football. That was a full plate for Paulo and for me”, he adds about the jokes and nicknames.

The three spoke with the reporter at the Football Museum, in the Pacaembu sports complex, a place that houses an exhibition to rescue the program’s memory. Open to the public on the 4th, it will remain until the 28th of February 2023.

The exhibition occupies a space of 300 square meters and has 30 flags of Rockgol teams. An area is dedicated to fictitious sponsorships: Birigui Booster, Amendoim João Ponês, Caninha Curió and Paulo Bonfá Ringling Brothers Capillar Consultants. There is also the Marquinhos doll, who replaced the former São Paulo midfielder on the show’s bench.

“I think it’s a great retribution for the affection that people show until today for this project, as if it had finished yesterday”, comments Bianchi.

Nasi, lead singer of Ira!, also misses the program. “MTV recorded all the games for a whole week. It was good to see everyone, have a barbecue”, says the musician, who used to play as a goalkeeper.

The singer, nicknamed by the presenters of Wolverine Valadão for his sideburns similar to those of the Marvel character, has fun remembering the nicknames. Tico Santa Cruz, from Detonautas, for example, was Koala because of his goatee and red hair. Supla was Juninho Papito, and Samuel Rosa, from Skank, was Quentin Tarantino or Playmobil.

“But the best of all was Chiliquenta,” says Nasi, citing the nickname of Cidade Negra’s Toni Garrido, who used to get easily annoyed at games — and at the nickname. “With that he passed the biggest receipt [risos]”, says the lead singer of Ira!.

The story he likes the most, though, is about when he managed to get around the show’s rule to make a cousin of his play. “It was at a Rockgol game at Flamengo’s CT, in Rio, between Ira and Sepultura”, he says. “My cousin was a superboleiro, from Rio. Then I told him: if anyone asks, you say you play percussion [risos]. And who came to ask was precisely Igor [Cavalera, bateirista e ex-membro do Sepultura]”, it says.

The trickery worked. “He said he played in Ira, Igor thought it was strange, but he played and even scored a goal. That’s when the guys started asking to prove it, show a clip and such”, he says.

“I’m glad the guys rescued my clips”, jokes Cléston.

Rockgol 25 Years Exhibition at the Football Museum