Giuseppe Bruscolotti
Giuseppe Bruscolotti was born in Sassano (Salerno), on June 1, 1951.
At 14 he joined Pollese (from Polla inland from Salerno).
In 1970 he signed for Sorrento, 130 kilometres towards Naples, and stayed two seasons.
In the first the Rossoneri won a historic promotion to Serie B (only conceding 12 goals) but in the second were relegated.
He played 60 league games with 1 goal. His managers were Giancarlo Vitali (promotion season), Nicola D'Alessio and Pasquale Atripaldi. His teammates included Lazio connections Gilberto Noletti (1961-62), Graziano Landoni (1961-64) and Paolo Franzoni (1973-75).
In 1972 Bruscolotti joined Napoli and stayed 16 seasons. He played 511 games with 11 goals, 9 in A (Inter, Sampdoria, Cesena, Pescara, Vicenza, Bologna, Bologna again, Verona, Udinese), 1 in the Cup Winners Cup (Anderlecht) and 1 in the Anglo-Italian League Cup (Southampton).
He won a Scudetto (1986-87), the Coppa Italia twice (1975-76, 1986-87) and the Anglo-Italian League Cup (1976). In his time in Naples the Azzurri also achieved two 2nd places (1975, 1988) and three 3rd places (1974, 1981, 1986).
His managers included; Giuseppe Chiappella, Luís Vinicio, Gianni Di Marzio, Rino Marchesi, Massimo Giacomini, Ottavio Bianchi (Scudetto year).
In his long years with Napoli his teammates included Lazio connections: Giuseppe Massa (Lazio, 1966-72), Roberto Badiani (1974-79,1981-83), Bruno Giordano (1975-85), Claudio Garella (1976-78), Sergio Clerici (1977-78), Luigi Boccolini (1977-78), Filippo Citterio (1979-81), Aldo Nardin (1980-81), Walter Speggiorin (1981-82), Claudio Vagheggi (1981-82), Claudio Vinazzani (1983-86), Oscar Damiani (1985-86), Domenico Caso (1985-88), Raimondo Marino (1986-89), Ciro Muro (1987-89) and Davide Lampugnani (1990-91).
He retired at 33.
Bruscolotti was a right full-back or central defender. He was the classic tough man-to-man marker who was at forwards' heels for 90 minutes and possibly more. He was strong and tough.
He was nicknamed "Palo 'e fierro" (Palo di ferro in Italian and Iron pole in English). He rarely fell to the ground himself but the forwards certainly did.
In Naples he is a legend. He was captain from 1978-80 and 1983-86, then yielding the armband to Diego Maradona, and was a regular for 16 long years. Despite not being originally from Naples itself he was from near enough and stayed long enough to be considered the local lad.
The various Canés, Savoldis, Bertonis, Maradonas, Giordanos, Carnevales and Carecas could entertain up front but Napoli needed Bruscolotti at the back to mark the opposing forwards off the park.
He was one of Maradona's favourites and could often be seen on camera joking around with "El Pibe de Oro". In 1985 the two of them founded a football academy at San Sebastiano al Vesuvio.
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