Moscow said goodbye to sports journalist Vasily Utkin

On Saturday, Moscow said goodbye to journalist, TV commentator and sports figure Vasily Utkin. Several hundred people came to the farewell ceremony at the Central Clinical Hospital. The speeches near the coffin confirmed: Vasily Utkin was much larger than the profession of a sports commentator, although he lived by it.

Of course it was raining. Of course, the stores near the Central Clinical Hospital had already run out of carnations by noon. And of course, at the entrance to the farewell hall there was a long line, full of club colors: red and green Lokomotiv scarves, black and white Torpedo, red and white Spartak.

“I watched his episode on YouTube, read the news and I see…” the young man in the Dynamo cap threw up his hands. “I can’t believe it and will never believe it,” his friend picked up. “As long as there has been football in my life, there has been Utkin.” “54 years old, how can you understand this?” — the older man lamented, “throwing” two years of his life at the commentator.

Friends of Vasily Utkin recalled his projects and achievements at the grave, and it was completely incomprehensible how he managed to do all this in the 52 years of life allotted to him by fate. After all, Mr. Utkin did not limit himself to just the role of a football commentator. Reporter, sports commentator, philanthropist, teacher, manager, artist, writer – all this was said at the graveside. Adding that in each of his incarnations, Vasily Utkin (in the speeches of his comrades, even the youngest, exclusively “Vasya”) has established himself as a pioneer, professional, mentor, partner, friend.

“There were no limits for him! — said journalist Denis Kazansky. — Sergey Buntman (journalist. — “Kommersant”) said that Vasya dreamed of playing Nabokov’s Luzhin… It would be a brilliant image! But best of all he would play Carlson. After all, this was also a man who draws up his own rules, who is the best at “smoking the housewife” and tormenting people of different calibers. And of course, he is the world champion in fooling around.” “It was from a favorite book: the one you’ve dreamed about since childhood,” agreed Sergei Buntman.

And all the speakers emphasized his active devotion to his neighbor.

“Vasya is the world champion in friendship,” formulated journalist Timur Zhuravel. “If each of those gathered tells at least one story when Vasya did something good for him, we will never part ways.”

“The person you could always call. This shows Vasya’s greatest side: he was always ready to help,” noted journalist Roman Gutzeit.

In the eyes of the players of the amateur football club “Egrisi”, of which Mr. Utkin has been the owner since 2017, the figure of the journalist has acquired paternal characteristics. “He really treated us like children: he spoiled us, scolded us, raised us,” admitted team goalkeeper Pavel Chepurin. “So on March 19, we were all truly orphaned.” However, the general director of the FONBET office (club sponsor) Sergei Anokhin and Mr. Utkin’s business partner Sergei Menshikov have already promised support for the project.

Numerous sports journalists and commentators said even more warm words about Vasily Utkin’s teaching talent, for most of whom Mr. Utkin became a model and mentor. And by the end of the ceremony, there was no doubt left that almost all modern domestic football television journalism, in the words of Denis Kazansky, “came out of Vasya Utkin’s hoodie.”

The journalist’s older sister Anna said that his first football field was his father’s chessboard. Young Vasya divided the black and white pieces into teams, provided them with a cube as a ball, and then, much to his sister’s displeasure, noisily commented on the confrontation. My sister’s irritation at this treatment of chess gradually gave way to interest and then support.

“And how pleased it was for me to hear his voice, his first report, to understand that now the whole country is hearing him!” – said Anna. And she became even more convinced of her brother’s talent after a conversation with a friend who was not at all interested in football: she admired his excellent command of the Russian language in her comments on what was happening on the field.

“Probably, everyone can find something for themselves in Vasya’s reports – and not necessarily about football,” Anna concluded.

Without speeches, flowers were laid at the coffin of Vasily Utkin by journalist Alexey Venediktov (recognized as a foreign agent), football players Dmitry Khokhlov, Nikita Bazhenov and Vladislav Radimov, actors Kamil Larin, Rostislav Khait, Leonid Barats and Alexander Strizhenov, musicians Alexey Kortnev and Gleb Golubin (rapper Pharaoh) , hosted by Alexander Oleynikov, as well as numerous football fans and admirers of the commentator’s talent.

Current professional players did not appear at the farewell ceremony – however, this can be considered a tradition, because they were not present at the funeral of commentators Vladimir Maslachenko and Yuri Rozanov (we would like to remind you, however, that a minute of silence in memory of the journalist was announced the day before the Russia-Serbia match). And finally, Vasily Utkin’s testament, which he gave at the end of each report, was heard over the coffin. “As the permanent editor of the Football Club program, I allow myself to say this: “Play football!”,” journalist Natalya Zhukova quoted a colleague.

The passage of the procession with the coffin to the hearse was accompanied by an ovation and shouts of “Bravo!” and, of course, a cheerful feeling. “Vasya! Vasya! Vasya!” – the street chanted. A few hours later, the journalist was buried at the Nikolsko-Trubetskoy cemetery in his native Balashikha near Moscow.

Grigory Leiba