The sports journalist José Ángel de la Casa Tofiño died on Monday at age 74, family sources informed Efe. The Toledo, born on December 1, 1950, was during a good part of his Spanish Television career (RTVE) of the main sports events broadcast on television and public radio.
His voice is remembered for being the one narrated by the historic 12 to 1 of Spain-Malta, one of the few moments in which he abandoned his usual sobriety as a announcer to celebrate, roosters included, Juan Lord’s goal and the overwhelming Spanish victory. It happened on the night of December 21, 1983, when the soccer team sneaked in the final phase of the 1984 Eurocup of 1984. ‘La Roja’ was runner-up in that edition after losing the final (2-0) against the host, France.
From the house he has died after not exceeding a pneumonia for which he was transferred to the Puerta de Hierro hospital in the capital of Spain, according to Europa Press, sources close to the informant.
The journalist retired in 2007, three years after the Parkinson’s. “It affects me above all to the movement,” he says, and is seen in the hands that tremble and in a slight clumsiness when walking, he said in an interview to El País in 2018. The sports commentator claimed not to want to hide his illness. “First, because you can’t; second, because it doesn’t seem adequate,” he explained.
From the house he studied journalism at the Complutense University of Madrid and went on Peninsular radio before joining the National Radio (RNE), from where he made the leap to TVE, where he became a real reference in the world of sports communication with events of events such as the Olympic and World Football Games, in addition to covering other sports disciplines such as athletics.
It was for many years one of the ‘voices of the National Team’ and in 1998 he received the Ondas prize for his professional work. After retiring in 2007 on TVE because of an ERE, he worked as a narrator of the meetings of the Champions League in Castilla-La Mancha Televisión. In 2014, Ciando announced that he suffered from Parkinson’s disease, against which he was fighting all these years, and in 2018 he received the gold medal of Castilla-La Mancha.
