La trágica historia de Willy González Bousellet: el arquero que no pudo cumplir su sueño

Willy González Bousellet had only been in the city of Rancagua for a few days when, before his morning shower, the explosion of a heater burned 90% of his body.

The goalkeeper – then 27 years old – was urgently transferred to the Central Post in Santiago, but the severity of his injuries caused him to die at midnight on June 26, 1984.

The promising goalkeeper died without fulfilling his dream of playing in the Copa Libertadores, leaving a deep wound in the Rancagua team and his hometown, and a mark on national football that, over the years, has faded away.

Una carrera promisoria

González Bousellet was born on December 24, 1956 in Ovalle. From a very young age, on the dusty fields of the 8 de Julio neighborhood, his fascination with football emerged. He wanted to be a goal-scoring ‘9’, but he also loved playing goalie.

In the commune of the Coquimbo region, he joined the teams “Barrabases” and “Ajax”, where he shone as a goalie until being invited to the youth soccer team in the city.

The promising goalkeeper did not stand out for his height, but he compensated for it with his agile reflexes, powerful rejection, and finely tuned sense of time and distance that made him an expert in aerial play.

It wasn’t long before, in 1975, at the age of 19, Willy made the leap to the professional team of Deporte Ovalle. With the Limarí team, he played for four seasons before being signed by Cobreloa.

To the team from Calama, which had surprised in its early years in professional football, the goalkeeper arrived with the hope of fulfilling his dream of playing in the Copa Libertadores of America.

However, two years in the shadow of Óscar Wirth and Eduardo Fournier prevented the ovallino from having the prominence he desired in the ‘desert foxes’.

“When he went to Cobreloa, I thought he could make the leap to a bigger team. He could have easily reached a National Team,” the ovallino journalist mario pánico told BioBioChile.

Two years later, González headed further north, to defend the goal of Deportes Arica where he was part of the team that achieved the historic promotion to the First Division in 1981.

A year later, the goalkeeper went to Región de Atacama where he earned the starting position in a team that was just venturing into the top category of national football.

His good performances earned him recognition from Sergio Livingston who, every time he saw him in the game summaries, invited viewers to follow the ovallino’s career.

“El ‘sapito’ knew about goalkeepers and more than once praised the ‘blond’. I remember once, while commentating, he said to Pedro Carcuro ‘watch out for him’. At that time, he was among the top four in the league,” recalled Gastón González, Willy’s brother, to BioBioChile.

The fatal move to O’Higgins

But Willy González wanted more. He still had the dream of playing in an international tournament and, in mid-1984, O’Higgins offered him that opportunity.

After poor performances in the Copa Libertadores of that year and in the Copa Polla Gol, coach Luis Santibáñez wanted to reinforce the ‘celeste’ squad for the National Tournament that started in July.

The constant battles for championships and international participation of the Rancagua team finally convinced the goalkeeper, who arrived from the north with the aim of consolidating his career.

The ovallino settled in an apartment in downtown Rancagua, but did not have time to learn much about the capital of the O’Higgins region.

The morning of June 10, when González Bousellet was getting ready to go to the morning training, a gas leak caused the explosion of the water heater in his home and a subsequent fire.

The accident happened so quickly that, despite his praised reflexes, the goalkeeper had no reaction. The ovallino’s body was rescued from the apartment with burns on 90% and, after being taken to the Regional Hospital, he had to be transferred to the Central Post in Santiago.

In the metropolitan facility, near midnight on June 26, Willy González’s burned body did not survive and he died.

“He was a good brother, a good son. With his first salary, he bought a gift for his mother. He gave balls and equipment to the children of the commune, even though at that time the footballers did not earn as much as they do now. It was terrible when he died, I had a terrible depression,” Gastón González said.

O’Higgins was also shaken by the news. “I truly feel guilty for his arrival in Rancagua, but I could not resist the strength and personality to succeed of this boy… He was a fellow full of joy, of ambitions to be someone in life,” Luis Santibáñez told the magazine Punto y Gol.

The faded memory of Willy González

“In the city, his death was deeply felt, because of the circumstances and who he was. His family was well known in Ovalle,” Mario Banic recalled.

The reporter detailed that the Ferroviario Stadium, then the most important one in the commune, was renamed after González Bousellet. However, the venue was demolished in 1991.

Another tribute the goalkeeper received was from O’Higgins, which named a locker room at La Gamboína complex after Willy. Today, the sports center no longer belongs to the Rancagua club.

“Something more could be done, to remember him in a different way. His grave in the cemetery of Ovalle is well maintained by his family, but the young people who pass by see it and don’t know who he was. He deserves another opportunity for a different tribute,” Banic emphasized.

Willy’s family agrees with the ovallino journalist. “The posthumous recognition of the stadium came to nothing. Although there are still people who leave flowers on his grave, I think there is an intention to want to remember him,” Erga González, sister of the deceased goalkeeper, affirmed.