Edilnol and fans have barely seen each other this year, from the keyhole of social media or from the half-open window of live TV. But no Forum, no full bleachers, no warmth that makes you win difficult matches, emotions that are at home in Biella and that they could only tell the team. But yesterday at noon a slice of the rossoblù people found themselves at the building anyway, they unrolled a banner, waved their scarves, clapped their hands and made their voices heard, accompanying the bus that left for Rieti where today begins the last sprint for salvation. And who knows if the push from the fans took some anxiety out of the trip.
That could be read in the eyes of staff and players, stuck in a corner of the trunk of the bus along with bags, pillows and provisions, from the water. It cannot be otherwise: the playouts are the final junction of an absurd season for everyone and complicated for many, which Edilnol has faced with the sole objective of maintaining the category. The fans wrote big letters on the banner they unrolled in the parking lot of the yellow grandstand, how much you miss to reach him: “Three steps from glory, without fear of victory”. Three, like the successes needed to win the series and save himself on the field: in front of the team happy with the visit and lined up in full in front of them, the fans sang a couple of chants, enough to surprise Jeffrey Carroll and Deontae Hawkins, who of the heat and public noise from Biella had only very distant perceptions. They both pulled out their phones and stared at the moment in a video, which ended up on Instagram. In Carroll’s there is also a piece of Marco Lino’s motivational speech, who at the Forum is the keeper and first fan: «Now it’s your turn – he said -. We don’t want to hear about relegation, we don’t give a damn. Go home on 2-0 or 1-1, you will be welcome ». And then shortly after, in a low voice: “If I lose both of them, I won’t open the gate …”, he adds smiling and thinking of the players’ cars locked inside the Forum enclosure.
But do not worry: in Biella contesting and protesting is rare. People prefer to support, prop up, give back pats and encouraging smiles. The tone of gratitude and optimism was the same in the words of president Trada and captain Laganà, who thanked the fans on behalf of all. Among the fifty people of yesterday, there were many who saw them all at the building, from the two anxious salvations with Ferrara and Brindisi to the cursed year of the fall in A2. Under the Mucrone, after all, it has always been more frequent to stand with one’s head held high than to fall.