Despite the relegation, despite the sporting disappointments and corporate uncertainties, Ferrara continues to have a constant, capable of acting as a glue between the city team and the city. We are obviously talking about the Curva Ovest, which once again this year has organized a three-day party (9-11 June) with internal events and debates. Fundamental initiative never like now with a view to renewing the synergy between all the components following the Este team.
In the second evening a debate was held in which the lawyers Giovanni Adami and Lorenzo Contucci took part, Simone Meloni on our behalf and two guys from the West called to moderate. Main themes: the relationship between the media and ultras and the differences in the management of public order between our country and other European states.
As regards the relationship between the ultras movement and the press – which has always been tormented and problematic – it has been highlighted how in over fifty years of organized cheering the mainstream media have hardly ever changed their narrative of the phenomenon. A mix of ignorance of the same, clichés and desire to instill in the reader’s mind the terror associated with each people devil that you respect. The examples of the media management on the sidelines of the incidents that took place in A1 between Roma and Neapolitans, or relating to the trip to Naples forbidden to Eintracht Frankfurt fans and the one forbidden to Feyenoord supporters in Rome were, to say the least, fitting for highlighting the total cleavage between a certain type of press and the world of “mere mortals”. A establishment of information that must be contrasted and if possible deconstructed through the communication channels available to the fans, trying to overcome – in some cases – the impeding prejudice against contact with the outside world. Ergo: if on the one hand it remains right and coherent not to lend oneself to the hyper communication of our times, on the other we need to know how to use these tools to bring the various instances to the fore also and above all in public opinion of the curving world. It should also be remembered that an intelligent use of social media can only benefit stadium kids. An example that applies to everyone: the case of the Atalanta supporters returning from the semi-final of the Coppa Italia in Florence a few years ago, stopped and beaten for no reason by the police who were escorts. Without the videos and testimonies that immediately came out, today we would be talking about a bevy of warnings and a mediated case that would have condemned the Orobic fans without appeal.
Still remaining in the field of communication, another topic dealt with was the balance between the right to report and the principle of the presumption of innocence. A balance that is actually difficult, if not impossible, to achieve in our country. Names, surnames, sensitive data are often and willingly pilloried by everyone following accidents or tensions, without obviously having ascertained the guilt of the subjects involved. This is the result of the absolutely non-deontological and unprofessional way of doing journalism in some newsrooms where – in addition to the notorious ignorance of the underlying topic – there is a competition in divulging as much data as possible. Without arguing, without explaining, without asking and asking questions. The antithesis of what should be the watchdogs of democracy. The reality is that there is no solution to this. As mentioned, the two worlds are too distant and too many petty-bourgeois interests and morals take precedence over desk editorials. There would be a need for a real tabula rasa, to review the way of providing information from the roots. Then there is, of course, a discourse of clear bad faith which breaks down any attempt from below to restore the truth to its place. Always thinking of the famous Napoli-Eintracht, the total silence comes to mind on the part of the majority of our media on the negligence on the part of whoever instead of setting up a simple fan zonechanneling the Germans there and working as happens in every area of the world, preferred to create the problem from the root, to then also boast of having solved it or, even, having been the victim of the thugs.
Therefore, the comparison with other European countries comes almost naturally. Public order and information travel on the same level and are complementary. Just think of the number of trips banned in Italy every year following the climate of terror created by some newspapers. Which is quite difficult across the border. Both for a different conception of the fan – in the German-speaking world, perhaps the most evolved in this sense, all the components are in constant interconnection – and for a modus operandi of the press certainly less tied to the Italian morality mentioned above, but above all less inclined to ask for bans, restrictions or condemnations before analyzing facts and happenings.
An important comparison was then made on the issue of the Daspo, which in Italy is carried out by the Police, i.e. the same body that previously indicted the subject. Without the possibility of an immediate defense – as happens, for example, in England, where a judge decides on the matter – and with the almost certainty of serving the administrative penalty even if the trial later acquits the defendant. All arguments that need to be cleared by our world and constantly brought to the attention of the media, precisely to find a contrast to that information hegemony of which the ultras movement is often the victim.
Debates such as those held in Ferrara must first of all broaden the point of view of the bending universe, which in Italy often remains too self-referential. There is an absolute need for dialogue, even harsh where needed, but constructive. It serves as bread to be able to get in touch with the outside world, even with those who have always spat at the fans. Because not responding means lending your side. Reducing everything to a silent banner, displayed outside a stadium, still means not reacting. Instead, it is necessary to make all the legitimate requests and abominations that concern our stadiums appear on Sundays. To counter the bad faith of a certain press, for example, it is necessary to make public the acquittals of boys who in the first instance the newspapers had condemned and pilloried publicly. They must be advertised and well routed. To make people understand all the atrocities and distortions of a system that today as yesterday uses the stadium as a social laboratory.
The boys of the West of Ferrara for several years now have managed to make their curve a city meeting point. Which goes far beyond football. They have been able to take the floor ultras and make it transversal, bringing the Ferraresi to their side (and you can see it these days, where there are really many who are present in the beautiful scenery of the Sottomura Bastione San Pietro, a stone’s throw from the delightful historic center). Federico Aldrovandi’s eyes observe attentively, printed on the flag placed on the walls for the occasion. They are eyes that tell a story that came out and made public thanks to that stubbornness essential to slip out and no longer lend your side. His story is a great example of how every injustice, every behavior beyond the lines on the part of those who would like youth and its aggregative movements dead, must never go unmentioned.
And more generally, evenings like these remind us how much the ultras movement can still be the center of social and cultural discussion. Handholds from which we must never detach ourselves. Over half a century of existence must be defended. With all possible tools.
Simone Meloni
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