For this match, there is no need for press releases, calls to arms, or consolidation of the fans. The wait for the event begins when ticket sales begin, a moment that indicates the basketball fever that lives in a city like Livorno, a city that hasn’t known a dualism under the basket for too long. And in fact the sale of coupons proceeds quickly so that, despite the games being played in a building that can accommodate up to eight thousand people, already ten days before the match the tickets are sold out, despite many people continuing to request them in any possible way. Faced with a massive demand, what seemed practically impossible happens, the match is also broadcast on television despite, remember well, it is the third basketball series, the equivalent of the C series in football. With these premises, saying that the city of Livorno wins does not seem like a sentence thrown out at random. A city that in the end has always lived with typhus under the hoop despite history telling us about abrupt falls and unattainable peaks. It’s a bit like being on a roller coaster even if the ascent is slow and the descent is much more marked.
When you talk about basketball in Livorno you talk about Libertas and Pielle, you talk about a championship won and then lost against Milan, you talk about a city, or at least the Libertas part, which pours into the city streets to celebrate but suffers a cold shower that is hard to imagine. you talk about a middle finger raised too easily and a “war” that was setting fire to a building; it was 1989, the final game 5 valid for the Scudetto, the hosts score a decisive basket for the victory, at first everything seems normal and the party starts, incredibly after a few minutes the referees overturn the decision and cancel the basket. Tempers heat up, big words fly and some forbidden shots, the Olimpia Milano player Roberto Premier comes out of the parquet with his middle finger raised towards the Livorno public and so the manhunt begins, with the police at protect the Milanese team in the locker room and a battle climate outside. Beautiful pages, true, alive, after all, cheering is not a rational feeling, it lives on impetus, anger, emotions. This is the summit reached by Livorno basketball, then the dark years followed, a fusion never digested by the city, the bankruptcies, the restart from the lower categories and now, despite playing only in Serie B, that feeling reappears for too long kept silent, put in a corner to get moldy and made a strong comeback due to a derby, today’s one, which is worth the lead in the standings.
In the days leading up to the race, the wait becomes almost unnerving. Preparations are proceeding quickly, the first skirmishes between the fans are not long in coming even if the climate remains at more than acceptable levels, after all Livorno is a medium-small square, the members of the two fans largely know each other therefore everything remains confined to the mockery of practice. The derby on the bleachers establishes the superiority of one supporter over the other, the weapons in hand are the known ones: choreography, originality, numbers and chants, everything concerns trying to make the opponent succumb.
Accustomed to football and the ugliness of everything that surrounds a stadium, including turnstiles, cages and off-limit areas, I find it quite positive that you arrive at the arena and can walk around undisturbed. Many sportsmen arrive well before the match time, scarf around their neck and flag in hand and face the line at the entrances. No problems whatsoever, ticket and document and after a quick, rather summary search, you find yourself inside a clean and welcoming structure, nothing to do with some stadiums where even the toilets in the stands have serious hygienic deficiencies, when there is no paper, when the sinks do not work, when the doors are optional or they are not there at all. Well, let’s move on.
Inside the building, the two supporters, or at least the warmest souls, are at their battle stations well in advance. The banners are all present, on one side are the Rebels to animate the Curva Sud, Piellino territory, on the other side the disbanded they lead the Curva Nord and the libertarian fans. Choirs and flags enliven the pre-match but when the two teams enter the parquet for the ritual warm-up, the decibels increase overwhelmingly in intensity and the Rebels they also organize a confetti party.
Whistles on one side, cheering on the other, the cheering competition is off to a decidedly good start, the audience in the arena is excited and apart from the neutral sportsmen who have come to enjoy a match and an event that are certainly interesting, the rest of the fans show their teeth and not even the fairer sex is missing to scream at the top of their lungs. After all, the audience in the arena is truly transversal, both in terms of age and gender, just take a look at the bleachers again this evening to realize that there is a bit of everything, if we want to talk about inclusion, the audience present for this derby is as varied as possible. After all, the division of the two fan groups does not have a basic social affiliation, each of the two feels the one and only representative of Livorno but the dispute between popular extraction against the bourgeois one does not apply also because bourgeoisie and Livorno are two terms historically antithetical. Another detail to report is the absence of any political drift, given that we are talking about a city like Livorno this aspect must be emphasized, the only colors that can be seen on the steps are amaranth on one side and white-blue on the other.
What is the most awaited moment in any self-respecting derby? The choreography of course, so when it’s time for the teams to enter the field, you can finally enjoy the shows offered by the two factions. The disbanded they lower a flag with the city skyline from above, white and amaranth flags are waved below and a long banner reads “We are Livorno” to demonstrate superiority over the opponent. On the other side, the usual marked bend cover is used Rebels which always has a nice effect, once lowered in the central part of the curve a second flag is lowered with a heart and the Pielle symbol, on the sides there are several two poles with the writing “I love you” in different languages and finally on the balustrade a banner reads “Pielle I love you in all the languages of the world”. A few flaws in the success of the choreography performed by the Pielle ultras, the instructions perhaps weren’t so clear and there were a couple of errors regarding the timing but in the end, there had to be a show and there was.
By now I understand that the support almost diligently follows the progress of the match, a bomb of three makes everyone rejoice without exception, so I was hoping for a hard-fought match that would pit the two fans on equal terms. None of this, Libertas already takes off in the first quarter, dominates the second and seems to manage the game to her liking, Pielle returns to minus eight which seems to presuppose a redemption but is immediately driven back at a sidereal distance, therefore the match always sees the landlords clearly ahead.
The support of the disbanded he doesn’t have too many problems involving the whole curve, especially in the intervals of the quarterfinals the teasing towards his opponents doesn’t keep him waiting, while the Piellina bank finds above all in the young soul a constancy in cheering which is commendable: despite the result they are it is they who involve those present and take charge of the supporters.
There’s no shortage of teasing banners either, in this case perhaps a little imagination was lacking: a couple were downright nice, someone passable, one above all could have been avoided but, after all, the derby adrenaline, a certain desire to amaze and the objective of making fun of the opponent are aspects that can condition the success of certain messages. Towards the end of the match, Libertas fans and ultras move to the sidelines for the classic invasion, a couple of seconds before the end the race towards their favorites starts and the amaranth-branded party begins. The security and digos move towards the center of the field to prevent any contact between the two fans but it is more a demonstrative action than a real need to create a buffer zone, as tradition has it whoever wins mocks the opponent, whoever loses stays on steps to lick their wounds. So if on the one hand you sing “How these pilgrims work”, on the other you want to underline your belonging with the workhorse of the Curva Sud, “I’m a piellino and I’m proud of it”.
All that remains is to leave the building, the line of cars proceeds at walking pace, the large car parks have been taken by storm, the right choice for this evening was the two-wheeled vehicle that allows you to leave behind the classic chaos of eight thousand people swarming to get home. Regardless of winners and losers, the city of Livorno and the fans of the two teams certainly come out of this dispute with their heads held high, capable of crowding a sports hall as has never been seen in the past in this category. May basketball fever not subside and maybe one day we’ll see a middle finger raised in front of an audience charged like never before, ready to accept the challenge. Sportsmanship can wait.
Valerio Poli