Sunday March 19th at Pala Carrara a decidedly fascinating challenge is staged, valid for the penultimate day of the regular season of Serie A2: in fact, the hosts of Pistoia and Fortitudo Bologna face off, teams and squares that do not need much introduction.
On the field, the red and white Tuscans have been stationed in the upper areas of the standings for the whole season now; the guests’ championship, on the other hand, turns out to be a little more tiring and below expectations for a square that is truly among the most passionate and noble in the whole country. Also due to a bizarre regulation, in addition to the aforementioned position in the standings, today’s match is not one of the most decisive for Pistoia. On the other hand, it is of a completely different tenor for Fortitudo, to whom every victory serves to gnaw at points and positions in the standings: in fact, the best placement means being in the best intermediate groups of the clock phase and consequently better positioning for the crucial stage of the playoffs.
With regard to the public, it seems to me necessary to mention today’s high turnout at the arena: official data speak of more than 3,000 spectators, with Mayhem e Lions’ den definitely in great shape. The two groups dedicate themselves loudly to the vocal and boisterous support, operated by clapping and drums, already well before the kick-off (today delayed due to a momentary failure of the electrical system and due to a series of initiatives dedicated to peace in Ukraine, such as the playing of the Ukrainian anthem and free admission for children to show them drawings related to peace).
Photos and news really fail to give credit to today’s atmosphere. In fact, both supporters want (and succeed!) to bring their name high which (obviously with due proportions) have made themselves in the panorama of Italian basketball supporters. If the confrontation between the two fans takes place in the most total indifference, both factions find an outlet valve towards the referee trio, judged seriously insufficient by both parties in the different phases of the match.
The field sees Fortitudo ahead for most of the match, with Pistoia forced to chase and a Mayhem not dejected, God forbid, but slightly demoralized by the progress of the race.
An episode that occurred during the interval was important, significant and full of emotion, when the blue and white fans decided to give a scarf to the daughter of the late Pistoia president Roberto Maltinti, accompanied to the away sector through the grandstand by a representative of the Mayhem; yet another demonstration of the genuineness and appreciation that the former president had managed to gather even outside Pistoia, in an important square like the Bolognese one on the Fortitudo bank.
Going back to the field for a moment, the second half is of a different tenor, especially in the fourth quarter phase, in which the red and white instead offer one of their best performances of the season. Even the team seems to follow this “awakening”, managing to drag a confrontation that seemed by now decided, to a further extra time, in front of an astonished public of white and blue faith. In extra time there is little to say: we notice a galvanized team on the wings of enthusiasm, accompanied by an equally electrified Pistoia crowd, which ends the match with a victory of 86 to 78,
A little spice is added right at the end of the match when a player from Pistoia, while the rest of the team was already dedicating himself to greetings on the field, flies under the basket (positioned next to the away sector) to dunk, attracting the ire of the Fossaalso remarked on the occasion of the usual round of the field after the celebration with the Mayhem. Mayhem who, in an almost empty building, ends the singing performance intoning Paradise destinationwhich has now become the anthem / motto of this season.
Only after three days, always at Pala Carrara, in the recovery round Pistoia will instead face Cento, in what is another big match of the second basketball division, also fundamental for the purposes of the standings. Fortitudo, on the other hand, will face Forlì on Sunday 26: another decidedly fascinating confrontation.
Text by Edoardo Pacini
Photo by Andrea Del Serra