I go back toOlympic for a Roma-Napoli match eight years after the last time. A very precise choice of mine, in relation to a match which – in its stadium context – for years now cannot be considered complete, true and truly interesting. The counterpart is missing, the cheering is missing, the harsh confrontation is missing and, consequently, the basis of any match featuring the ultras is missing. Of course, we’re not talking about just any rivalry, there’s no point in beating around the bush. The historian – especially the recent one – speaks clearly. And in all likelihood this truly remains the only match in Italy with a danger threshold well above the norm. However, faithfully to what has always been said and thought, I continue to maintain that the ban cannot and must not always be the only solution. And that the authorities continue to hide behind it to justify their negligence and their inability to prevent.
Solo experts will just be ready to bring out – the latest in chronological order – the accidents of last February on the motorway. Yet, once the blanket of sensationalism and media fury has vanished, the question that had to be asked then and that should still be asked today is: how was it possible to bring together two groups of fans who, we had already known for some time, were traveling on the same road in the direction of their respective guest sectors? I want to put the burden on us: I am convinced that – despite the unacceptable exaggerations of the two groups of fans – we have reached such a high level of tension also thanks to the whole series of bans and exaltations artfully exercised through the media and social media. . Not that allowing the trips would certainly have averted any riots, but it would certainly have partly functioned as a relief valve. At the same time, I realize that for the fearful and fearful country that we have become, taking on such a responsibility is, to say the least, out of the question. Which is why I am sufficiently convinced that we will never see Rome-Naples and Naples-Rome again with mutual ultras contingents. Let’s also say that in the mare magnum of the “silly” use of social networks, as always, even some of the fans put their own spin on it, where silence would truly be golden.
I know I may turn someone’s nose up, but I remind you that even hot matches like Genoa-Milan have returned to being played with doors open to everyone (obviously implying the “everyone” of 2023, i.e. those with a membership card fan and various limitations). Is the social context of the two cities different even in terms of a trip? True, very true. But personally I believe that there are always excuses. Excuses for not allowing at least “normal” use of the stadiums.
The fact is that by virtue of all this, my choice not to attend this challenge was dictated precisely by the lack of its soul. Just as I would never go to a derby that is forbidden to guests, I cannot go to the stadium during one of the main rivalries for both factions and not be able to “enjoy” the neighbor. I repeat: it is a particular enmity, very different from all the others. Certainly, in addition to football hatred, many other factors come into play, which also overshadow many dynamics linked to the so-called “mentality”. Yet, as a naive person who still wants to see the “normal” part in everything, I cannot get used to insults and provocations against an empty guest sector (at St. Paul) or populated by unlikely characters from all areas of Italy except from Campania (atOlympic). And I basically believe that anyone who, at least once, has made a trip to Naples or Rome following the Giallorossi or Azzurri, understands what I’m saying. Despite the acrimony that is now widespread even among non-fans, not being able to fully experience this challenge for ninety minutes is too great a handicap for myself. It’s unfortunate that there are and will be entire generations unable to experience this away match. It was educational for anyone who tried it!
Warning: with this I am absolutely not saying that this is or should be the case for the other 65,000 spectators present. Indeed, judging by the environment, the match against Napoli is now interpreted as a derby, even more than in the past. It is so true that atOlympic on this pre-Christmas day I have very little to complain about: all the sectors were good at spontaneously taking part in the cheering (the quantity of smoke bombs lit in areas where people generally sit who are described as “quiet” is always notable), a Curva Sud which is really in excellent shape and the wall of the North as always remarkable in intensity and participation. The progress of the pitch, with Roma eventually beating the Neapolitans to English style thanks to goals from Pellegrini and Lukaku, ignites the Capitoline public even more, giving them a wonderful Christmas and receiving in exchange numerous explosions of firecrackers (you can see that New Year’s Eve looms). Furthermore, it is worth underlining the small choreography composed of yellow-red flags created by the “Boys” at the start of the match (who now prove to be a well-tested and always active wall), the display of the two flags on the social media, immediately before Bologna-Roma match, had been thought to have been stolen from Bologna, and several banners were displayed to encourage young people currently subject to restrictions.
Regarding what happens every time after the match, I would like to reiterate how much – in my opinion – the greeting from the Roma players could be more empathetic towards their own, tireless, public. It is difficult to see the team getting close to the sectors, preferring a lukewarm applause from midfield and sometimes even “forgetting” even that towards the North, where the constant support of over one hundred and fifty ultras is now consolidated. For goodness sake, scenes of people catechizing the team or demanding thanks as “curva fans” have never pleased me, but I think that even in a plastic category like Serie A, at least in the squares still minimally connected to their own people , footballers must have consideration for those who are thrown in and out so as not to let them lack support. Once this umpteenth – and perhaps futile – controversy is over, I can declare hostilities closed.
See you again in another eight years (sic!)!
Simone Meloni
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