Premise: in this article I will be biased. And I’m also proud of it. Yes, because I have never hidden all my lack of sympathy for clubs, personalities and fans, daughters and relatives of that football that some would like completely in the hands of cold businessmen (which in most cases already happens, let’s not beat around the bush), without any an organized and passionate following and in any case well seen by the media and by the more classic centers of football power.
Red Bull is undoubtedly the queen of this prototype, with its satellite teams scattered in various parts of the world and its disturbing stories of “rape” against emblazoned clubs, the prerogative of red and white puppets with the two bulls on their an audience totally dumbfounded by the propaganda of this multinational, which is based in Salzburg. And that in the city of Mozart wrote one of the most macabre pages of its history, in 2005 acquiring the traditional city team of Austria Salzburg, founded in 1933, changing its colors and name and appropriating all the trophies won up to then. All with incredible naturalness, supported by presumptuous and shameful attitudes, such as leaving thousands of purple glasses on the steps of the Salzburg curve in response to the protest staged by the ultras. “If you want to see the team in your colours, wear them!” recited a flyer that day. The last one in which organized supporters viola set foot in what had been his home for decades.
The next story is known by many (although not too many), with the latter stubborn and admirable in re-founding their club and starting from the slums of Austrian football. They, perhaps among the most tenacious and strenuous opponents of the Red Bull model and its derivatives. Capable of demonstrating how it is not possible to acquire feelings and traditions and how, on the other hand, the role of the fans and the ultras is fundamental so that the first arrival does not have a free way to make a clean sweep of who within the city walls has made the ball roll for over seventy years. Sure, the guys from Union Ultrà (of which this year I had the honor of following a trip to Graz and the celebration of the twinning with the Gruppo Erotico del Barletta) had huge difficulties, they reached the Austrian Serie B but then they forced to self-defeat to pay debts. But they are always there, certain that sooner or later they will bring the color purple back into the gotha of national football, while their name is already a legend and their team remains the only true representative of Salzburg. Despite the countless trophies won by Red Bull. Despite the excellent European paths of the latter.
So today let me say that whatever Italian team there had been (actually no, I correct myself, all but one, in some ways sister of the Red Bulls) I could not have but rejoiced in seeing the result of the first leg overturned and this sad product in a can sent home. Of course “with the aaaali”!
Because if Red Bull remains the most striking example of how much contemporary football is ready to engulf everything that has fascinated us since we were children and led us to follow sport first and then its popular contour, of ready “students” the world is full of replicating the teaching of the “master”. And one must always be wary of those who arrive in a square boasting economic security, crazy spending and sudden victories, however bartering something. Whether it’s a shade to be applied to the shirt or whether it’s – as often happens – the change of a coat of arms. And in Rome we know something about it (given that no victories have come in return, sic!). I believe that in football it is absolutely necessary to remain conservative and traditionalist when it comes to certain credentials. It is unacceptable to lower any type of flag even if only for the certainty of a won match (even a derby).
In fact, allow me to say that the much abused concept of “popular football” manifested itself in a big way this evening in front of the eyes of the thousands of “fans” of the brand beverage (they are happy, everyone is happy!). Sixty thousand people of all social backgrounds and ages. Ultras, occasional fans, historic fans of the stands. All in support of their football heritage and the colors they grew up with. Ocher yellow and Pompeian red hues often passed on by fathers, grandfathers and uncles. Who certainly would never have dreamed of inducing the blood of their blood to cheer for, say, Chinotto Neri Roma (they really existed, they came to play in Serie C at the Motovelodromo Appio, AS Roma’s first field ever, moreover ). When we talk about popular passion we have to look at this, at all that there can be in the face of these hybrid creatures, impostors and thirsty for 3.0 fans. Who have no self-respect, other than that of their birthplace!
For the sports report: Belotti and Dybala cancel the first leg, which had seen the neighbors win 1-0. A success that offers an evening of jubilation at the Olympic stadium and resizes a little Red Bull tonight, little one. In a can, to be precise!
Simone Meloni