It hasn’t started yet, but the playoff between Spice e Verona, scheduled for next Sunday at 20:45, which will determine the third relegation to Serie B, is already causing discussion. In fact, the choice of Udine as the venue for the match (even if the League is not yet official) is not liked at all, above all by the Ligurian team, so much so that the mayor of the city, Pierluigi Peracchini, spoke of ”disrespectful choice”. Similar words came from Walter MazzettiSecretary General of the Fsp Union of State Police, worried about safety, considering that the two groups of fans will probably cross on the highway with a high risk of clashes.
Spezia-Verona play-off, the story of the last chance that marked Serie A
by Furio Zara
The accusations of the mayor of La Spezia
”The choice of the Dacia Arena in Udine to play the play-off between Spezia and Verona is an offense to the La Spezia fans and a lack of respect for the city and our province. These matches are worth the history of a club and a territory and the choice of pitch must be taken carefully and be a neutral territory for everyone”. These are the words of the mayor of La Spezia on Facebook Pierluigi Peracchini. ”The route poses problems of safety and public order because there is an evident risk that the two groups of fans could meet during the journey and the relationships between the fans must be considered. We ask Lega Serie A to review this decision and find a solution that guarantees fairness and impartiality”, added the mayor. The president of the regional council of Liguria echoes him Gianmarco Medusei: ”The La Spezia supporters deserve respect, they face problems of distance and public order, so I invite the Football League and also the Prefectures to choose an equidistant location”.
Law enforcement concerned
Also the Fsp Syndicate of State Police, through the Secretary General Walter Mazzetti, expressed his perplexity about the choice of Udine: ”For the operators who have to guarantee safety, the already high concern for the play-off between Verona and Spezia is growing. This in light of the choice of the Dacia Arena as a neutral ground to play a match characterized by very strong tension, since the only possibility of not being relegated to Serie B is at stake. In fact, to reach Udine, the opposing fans will have to travel the same section of the A4 motorway, and it is highly probable that they will come into contact. Defining the choice unfortunate is an understatement”. Even in the light of the bad episodes that occurred just a week ago in Brescia-Cosenza: ”The continuous accidents that occur during football matches, and above all the numerous members of the police force who are punctually injured – as many as 9 in Brescia – require you to think about safety first. The rest must strictly come later. We are here to sound the alarm before we find ourselves commenting in despair on the usual disasters which are not new to our news – adds Mazzetti – and which should at least serve to make the most weighted decisions possible. The motorway and its numerous rest stops risk becoming a battleground on Sunday, and for police operators the work will be much more complicated this way. It would be time to think about the safety of those who carry out their work first of all, as well as the obvious operational shrewdness on such occasions which, in Italy, still often represent a barbaric scenario for the violent on duty who are unable to respond with due firmness, as they know how to do elsewhere”.