When it comes to militarized stadiums it is now easy to extend the concept to categories where, at least until recently, it was really difficult to come across security services, controls and any limitations. It is therefore almost shocking, on this Sunday morning, to turn the corner of one of the streets in the Fonte Laurentina residential district and find yourself facing a Police van, a Finance Police van, a couple of officials equipped with television cameras and a large number of agents in riot gear to guard the entrance to the Fonte Park sports facility, where the Tor de’ Cenci will host the VJS Velletri. We are in First Category, in a field where there is no home supporters and on a single tier which, in addition to the sixty veliterni, will host just a few other spectators.
“There were more people for the first match, that of the Giovanissimi. Obviously the parents are attached to each other, as always”, a camp attendant tells me, half-jokingly commenting on the exaggeratedly militarized structure that we find ourselves in front of when observing the grandstand. Personally I will never get used to this psychosis of aggregation and organized cheering. I can understand – up to a certain point actually, at least in these circumstances – wanting to keep the situation under control, but when such a waste of public money and strength is revealed that it should probably find a better destination, I really just want to go around heels and spend Sunday only and exclusively in front of the most traditional of lasagna.
Coming to the purely sporting aspect, the “home” team plays slightly away from its real home. Tor de’ Cenci, in fact, is a fraction located between Via Pontina and Via Cristoforo Colombo, in that quadrant of the capital that turns south. This season the club is playing a decent championship, occupying the third position behind the leaders Torrino and, precisely, of VJS. It is therefore an important challenge, especially for the guests who don’t want to lose the trail of first place, five lengths away.
For the occasion the Volsca Band he organized a bus, reaching the capital well in advance of the kick-off and walking towards the plant with a rather noisy procession. The various Romans intent on sobering up on Saturday evening or simply enjoying the last moments of Sunday sleep will pay the price. After all, this is football day, certainly not rest day, as some would have you believe (sic!).
After settling in an area delimited by the cordon of financiers (in the style of the improvised guest sector in the eighties) the ultras veliterni are hardly a single piece and begin to support their colors relentlessly. Some boy from Sora present is greeted by a couple of choirs that underline a now firm friendship, while the catchphrase of the day on the notes of Another Love it holds court and is performed for several minutes, with a good rhythm from the drum and forged by the megaphonist, who on more than one occasion urges all those present to follow him in one voice. The structuring of the Castellan fans – as already highlighted in other articles – is a fact, as well as a pleasant confirmation, based on the great work of aggregation and attachment to the city and sporting identity made by these boys. A luxury – let’s face it – for a First Category team, which not by chance with every goal scored (the match will end with a resounding 2-6) runs to take the joy of its own people.
After the triple whistle there is room for a small “third time” in which i supporter veliterni delight in goliardic and belonging choirs. The agents seem to look at them between amused and bored, also wanting to go home in front of the aforementioned lasagna. All that remains for me is to take the last shots and then slowly return to the car, perfectly parked under the resin-filled pine trees. One of the few symptoms of a spring that seems to delay its arrival.
I walk away from the pitch observing the Rossoneri contingent walking back towards the bus, closely marked by the police. Last chants and then everyone on the bus, in the direction of Velletri. Today, perhaps, that freedom typical of these fields has been lacking, that naturalness where a glass of beer and a few torches are the most normal thing in the world to bring to the stands. Nonetheless, there was no shortage of ninety minutes of cheering and the serious and light-hearted presence of a fan base that had grown in recent years and evidently needed to climb a few steps of the football pyramid to find confrontation with other squares.
Simone Meloni