Football matches postponed due to Pope Francis' death: Spal fans disappointed

Red light to all national championships of every order and level. Naturally including the Serie C championship, which yesterday at the Benelli stadium in Pesaro was supposed to pit the home team Vis against Spal. The death of Pope Francis has revolutionized the football calendar – and more generally Italian sport –, with the Football Federation ordering the postponement of all official matches scheduled for Easter Monday. In the afternoon, Lega Pro made official the date of the recovery, set for tomorrow at 18:XNUMX p.m. On San Giorgio's day, Baldini's team will therefore face Vis Pesaro away on the penultimate day of the championship, and four days later they will close the regular season at home against Gubbio.

The decision to stop the championships has divided public opinion, taking many by surprise. Spallini fans on their way to Pesaro. Or even already arrived in the city in the Marche region to watch the match. There were 280 tickets sold by the white and blue supporters for the away section of the Benelli stadium, a truly significant number considering the performance of Antenucci and his teammates.

Needless to say, the social media groups dedicated to Spal were soon filled with comments full of anger and irritation for a stop that according to the fans could easily have been replaced by a minute of silence or black armbands for the players. The Curva Ovest Ferrara group calls for respect for the supporters, and with this post they strongly distance themselves from the FIGC's decision: "We express our condolences to the entire Christian world, orphaned by its leader. We understand the institutional relevance of this loss, but we cannot help but point out that religion does not concern all areas of life, nor all individuals. Even less so in a state that professes to be secular, by constitution. There have been occasions of all kinds, over the years, that were well suited to expressions of national condolence. Pandemics, floods, earthquakes, wars, genocides, deaths of young people following teams. But they have almost never even been taken into consideration, because a delay of even just one minute on the start of the matches was a problem. We are now faced with a measure of total suspension of the matches, with all due respect to all the fans who have spent time and money to organize their presence in the stands. A measure adopted, at the moment, only in Italy. Not in the Vatican, not in Spain, or in France or in England. But only in Italy. A secular state, by constitution. In full respect of what happened, we strongly dissociate ourselves from the useless theatricality of all this, believing that a traditional minute of silence, or at most a black armband, would have been much more appropriate".

Spal returned to Ferrara yesterday afternoon and held a training session at the Fabbri sports center, where they will also work today before leaving for Pesaro.

Stefano Manfredini