Roberto Mancini seems to have succeeded where Garibaldi, De Gasperi and Marcello Lippi had failed. The blue city hasn’t won anything yet, mind you, but it has signed up to the company that in 160 years of homeland history has failed anyone: it has recovered a climate of national unity, harmony of orders, harmonious coexistence among the Pessina and the Donnarumma. He has finally applied the law of “made Italy, now we have to be Italians”. Almost. Because, even when we are all in agreement as in the case of the Azzurri at the head of Group A at Euro 2020, we remain the country of half measures. And divisions.
Only five blues kneeling
More than Italy-Wales 1-0, it is necessary to talk about what happened at the kick-off, with the British all compact, kneeling against racism, in support of the cause of Black Lives Matter, and Italy kneeling in half . Only five Italian players (Emerson Palmieri, Belotti, Toloi, Pessina and Bernardeschi) agreed to join a protest that, in the midst of a very popular sporting event such as the European football championships, is trying to remind the self-referential world of football that there is only the ball. The other six athletes lined up by Mancini (Donnarumma, Bastoni, Bonucci, Verratti, Jorginho and Chiesa) did not arrive.
Loading…
The reasons of those who remained standing
We do not know in detail the reasons of those who remained standing: on the subject, until now, only Bonucci had explicitly pronounced: “To date, I do not think there is a request from UEFA to take an initiative, it is a free choice of Federations. On the part of all there is a position against racism “, he had declared Christian Democrat after the first genuflections of Euro 2020. It is true, dear Leonardo, we are talking about a spontaneous protest, as were the raised fists of Carlos and Smith at the Olympics. of ’68 which, with the greeting of the Black Panthers, made history. It is also true that today at the most we do some news on the Italian football fields, but this is another matter. Is there England that has caught the boos of its own public triggering a debate in which Prime Minister Boris Johnson also took part, Belgium that has gone to take the boos of the Russian public and a good half of our players who do? Waiting for Uefa’s approval, the federation’s decision is formalized on the official status of a position.
The return of the “Dialogue between a committed and a I don’t know”
Italy is a little bit with Black Lives Matter and a little bit not, faithful to the tradition of the country that almost never ends wars on the side where it started them. We kneel and do not kneel, perhaps not even for precise knowledge of the facts but so at random, proposing again on the pitch the Dialogue between a committed and a don’t know of the great Giorgio Gaber. Sure, some might argue, America is far away, George Floyd is dead and sport is one thing, politics another. Perhaps a year and a half of empty stadiums has made us forget the cheerful custom of “buuu” to black players, often derubricated to folklore by the very leaders of our football. That’s why we may have won all three group games, but we lost an opportunity.
Shall we recover in the round of 16?
The good news is that, between now and the round of 16, we have plenty of time to recover: let’s go and get the whistles of Wembley as Sterling & co did. Mancini, a coach who we know sensitive to civil causes, speak to your men and convince them to take a clear position. Courage is needed: maybe not the same as you need to have to take a sponsor drink out of the frame, but some courage is needed. If you play football, you can win the Europeans or not. If you are a man, you must never lose your face.