For the most part, Sunday’s results from Serie C, the third level of Italian soccer, look like those of any other league around the world: Albissola 1, Arezzo 2. Alessandria 0, Arzachena 1. Cuneo 20, Pro Piacenza 0.
Wait, what?
That eye-popping score, and it’s not a typo, is part of a larger tale. Pro Piacenza 1919 is a venerable team from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. But the team has run into financial troubles, and most of its players and staff members, sick of not getting paid, walked out weeks ago.
The team was penalized 8 points by the federation, dropping it to the rock bottom of the standings, and forfeited three straight matches. One more forfeit and the team could be disqualified from the league.
So for Sunday’s visit to Cuneo, it was imperative that some kind of team be produced. Pro Piacenza, known as the Rossoneri, or Redblacks, scrambled. It mustered up some teenagers from the youth team, and a team masseur, for a total of eight players. The masseur’s number was hastily added to his uniform with tape. One of the youngsters, Nicola Cirigliano, was appointed the player-manager.
Unfortunately one of the players, identified by the Italian press as Isufi, had forgotten his ID card and could not suit up, leaving the team with just seven players, the minimum allowed before an automatic forfeit.
The game progressed as you would expect with seven inexperienced players going against 11. Cuneo passed at will, dribbled at will, and more or less scored at will. A highlight video is great viewing if you enjoy discouraged players trudging back to the center circle after yet another goal. Cuneo went into the break up by 16-0.
Good news for Pro Piacenza: Isufi’s father retrieved his identifying documents, allowing him to join the game. Bad news for Pro Piacenza: the masseur had to leave the game with a cramp.
In the end, Cuneo let up a bit, leading to the 20-0 final score.
Hicham Kanis wound up with six goals, Edoardo Defendi had five, and hat tricks by Francesco De Stefano and Michele Emmausso were almost unnoticed.
To be clear, although Serie C is a far cry from Juventus, the Milan giants and the high-quality play of Serie A, it is still a fully organized soccer league.
Pisa, in the same division as Pro Piacenza, draws an average of 5,000 fans a game. The winner of the division will head up to Serie B, only a level below the the likes of Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala and Ciro Immobile.
But several teams at this level have struggled financially, among them Cuneo, the winning team Sunday. Matera has missed four matches and been disqualified.
The Italian press did not like what it saw.
La Gazzetta dello Sport called the match grotesque, “one of the saddest and surreal pages of Italian professional football.”
Even a player on the winning side was embarrassed. “I feel only shame for those who made all this possible,” Fabiano Santacroce said.
Francesco Ghirelli, the Serie C president, told Radio Rai that a game like that “must never happen again.”
Pro Piacenza is due to play again on Sunday at home against Novara.
Source : NYtimes
