Bologna on my mind: Electrocardiogram. (10 March)

Written by: Massimo Sampaolesi. Translated by: Carlotta Belluzzi.

The situation is thorny and difficult to analyse for someone who, like me, grew up at the stadium, for someone who has always thought that the fan base and the team are by nature inseparable. For someone who, from the seats of the stadium, saw a young Mancini wear our colours, for someone who witnessed challenging away matches. In short, I have always considered the fan base to be the pulsating heart of the team.

However, it is with a heavy heart that I must say that this time, I disagree. It is simply a matter of holding different opinions, like two brothers who disagree, but still have the same aspirations. I disagree because I think that the fan base’s stance is counterproductive. I do understand their instinctive reactions: I get their anger and disappointment in seeing our beloved falling again and again, despite all the effort put in by the fans to support the team, even after horrible matches, like the one against Napoli. And yet, I still think that deciding not to go to the stadium, avoiding the away match against Sassuolo, is ineffective.

I shall try to explain my position. Let us say that the accusations are true, that the players are unwilling to put any effort in: by not going to the stadium, who are we punishing? The players? If they are slacking, they will barely be affected. If they are “dishonouring the colours”, as we read on the press release published by the fans, do we really think that they will cry if they do not see anyone at the match? I would say ‘no’. If they are really loafing around, they will not be interested in our affairs. And should it be the case that they are uninterested, us the fans have an advantage: we will be staying, and wearing our colours forever, even if not on the pitch. The players will not.

Either way, I am not entirely convinced that the lack of engagement is plausible. Is a defeated soldier automatically a soldier that has not fought? Does “honouring the colours” mean making run fast a player who is not fast? How can we be sure that the faults made by our players recently, are not actually due to a will to over achieve, and the feeling that so much is at stake, and on their shoulders, especially considered their young age? Against Lazio, I saw our fighter Maietta make terrible mistakes – do we really think that he does not wholeheartedly care about the team? I will not answer to these questions, but they are legitimate ones in the light of recent events. We need to have these doubts in order to judge the team fairly, because it really feels like the fans have made their ruling, and have found the defendants to be guilty.

If we do not have doubts, it means we are certain – but how can we be certain in a situation like this? I think our certainty does not come from an actual analysis of the latest happenings, but stems from a consuming feeling of dissatisfaction, which forces us to want to find faults in the colours we support. But we are the pulsating hearts of our team, and this characteristic of ours has always distinguished us from other Italian fan bases.

I will always argue for freedom of opinion, but this time, despite respecting it, I cannot agree with the stance of the fans. The heart, to keep us alive, needs to keep beating. Always. Even if the pulsation is involuntary. A flat electrocardiogram is a horrible thing, and it would not just affect the players.

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