Bergamo, banner in the field against deaths at sea: club fined and disqualification for the captain

“Mediterranean cemetery: no more dead at sea”. The banner of discord cost its promoters dearly. The Athletic Brighela amateur team, notoriously involved in social issues, received a sting from the sports judge of the Bergamo delegation: a maxi fine (550 euros) and the disqualification (until April) of captain and coach. The reason? Last Sunday, on the occasion of the away match against River Negrone (group B of the Third Category), the players of Athletic Brighela took to the field with a banner (not authorized by the referee) dedicated to the tragedy of Cutro, the recent shipwreck on the coast Calabrian which cost the lives of several dozen migrants on board the boat.

the facts

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A message, that of the Rossoneri from Bergamo, also expressed via social media: “A decidedly wrong Sunday (the match ended 5-1 for the opponents) but the afternoon began by emphasizing our position on the humanitarian issues that have been characterizing our Country in a negative way – reads the post published by Athletic Brighela, a popular amateur sports association – After what our politicians continue to call a “tragedy” and which is instead the result of very precise choices, we reiterate that we are not there. No more deaths at sea, no more indifference”.

The provision

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The response of the sports judge has not been long in coming. And in the weekly press release of the Provincial Delegation we read that “from the official tender documents supported by the report supplement it emerged that, before the meeting, the captain of the Asd Athletic Brighela company, Pietro Rota, asked the race director to be authorized to to introduce and display a banner on the pitch, which according to him has no political content. On the other hand, the match official did not authorize the request”. The referee report reports that, “after having regularly entered the field, the captain of Asd Athletic Brighela was given the aforementioned banner by the members positioned on their bench, not identified on the scoresheet by the referee. The banner, at that point, was exposed to the public for about twenty seconds by all the players of the aforementioned club, but not by those of Asd River Negrone, thus disregarding the indications of the match official”. For this Athletic Brighela was punished with a fine of 550 euros. To which are added the disqualifications of captain Rota (inhibited until next April 23) and coach Luigi Cattaneo (until April 24, even if the resolution mentions a stop only until March 24).