Italy that never changes

Wednesday night I was watching Inter-Napoli, a match that closed the "Boxing Day", and at some point Riccardo Trevisani, engaged in commentary with Daniele Adani for Sky, rightly stresses how the first "Boxing Day" of Italian football was a success. Media spectators increased in all the stadiums of Serie A with the icing on the cake of the 64000 present at Meazza, using these precise words: "... demonstrating that we can do it and do it well".
These same words reverberate in my brain since there was the triple whistle of Mazzoleni (referee of the match), I can not in any way remove them from my head and the reason is simple: Italian football and our country have made the umpteenth absurd look bad.
Throughout his stay on the field, the Senegalese defender of Napoli Kalidou Koulibaly, had been the best player of the game until the expulsion, he was the target of choirs and racist howls without no one lifting a finger.

But that's not all.

Shortly before the game, a minibus with the Napoli ultras on board was attacked by a hundred supporters from Inter, Varese and Nice. The Nerazzurri fans hit the Neapolitans with bars and clubs, the column was blocked and immediately there was a flee of people. At the same time in the opposite lane, a SUV invested and killed Daniele Belardinelli, 35, ultras of Varese. The person driving the SUV has not yet been tracked and may not have noticed the incident. The first to attract attention to Belardinelli were the Napoli fans, then those of Inter took him to the car in the hospital where he died.

This is the reconstruction of the Milan police chief, Marcello Cardona in the press conference after the clashes in the pre-match of Inter-Naples. A real ambush by the "supporters" of Inter, Varese and Nice, everything was organized. The weapons used for the assault were then found by the police abandoned in a garden in Via Novara.

On Wednesday we have witnessed ignorance and violence, which are generally accepted not only in Italian football but in all of our society, in which to make a howl to a black player, call an Asian president "Chinese" or watch these things happening became normal.
On Wednesday has happened in a clearer and more obvious way, on an important stage and with excellent protagonists, but these are facts that are repeated every league game in every part of Italy, whether it's the Serie A or the provincial league. The problem is cultural, and even if it is triggered by a few it affects everyone.

Because the rhetoric of good intentions has failed, we need a radical effort that must involve everyone in the football world, from players to supporters, through clubs and law enforcement.

What good are the proclamations, the T-shirts, against racism for? What good is the "hard punch" of the sports judge, the words of Gabriele Gravina, the official statement of Inter, the tweet of the Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini, the beautiful words of Milan's mayor Beppe Sala who apologizes to Koulibaly from part of the city and proposes Asamoah captain in the next Inter match for?

We are outraged by what happened in Buenos Aires in Argentina during the Copa Libertadores final when the problems of our football are still enormous. During the "Boxing Day", the abomination took the upper hand and showed everyone what Italy is able to do. We found ourselves facing the umpteenth test of the backwardness of sports culture and not. One man died on Wednesday and another was humiliated by thousands of people because of color.
All of this happened on the sidelines of a football match.

When you ask me what I believe in, I answer immediately and without having to reflect: in men.
You can start from individuals and good examples to give strong signals to try and change things.
I dream of a parallel reality where, on Wednesday night, Icardi, Inter's captain, to the umpteenth racist chorus against Koulibaly, goes to Mazzoleni and says: "if you do not suspend the match there I'm not interested in losing, but me and the team I represent do not want to keep playing".
I dream that the teams, together, leave the field for protest.
Good Serie A, everyone.