A few minutes from Naples-Barcelona, the authorities denied entry to the stadium with the “No to war” banner. The referee of the match is Russian.
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Sport to promote a message of peace after the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine. It was the intention of some supporters of the Naples that a few minutes before the start of the return of the Europa League playoffs against the Barcelonawere denied by the authorities the possibility of bringing on the stands of the ‘Maradona’ a peace banner that reads: “No to war”. The reason is rather debatable: the presence of the Russian referees. That sentence on the banner has indeed been interpreted as a message of political value given the presence (casual given the day) in the field of the Russian referee Karasev finished without fault in a real storm.
With him also assistants Igor Demeshko and Aleksei Lunev who are his compatriots, as well as fourth official Kirill Levnikov. The banner in question would have wanted to bring it inside the stadium the ‘Ultras 72’, or an organized group of Curva B. An unexpected stance that becomes even more serious if we consider that in addition to the peace banners, Ukrainian flags were also denied entry. The decision has been made from Uefa which has imposed on everyone not to create further problems after what is happening, also denying a message of peace that can only do good in a dramatic moment for Ukraine and for the whole of Europe.
It is not the first time that Uefa implements a position of this kind. In fact, even on the occasion of the last European Championships, the mayor of Munich had requested Uefa and the German Federation to illuminate the stadium that would host Germany-Hungary in support of diversity, tolerance and equality with the colors of the rainbow flag; both in controversy with the laws of the Hungarian parliament which had imposed restrictions on the dissemination and sharing of content dealing with homosexuality and transsexuality for children under 18. Uefa, however, denied this initiative motivating it clearly: it referred to reasons or political slogan.
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That’s why Napoli instead decided to launch anyway a message of peace before the two teams enter the field showing a banner with the inscription ‘STOP WAR’. With a tweet the blue team therefore wanted to anticipate this initiative which is of fundamental importance in these hours of anguish, fear and dismay for the events that are told by Ukraine. Sport has the task of promoting peace and especially in events of such depth, with many fans in the stadium and in front of the TV, it is important to show one’s position in a strong way by trying to put a stop to a conflict, the one between Russia and Ukraine. , which has left the whole of Europe and the world of sport speechless.
