Some matches, and Parma-Genoa was one of them, have a long preamble announcing them long before their actual kick-off. From a sporting point of view, Parma is evidently tired and it’s not just the classic radical position mounted within the ultras: in fact, a press release came out during the week signed by the Boys but also of the coordination CCPC to rally all the sports people before this race and try to wake up the team. Even if, to be honest, the objective of these grievances is not exactly the team itself but the club, judged to be absent and unable to direct the group to the objectives declared for some time.
Failed miserably last season, once again this year the dream of returning to Serie A appears far from coming true. So before the match against Genoa, the Gialloblù fans gathered at the Petitot, a symbolic place of that same parmesan not exactly at the center of the work of the company of the American Kyle Krause, where after waiting for the team bus behind the banner ” You deserve us”, he publicly reiterated his critical positions.
The dreaded idea of giving up cheering completely then gave way to the wiser decision to abstain from cheering just for five minutes, displaying the same banner already seen outside in the center of the North. The delicate moment of the team and the demanding opponent who would have found themselves facing each other, on the pitch and in the stands, led to the decision not to weigh negatively on the already precarious technical-tactical balance and at the same time to face the host fans in force, in virtue of the well-known rivalry in which mutual friendships and cross-rivalries also affect.
There are almost 4,000 Genoans following the Griffin, confirming themselves in excellent health on the long wave of the sale of the club last season by the much reviled Preziosi. Although the Rossoblu failed to avoid relegation, the following of the fans has since then been unfailingly passionate, numerous, noisy, warm. Not even the ups and downs of this season and the well-known internal crisis of the team with the German coach Blessin have had an effect, but certainly, and if ever necessary, the arrival on the bench of Alberto Gilardino and the subsequent excellent performances on the pitch, have added more fuel to the fire. A fan base of this kind really doesn’t need any other explanations and descriptions but if we want to do so, we can say that on this occasion they sang throughout the match, waved their flags and also logically insulted the hosts and the Dorians, their twinned. They also light several torches and are also notable for a 5R banner in memory of Edo, a great Genoa fan who sadly died very young in 2002 and whose anniversary was just a few days before the match. To conclude, the Genoans have been the best fans seen so far in Parma, capable of combining quantity and quality.
Returning instead to the Parma supporter, after the first five minutes of silence, the choirs really rise up with a good competitive energy, with that right push of anger that makes them arrive clearly in the stands from where I follow the match. The overall audience size is also worthy, 14,281 according to official data, perhaps not the so-called audience of great occasions but certainly the creator of a positive glance. The fact that games are played on Sundays and not on some absurd day of the week, at even more absurd times, obviously contributes to the whole thing, even if then those who have to sell off matches for television reasons pretend not to notice. A small yellow-blue smoke and a scarf are the two peaks of color, even the flags wave with good consistency while the vocal cheering does not always manage to maintain the standards in terms of continuity of the first angry minutes but is still very positive, also helped by the excellent response in the field of the team that encourages them where the initial momentum was running out. There was also friction with the opposing fans, especially when, around the quarter of an hour, the banner of the Reggiana “Square Heads” was displayed between them, from which the traditional yellow and blue chants against the hated cousins from beyond Enza sprang.
In short, a good game, both in the stands and on the pitch where Buffon and his teammates impose themselves with a goal in time, bad for Genoa who see Frosinone flee further away, while maintaining second place, while Parma gnaw at some precious points and relaunch in the playoff area.
Giovanni Padovani
