In this reconstruction, Eduardo is the underwritten Eduardo Lubrano, Francois is the name of a friend, friends, friends, friends, friends….
Driin…Driin…Driin..”Hello who is it?”
Francois: “Edo, wake up, I’m Francois, I have to talk to you. You don’t know what they told me last night at the pizzeria. “
Eduardo: “Ehh, well, some fanatic will have asked for a frankfurter and pineapple pizza… we know that people are crazy! Come on, I’m sleepy…I’ll call you later…”
Francois:”What pizza and pizza. The Night of the Long Knives has begun at FIP. If you want to know more, go down to the bar and I’ll tell you…”
Eduardo: “Arrival”…..
Eduardo: “Let’s start by saying that no matter how serious the things you are about to talk about, the comparison with the Night of the Long Knives is disproportionate: there were deaths, blood and there were horrible people involved, crime professionals. I understand the hyperbole but here at most there are some chicken stealers and a couple of “capuvastuni”… So tell me”.
Francois: ”They told me about the Federal Council of November 15th. In which the 3rd budget change should have been examined but which in reality seems to have served to get the right political messages to the Regional Committees not aligned with the President. One of these Committees appears to be subject to an imminent administration.”
Eduardo: ”Stop. Which one are we talking about because from what transpires more than one Committee would no longer be so willing to bend its back, the electoral bills of three years ago were exacted on one side and on the other therefore…”
Francois: “I don’t know what this CR is but we’re talking about an obstinacy regarding a fact that they’ve known about in Rome for over a year. A President of CR who is not in favor has his confidence revoked and a position “paid” by the national FIP. I told you, the showdown is starting very early. Different thinking is not tolerated.”
Eduardo: “Wait… maybe I understand… isn’t he the president of that Committee who, after having “badly kicked out” Petrucci, said he wants to run for office? This would explain many things if this were the case… But you need a legal reason to commission a CR… I already forgot that if “you want it like that where you can do what you want…”.
Francois: “And don’t ask anymore”… Who knows if Dante already knew these politicians, well they’re all the same, anyway yes, it could be as you say but I don’t know. During the CF, applause was given to the women’s national team who won an important match against Germany, who to be honest played without eight starters. Italy’s is the group of the national teams already qualified because of the 4 countries hosting the 2025 event and therefore they will all be useful matches to cement the group and make the right choices, but without that pathos and adrenaline of the two points up for grabs . That’s where we’d like to see these girls finally bite their opponents and not melt down as usual. However, as you know, we spent ninety thousand euros on a charter flight to Hamburg for a second-level match. And when will we really need it? Will the money still be there?”
Eduardo: “What the f… are you saying, the FIP is full of money, it has a budget that goes beyond 40 million euros a year and it’s not clear what purpose it serves – without prejudice to the management of the federal machine – given that apart from the European Championships, we go to the Olympics and World Championships with just one team, the men’s, and not even always.”
Francois: “Don’t be vulgar!! They tell me that the papers have been examined. For example. The delegation of accompanying managers was larger than the athletes, the Fip General Secretary number two was head of the delegation but it was thought to give one person the task of external relations and institutional relations even though she was doing something completely different in her life and having done part of accounting commissions in both FIP and FIGC. Why? Perhaps there is a proximity of over twenty years with someone that makes the inclusion of such a figure easier? For now everyone is calm, it would all be very typical Italian, in the future we will want serious answers to serious questions..”
Eduardo: “Everything is very beautiful and fascinating, exactly typical Italian and very generous Roman “’Let’s go to Hamburg aho! There’s a plane from the Basketball Federation and we’re going around” but you told me about money, budgets…”
Francois: “Now I’ll tell you what I learned about the budget changes. Yesterday there was the third which, thanks to the greater amounts of memberships – be careful, greater amounts do not mean greater memberships only that as we know they cost more – tried to improve the loss of around five million in 2023, bringing it to three and a half million and reducing federal economic reserves to about seven million. If we were to continue in this direction, in two years the reserves would run out without achieving anything. In the budget there would be items in the first two variations which are absolutely incomprehensible and which go towards the Advisor for substantial figures or even for “possible new events”. What they are is obviously not known. So the waste and misuse is leading to a situation that needs to be “attended” as they say in the horrible bureaucratic language, with great precision.”
Eduardo: “That’s all? I was hoping you’d tell me that they caught the one red-handed or that he was with…”
Francois: “Enough! As usual you understand nothing about money, finance, economics as your life shows. If the facts are even half as good as I told you, they are extremely serious. The lies they tell about the state of health of the movement are as big as a house because the real numbers deny all this. Ah, then I’ll give you a note of color. The Federal Council lasted about 40 minutes so there was only space for the President’s communications and without any discussion and everyone had to vote in favor. Remember when we were talking about the Bulgarian elections? Nejcev, Damjanov, Georgiev, Ganev, Trajikov Zivkov presidents of Bulgaria from ’47 to ’89 were amateurs.
Eduardo: “Just think, someone also told me to be careful about launching myself into this “political battle” because the other side is “terrible” as they say in Rome…”
Francois: “Well, it’s partly true given that in recent years they have raged on Italian basketball, reducing it to a minimum and have heavy support, but calm down, what could they possibly do to you? Then you are a… a… oh well. And then after this outburst they would also be stupid and believe me, they’re not.”
Eduardo: “I actually believe that too, I know well that they are anything but stupid. However, I think that President Petrucci sees witches everywhere. We know of his idiosyncrasy for websites where he believes people speak badly of him and which he does not consider to be the national press even though the latter are by definition an international source of information. Those done well, as with any kind of media. And this is already not good for a modern federation. The women’s movement is abandoned to itself and if the national youth teams have won so much we owe it to the skill of the coaches in charge and of all those who train the girls, who however are always offered mountain climbs like Everest: the Villa case last summer it is exemplary. Was the player effectively prevented from playing the U19 World Cup in order to compete in the U20 European Championship? But it’s a joke, come on… the A1 championship with 13 and the A2 with 28 teams are an excessive luxury for a movement that doesn’t have the numbers and the money. Of course the Senior isn’t competitive. Every two years the president changes coach and a player – the strongest – was kicked out of the national team for saying so publicly. There are regions where it is difficult to hold youth championships. The men’s interregional B has been set up which is a Munch-like thing, the parameters have been raised. The instructors and coaches are no longer so good, the level is dropping but the president says that the movement is healthy because we have been going to the World Championships for two consecutive editions (after the expansion of participants) and we have had an Olympics after 18 years. The minimum wage I would say. And about the whole fact that he thinks that everyone who doesn’t think like him is his enemy. Alas, the “enemies” are others as the news tells us even of these horrible days. Here we are dealing with people who think differently and who ask to be listened to, make proposals, have ideas, do not want to be deceived on obvious things.
The last election for example. Single candidate. Certainly a sign of a weak movement. But also of a total elimination of opposition. Here is what Petrucci said – extracted from a FIP Press Release reported on 13 November 2020 by Basketitali.it here – before being appointed president: “Probably, I will have disappointed someone in these years as president of the FIP, but it is also true that I have we always expect a lot. I admit it: it hasn’t been easy, also because we’ve done so many things in recent years. We want to continue and dream big, because, I always say to my family, as well as to my collaborators, there is no point in settling: I am applying for a four-year term that must be one of change and revolution. On youth activity we will do an in-depth study with the technicians and managers on recruitment, training, development and technical investment. We need support at school. We will have to recover members given that the pandemic has had a negative impact. On the sporting bond, a word that seems obsolete, the enabling law would like to change everything, but it is essential that the clubs that train the players have economic returns. We will work to streamline the regulations. How we need the State to help us. Take the example of France, where it is the State itself that offers loans guaranteed for ten years. We also need a review of relations with sports promotion bodies: they have many strings to their bow, but we don’t agree on many things. We must find a synthesis with greater attention to our rules. We have good news: we are finally off the Istat list after five years of successful appeals.
2021 is the Centenary year for the FIP. Pandemic permitting, we want to celebrate it in the best way. We must recover the ten million that we used for interventions between aid to companies and uncollected taxes. And then there are the Olympic Games. In the next few months we have the qualifying tournaments for the men’s national team and for the 3×3 national team which are objectively difficult. We have the goal of returning to the Games, we miss them, because basketball is a purely five-hoop sport. “Optimism is the faith of revolutions” said the French writer Jacques Beauville. We must have optimism in the next four years.”
Eduardo: “Point by point on these promises, I ask that someone prove them fulfilled or deny them but in one case and in the other with facts and documents, no chatter, words or ideological declarations as they do in via Vitorchiano otherwise we’ll get to the point . Only two things: the centenary of the FIP was plagued by Covid but something good could have been done. The revolution called for by the President has objectively not been seen: or he doesn’t know what revolution means. Or he talked just for the sake of talking. Personally I have nothing against Gianni Petrucci. But as a manager I believe that he, and the ruling class that venerates him like a God, have had their day. Thanks Francois see you soon!”
Francois: “Thanks to you and see you very soon, I promise I will have more to tell you. You pay for the coffees, right…?”
2023-11-16 12:40:14
#parted #give #account
