Football belongs to the people. It is the motto that Palermo Calcio Popolare, registered in the First Category championship, has also made its own. However, he is homeless and is forced to wander around the city and even outside. It happens in a Palermo where football fields are on the verge of extinction. In fact, underground investigations have been underway for weeks on the Finantieri pitch in preparation for the recovery of the entire area. And the results are slow in arriving. Result? Tomorrow – for the tenth matchday of the championship Palermo Calcio Popolare – will play at home against the Fada team, in Misilmeri, in the home of Don Carlo, an Eccellenza club. This is not the first “away” home match.
Because the Genius, as Palermo society is called in the environment, has yet to find its lamp. His coach, Ciccio Galeoto, a former full-back for Palermo, Genoa and Salernitana, with a past in Serie A, is furious: “I ask for an interview with the mayor – he begins PalermoToday – The club has many children who attend football school. At Fincantieri, as far as the youth sector is concerned, thousands of people train. In Palermo they are taking away all the fields, I’ll just tell you this: in recent days we found ourselves training in 190 on the five-a-side football fields of Castellana. Playing sport is essential, especially for the little ones. We have been waiting for the Fincantieri field for weeks: they told us that it would be reclaimed and that it would be a matter of little. I don’t want money, I’m just asking for a field, a concession space. I’ve been asking this for ten years. Give me a concession area and then I’ll take care of it. I would do it for my village, Arenella, I have had a project ready for years which involves the construction of a 7-a-side football pitch and a play area. They didn’t let me do anything despite my requests. I only think about the children, I don’t care about the rest.”
“This year – they thunder from the green-rose-black club – the people of the Engineers are literally wandering around the city fields every Sunday. That’s right, because unfortunately we haven’t seen our home – the Cantieri field – yet. given what the property is really doing, what we know is that every week we have to look for a camp to host us (obviously for a fee we had found one, the Solarium in via Messina Marine, but the competent authorities promptly took it over (afterwards). decades) closed last week. They were waiting for us. We also played at Delfini and Parmonval.”
The Solarium camp seized
“In this situation – they continue – the difficulty in finding an 11-a-side football field in Palermo clearly emerges. It is not clear whether there is a precise political or social will, but what we certainly see is that the football fields in Palermo are disappearing. Without considering that those that exist do not have the necessary authorizations or usability of the structures or stands, with the exception of 4/5 private facilities which find themselves in the position of not having space to host new teams, moreover at unsustainable costs. for all sporting realities. In short, this football does not seem to belong to the people at all, nor for the people. Yet we note that there are many 11-a-side football teams in Palermo, as are the football schools. Perhaps we should point this out to the politicians at home our opinion that some public structure for sport should be created (certainly not just for football). In the meantime, we at the Genius continue to look for a field where we can play, and unfortunately we are moving further and further out of Palermo. We are certain that before the end of the season we will find ourselves playing in some other province.
Journey to the abandoned football fields of Palermo
A story that the deputy of the 5 Star Movement, Adriano Varrica, knows well. The field falls in areas owned by Cassa Depositi Prestiti. These are the former tobacco factory and the former canteen building, both in via Simone Gulì, the Fincantieri football field in via Calcedonio Giordano and the former work club building in via dei Cantieri. Varrica has also underlined in recent weeks the real danger of dismantling the sports facility. “When we obtained the Pnrr contribution of 33 million euros for the recovery of the former Tobacco Factory – he said – I activated a working group with the Municipality and Cassa Deposito e Prestiti to achieve two results: create a technological and training hub specialist linked to the relaunch of the shipyard and safeguarding the historic football field Unfortunately, the Lagalla council has lost that funding. Despite my question last year, the Region is not yet sitting at the table with Cassa Deposits Loans, and the Municipality seems to maintain a deafening silence on this issue in recent weeks within the Fincantieri camp there have been investigations into the subsoil, but it is a practice when there are redevelopment projects like these. We were waiting for the results these days, but we still don’t know anything.”
And this morning the leaders of Palermo Calcio Popolare were summoned by the president of the National Amateur League (Sicily Regional Committee) Sandro Morgana. “He specified – they say from the club – that under his presidency, the League has always had at heart the problem of sports infrastructures which concerns the city of Palermo and the Region. In this regard we note the full availability of President Morgana to deepen the Specifically, we will try to involve all the players in the field, institutions, NLDs and sports clubs, so that a technical table can be created to discuss the issue of the lack of structures in the city of Palermo, to find quick solutions that are fully shared. advantage of citizenship We are confidently awaiting the intervention of the institutions and, certainly, we are not letting our guard down. Because this is not ‘our battle’, but everyone’s battle for Palermo, for sport and for better football sports associations, not just those linked to football, to contact us… Because only together can we win”.
