Since the summer of 2023, I have been appointed to fill the role of president of this Club that I have loved since I was a boy, always having to put my face to it firsthand, both in situations which – to date – have entailed honours, and in those which have entailed charges. I have always wanted to share this daily life with all members in a respectful and transparent manner, making it imperative for me to favor facts over words and visibility. And despite the important and gratifying results already obtained in these 16 months from a corporate point of view, I have always committed myself (in my rare public statements) to guaranteeing to all the fans of our beloved Effe, who fill the PalaDozza every year regardless from the category and constitute the most priceless heritage of this Club, that at least in terms of character and animus pugnandi, we would never have witnessed matches without these minimum requirements. Because every day – for those who work for this Club and defend its symbol and colors – there is a history to honor and a people to respect, who deserve – in turn – to also pursue sporting objectives which cannot coincide with this which we have witnessed in this first part of the season. You can win and lose matches by 30 or more points (it is the law of sport and it has already happened in recent years) but not like this. Not this way.
I am not a ‘technician’ and (despite following basketball for more than 50 years) I will never pretend to want to impose my thoughts and ideas on the managers responsible for making decisions within the Club.
But if no one (without distinction, I am not referring to one person rather than another), after the massacre I witnessed yesterday in Desio, he had the thought and dignity to try to provide explanations and, at least, question himself in these hours, so I’ll take the step backwards. Putting mine face to face once again. As I have always done, for better or for worse, with the defects I may have but certainly not that of being a person who seeks visibility and who wants to remain glued to an armchair (even as loved and prestigious as this one) in spite of the saints…
With a very deep personal sense of frustration and bitterness but also with the awareness that an overall ‘trend’ like this is impossible to accept helplessly, I hand over my mandate as president of Fortitudo Pallacanestro to the Board of Directors of Sporting Fortitudo, a team of which I will continue to act part as a member. Because it is one thing to ‘abstain from the fight’ (and I certainly do not abstain when it comes to working to safeguard the EXCLUSIVE, UNCONDITIONAL GOOD OF FORTITUDE), it is another to expose oneself – albeit bitterly – personally to try to correct a trend and overall dynamics (not just technical) impossible to maintain in this state.
Forza Fortitudo, always and in any case!
Stefano Tedeschi
