Genoa 1893

Dear Sir-Madam, My name's.Gianni, I live in Genoa, Italy. This summer, the most representative team of my city, Genoa Cricket & Football Club, founded 112 years ago by a club of british gentlemen, is under attack. It is attacked by the entire italian football system, because of the suspicion (suspicion, not evidence, which does not exist in this case), of having corrupted the Venezia FC staff to win the last match of the 2004-05 season, on june, 11, that took back Genoa to its natural place, the italian Serie A. Genoa dominated the Serie B 04-05, losing just 4 matches through all the year, doing 72 goals in 42 games! Genoa didn't need to "repair" the match versus Venezia. Nevertheless, the Italian football buttociation (FIGC) and the media, aligned against Genoa's chairman Enrico Preziosi because of economic conflicts, since the first day of investigations painted Genoa CFC and its chairman as the "Big Satan" of the italian football. Incredibly, all of the accusations were published by the italian press, infringing the judicial secret, and we all discovered that the accusations were based on telephonical interceptions (disproportionate action: only for a presumed football combine, surely not a serious crime, I guess...): those interceptions did not prove anything clear and detailed, it was just smalltalk. However, the italian press showed unwavering certainties: Preziosi and his club were guilty, and they had to pay! All of the accusations have been brilliantly dismantled by Genoa's defense, but it wasn't enough, during a medieval process: did you know that, according to the rules of the italian sports justice, the culprit must exculpate himself, and not the charge must prove his guilt? In Italy, we call it The Devil's Evidence. If the state justice worked that way, everyone could be incriminated by anyone: if I told to a judge that a friend of mine stole me 10 euros last friday, how could he exculpate himself second the Devil's Evidence conditions? It would be almost impossible. And almost impossible is defending yourself, when accused of combine. Genoa was condemned to a double retrocession, from serie A to serie C. The whole city, even the Sampdoria supporters, our rivals, was shocked. FIGC President Carraro said that a new era had just started, and the italian football was going to get born again, cleaner and safer. It was a big lie. Mr. Carraro ignores the situation of Juventus FC, implicated in a doping scandal since five years... Or the pbuttports scandal: some important italian teams (Inter, for example) engaged south american players as EU players, even if their european pbuttport was clearly fake! But the climax of the incredible FIGC clownery is the battle to defend Roma AC from the accusations of UEFA: Roma engaged the french player Mexes last year, even if it couldn't engage him, and made him play many matches, that, according to the rules, should be considered lost, and Roma should be in serie B now, because of the unlawful enlistment. But Carraro doesn't care: he's fighting for the sake of Roma, but also for his. He is an important Roma's shareholder, and it would be a tragedy for him, if Roma were sent to Serie B. The FIGC President is a big shareholder of a Serie A team: incredible, but true. Also incredible, the story of Lazio's rescue by the government. A new law allowed Lazio to pay its gigantic debt in 23 years (!). When other clubs demanded for being allowed to use that law, the law expired! It was called, hironically, "Legge salva Lazio" (Law to save Lazio). Lazio is the other Rome's team, and casually (...) it's involved in Carraro's friends business. But the scapegoat has been chosen: Genoa CFC 1893. Because of a strange story of interceptions (in Italy, they're not constitutional, but nobody cared about it), the oldest italian club risks to disappear (it's not easy, for a Premiership team,to start again suddenly from the Premier Division), as Carraro makes his sleazy business yet, ruining the reputation of the whole italian football. Genoa's fans "don't sleep", and are fighting for their team's destiny. We want to give our club a future, and it's important to make Europe know what's happening in the Italian football. Britain is our spiritual homeland, our forefathers came from England. It's basilar, to us, that the English know what's happening. Genoa can't be the scapegoat for all the football's sins! Everybody must know it. Thanks for your attention. Useful links: www.grifoni.org www.grifoni.net www.genoacfc.it