A boxing match that lasted for years and ended with one of the two opponents throwing in the towel.
In the metaphorical “ring” the Municipality of Varese and a Uisp basketball team. Reason for the dispute the conditions of the Marconi school gym in via Adriatico. The players, many of them from other teams, have often reported (the first letter is from 2018) that the gym is dirty, poorly maintained, sometimes without lights. The problem has always been trying to understand who was responsible, among the many who play there, for the incorrect use of the sports facility.
The team that writes to Varesenews again today finally paid a company to clean the gym, but also decided to leave Varese. In the last sports commission, the Municipality proposed different rates depending on the gyms, but the “Wool VAs” (yes, that’s their name) are no longer interested.
Below is the letter
Our amateur basketball team played in Varese for about 30 years, changing its name from ILOP to Link IT and finally to Wool VA.
In the first few years we used the gym in via XXV Aprile and for the last 13 years the Marconi in via Adriatico. Many companies like ours have to face numerous difficulties to remain active: self-financing, presence of a resuscitator, maintenance of the defibrillator, replacement of balls, wear and tear of uniforms, COVID rules, relationships with the Municipality for the concession of gyms and many others that now they don’t help us. Despite the difficulties, we have always overcome every obstacle.
Unfortunately, the 2023/2024 season was decisive, and It is with regret that we announce that we will be moving to one of the gyms in Malnate starting next year. In the last two years, the municipality has stopped contracting out cleaning, leaving the companies with the concession to organize it at their own expense. Coordinating dozens of teams to choose a cleaning company and raise funds was extremely complicated. We attempted to manage the cleaning ourselves, but the results were disastrous due to the conditions of the Marconi gym.
Responsibility was attributed to the last daily users, i.e. the UISP teams, which is unfair considering that schools and other youth teams use the gym for a much longer time. After repeatedly finding inappropriate waste in the bathrooms, we documented the situation with the Municipality with photos and descriptions, asking for a change for the future and a reduction in the hourly cost, given the impossibility of fully using the facility. In response, the City insisted on maintaining the cleaning obligation at our expense, threatening the withdrawal of concessions if we did not remedy the current unseemly situation.
I would add that the public can enter all the gyms in the province while, for “safety” reasons, this is not possible in the smaller gyms of Varese (where, however, schoolchildren can carry out physical education hours).
After years of collaboration, the diktat of the current Councilor was an unacceptable insult for us and we decided to move. Despite everything, we contributed financially to the cleaning intervention by the Pellegrini company, so as not to burden the other teams. It is important to note that the hourly cost of the Malnate gym, including cleaning and free access by the public, is lower than that of the Marconi gym, where we were responsible for cleaning.
We conclude by underlining that we would have accepted a clear admission of unavailability of funds. However, we cannot tolerate the current decision not to contract out cleaning being presented as prudent and reasonable, when in reality it has been unsustainable, unworthy and unacceptable from the beginning.
“The Marconi gym in Varese is dirty and without lights, an intolerable situation”
