LIVORNO. They had to face each other in five-a-side football. Instead, in a few minutes, the meeting was transformed into a boxing match and Coteto’s pitch into a ring. Chaos shortly after 8pm last Monday at the “Nuovo Centro” in via Campania, right in front of the fire station, where a group of people from Livorno fought with their opponents during the semi-final of a five-a-side football tournament, the great young Georgian players, provoking the anger of their families who, from outside the networks, tried in every way to enter the pitch to take justice into their own hands.
Those in charge of the facility did everything they could to avoid a second brawl, closing the gates and leaving relatives outside. Succeeding. Then, the people of Livorno, for fear of revenge, called 112 and two state police cars and as many carabinieri patrols intervened on the spot, with the parents and their children – those who would have had the worst of it – already fled. «I know that the referee took action against three people – comments one of the managers of the “New centre”, Paolo Baronetto – and we too will proceed with a strong fist: whoever beat these kids will never set foot here again. We did everything we could to avoid a clash between the parents of the Georgian players and the Livorno players and we succeeded. Luckily the public did not understand in time where the access gate to the field was, so my son Gabriele closed it, avoiding contact. It’s our job: that’s what we’re here for.”
At that moment an amateur tournament was underway in Coteto, with several matches, while in another part of the center the inauguration of the “Simone Brilli” memorial, dedicated to the seventeen-year-old footballer who passed away ten years ago. A flagship, the New Center of Coteto, where unrest is certainly not a constant and where people want to have fun: “It’s the first time something like this has happened”, remarks Baronetto, disappointed by what happened and worried due to the negative impact of the fight itself.
When the police arrived, the family members and the Georgian players had disappeared. «Something very singular – continues Baronetto – so much so that the people of Livorno didn’t even want to go out afterwards because they were afraid that they would be waiting for them on the street. The relatives’ reaction is human, I don’t think it pleases any parent to see their child punched or kicked. I think the fight involved three people on one team and three on the other, but I don’t know for sure because I wasn’t there. Surely these people have problems, because certain things should not happen, we strongly condemn them. It was an amateur tournament, you just had to have fun. I’m happy that the race director disqualified them.”
The brawl apparently occurred for gaming reasons and no one was taken away in an ambulance: «Things that can also happen on the street – concludes Baronetto – instead happened here, we are very saddened».
