Basketball, Trapani close to surrender: “We consider not playing in Bologna against Virtus”

The situation in Trapani is becoming increasingly burdensome and complex. At the end of the match lost at home against Varese, sporting director Valeriano d’Orta appeared in the press room and read a statement without the possibility of reply, expressing the club’s decision to consider non-presence in the fourteenth round in Bologna on January 4th. We remind you that Trapani is already suffering a -5 in the rankings for various non-compliances and a total fine of 100,000 euros for having been without the minimum number of professional contracts for two days (after Allen’s departure) and cannot send assistant coach Latini to the bench as head coach due to the blocking of memberships due to a pending award.

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These are his words: “Trapani Shark takes note of the recent decisions by Legabasket and the Italian Basketball Federation which represent a clear injustice and persecutory act towards the club, irreparably compromising its competitiveness and the fairness of the entire championship as seen this evening where in normal conditions we would have respected the differences in the rankings with our opponents. As far as we are concerned, the repeated decision not to seat coach Alex Latini on the bench, combined with the disproportionate sanctions, despite the full documented substantial regularity, the demonstrated good faith and the federal acquittal for president Antonini regarding tax credits is not an operational obstacle but a real attack on the image and survival of the club. These measures, which ignore sensational precedents such as that of Cantù in 2019, and Brescia in 2020, where the FIP actively favored flexible solutions to avoid collapse of the entire system, highlight an unacceptable double standard and a vexatious treatment aimed at the Trapani Shark. Seriously putting at risk the basic principles of sporting fairness and equality between affiliates. In this climate of total uncertainty, arbitrariness, lack of dialogue, where the majority of the players have expressed their desire to leave, and in compliance with the fairness that has always guided the club’s actions, the club announces that it is seriously and urgently evaluating the option of not taking part in the match scheduled for the 14th round of the championship in Bologna act of protest necessary to publicly denounce the gravity of what we are suffering and to solicit a constructive and institutional discussion with the competent bodies in the belief that dialogue and mutual respect are fundamental to guarantee fairness and protection for all components of the sports system”.