It’s Saturday 13 April, 5.07pm. At the Rosolini Sports Hall, Futsal Mazara makes history. The siren at the end of the match against Ispica (which ended 0-0) gave the team of president Filippo Maggio and coach Enzo Bruno a historic promotion to A2 which goes hand in hand with the victory of the Serie B Italian Cup in Basilicata by not even a month ago for a double which will remain historic in city sport. The team goes to celebrate outside the stadium, where around 200 fans remained outside because the match, somewhat surprisingly, was played behind closed doors. A mass mobilization, with the yellow and blue supporters ready to celebrate their favorites already in Ispica. And, upon returning to the city, over a thousand fans filled Piazza della Repubblica to welcome their heroes. “It could have been a dream at the start of the championship – explains president Maggio – but in the last three months we understood that we could do it. A goal that we have earned with sacrifice. I have yet to realize. The dream has become reality, we achieved it on the field.” Therefore, if the president has a ‘fault’ it is that of having dragged an entire city into a yellow-blue party: “I don’t feel this great responsibility (he jokes about it, ed.), but I felt the responsibility of around 200 people left outside the stadium because the match was behind closed doors. At that moment I felt responsible for a city on my shoulders for a situation that didn’t depend on me.”
The yellow-blue president is still excited and in the space of a couple of weeks he has seen the enthusiasm for what his creation has achieved grow considerably. “The best feeling was the return of the Italian Cup, a surprise. I didn’t imagine finding 2-300 people waiting for us at 6 in the morning. However, after Ispica we learned that people were organizing themselves to welcome us. I also received a phone call from the mayor asking me my arrival time. Experiencing it personally was exceptional, we traveled along the seafront by bus and people cheered us. The arrival in the square was very exciting.” The hunger with which the city triumphantly welcomed the yellow and blue team did not leave Maggio indifferent: “I know my city – continues the president – I had some signals that made me think that Mazara could be involved in a bigger project. In our small way we found this showcase of 5-a-side football which gave us possibilities that are more difficult to achieve with football. The fans themselves were surprised by the showcase the city could have. A great emotion to find, at around midnight, a thousand people welcoming us, including the mayor. The fireworks went off, the square was full of yellow and blue flags and the children in the street wanted photos and autographs. It was the apotheosis there.”
A welcome, upon returning to the city, which certainly made a stir: “The best feeling was the return of the Italian Cup because it was a surprise. I didn’t imagine finding 2-300 people waiting for us at 6 in the morning. However, after Ispica we learned that people were organizing themselves to welcome us. I also received a phone call from the mayor asking me the time. Experiencing it personally was exceptional, we traveled along the seafront by bus and people cheered us. The arrival in the square was very exciting. The full square is a signal that Mazara sends. The city needs to establish itself in sport. So far we have not been known nationally except in individual sports such as fencing. However, there was no sport that could fill the stadiums. On this basis we also ask for the construction of a new facility that can accommodate more people and that can be used not only for five-a-side football but also for other sports and non-sporting events.” Among the secrets of the victory, also the relationship between president Maggio and coach Bruno: “With Enzo we have a deep understanding and five-a-side football in the last ten years has given us the opportunity to be even closer. What also distinguished us was the irony. We did serious things, not taking ourselves too seriously. Perhaps this too was the winning weapon of the image that was created around our team. Futsal Mazara was born from me and Mister Bruno, but many people – concludes the president – have embraced our project by joining the management”.
The friendship between the team’s number one and the coach is also confirmed by the coach, creator of this authentic miracle: “With Filippo – explains Enzo Bruno – we have been childhood friends, I also acted as best man at his wedding. This team was born from our desire to play sport and some time ago I had involved it with Real Marsala, Real Futsal and Marsala Futsal. A common passion that also made him. We also owe everything that has happened to our sincere friendship which also led us to these results. This is a passion for us, taking ourselves too seriously is not good. Social relevance should be the basis of all sports.”
And to think that Mazara was a freshman in the B championship, but the yellow-blue team was able to amaze everyone by winning everything it could win: “These are wonderful emotions, it was an unexpected result on the eve of the championship. However, little by little we became aware of our strength and celebrated an absurd year, where everything went well.” Among the aspects to underline also the unbeaten streak that lasted until the third to last of the championship for a team that had not lost since December 3, 2022 and which this year was the last team in the professional championships to lose a match. “We became aware that it was possible when we won the two away games in Soverato in the first leg, against a team built to win. At the end of the first round we understood that we could have our say.”
TAmong the team’s secrets is also mental strength: “At home against Soverato we were 4-2 down, but we shortened with 30” to go and equalized with two seconds to go, in the Cup final we equalized to go to extra time with two seconds to go. It was one of our characteristics – underlines Mr. Bruno – these guys never gave up and always believed in us. Our strength was our mentality, on a technical level there were some teams superior to us, but they didn’t have our mental strength, our group and our audience.”. The coach also focuses on the hunger for sport shown by the city: “These are emotions that we have never felt, it has never happened that a city mobilized in this way for a sports club. I remember the golden years of handball in Serie A or even Mazara Calcio in Serie D. However, I have never seen such great affection, especially from families and children. Many traveled five hours, 60 people came to Basilicata for the Cup. With Ispica, it’s a shame about the insult of closed doors, but it would be something to be addressed on a broader scale.”
A tangible enthusiasm accompanied the team, with an always packed stadium and demonstrations of affection even during long trips: “This city is very hungry for sport. Many of our matches were decided right on the razor’s edge, we often won in the last seconds. People also love these emotions and the fact that the outcome is always in the balance and then can be on your side. Every match was exciting, like the whole ride.” Toit is time to look to the future and to the next season which will see Mazara involved in the A2 championship: “We depend on sponsors, we are not wealthy people who alone can run such a reality. We have created something important, companies have noticed us and I think we will have a better chance of finding sponsors. Then the pitch will be the supreme judge – concludes Mr. Bruno – in the meantime it is important to organize ourselves from an economic point of view”. “The history of Futsal teaches that there are no clubs like Juventus, Inter or Milan, with an important base and which always maintain the same standards. Many clubs also arrive in Serie A and perhaps don’t even register the following season.”
Tags: Futsal Mazara dream reality Fans celebrate square
