«The Southern Star will continue to shine». It is to these words, pronounced by president Nando Marino, that Happy Casa Brindisi fans cling to so as not to sink into anguish. Brindisi is in A2. A phrase that few would have expected to say in September, but which has been echoing in the ears of every Brindisi for two days.
The beauty was of no use home victory against Venice: Treviso won easily in Varese and mathematics condemns the blue and whites. After twelve years, therefore, the white-blue company will find itself planning and building, trying to quickly return to where a city like Brindisi belongs.
Brindisi has not played in A2 since 2012, thanks to the play-offs won against Pistoia. That team featured basketball players of the caliber of Andrea Zerini, Klaudio Ndoja, Alex Renfroe and Jonathan Gibson, the true hero of that magical season that brought Brindisi back to Serie A1. Since then, New Basket has participated in the Scudetto Playoffs five times, reaching the semi-finals once. Eight times he participated in the Final Eight of the Italian Cup, reaching the final twice. He participated in the Italian Super Cup three times and played seven times in European competitions including Eurochallenge, Eurocup, Basketball Champions League and Europe Cup. He launched players such as Darius Thompson, John Brown, Riccardo Moraschini, Adrian Banks and Derek Willis. Brindisi’s journey in Serie A1 was full of successes that made the fans rejoice and obviously ended with everyone’s emotion and suffering.
«Today – said President Marino at the end of the match against Venice – is a very sad day for our club and for the city of Brindisi; we tried in every way and the boys on the pitch in these last few games gave everything with great pride and dignity. It is a huge disappointment to have to give up Serie A after twelve sporting seasons spent as great protagonists, coming close to winning the Italian Cup on two occasions, excelling in the championship against the great powers of Italian basketball and hitting the parquet of prestigious European arenas. On the saddest day of these years I particularly want to thank our commendable fans, my incomparable traveling companions, the Brindisi Vola a Canestro association and the many sponsors who supported us especially in the most difficult moments, all together becoming a fundamental part of the blue-white family. I also want to thank all the coaches, athletes, managers and collaborators who have honored our colors in recent years by making us experience an unforgettable journey. It will take time to get over the disappointment, but we want to immediately gather all the strength and energy to start again and return to where we belong. We have done it in the past, we will do it this time too. The Star of the South – he concluded through tears – will continue to shine.”
