“The precautionary requests rejected”. Yesterday evening, signed by President Vito Branca, the Coni Sport Guarantee Board acknowledged the sensitivity of the matter, noting that “the issues submitted to the Board for consideration do not concern questions of law and legitimacy of immediate scrutiny or of peaceful solution. For this reason the dispute must be treated, ensuring full cross-examination between all parties and, as a result, full knowledge of the merits of the same”.
Moral: Forlì’s appeal is well founded, but it needs to be explored further. It should be remembered that the association of president Gianfranco Cappelli had its request for a forfeit victory rejected twice by the FIGC judges in the match lost 2-1 against Carpi, due to the use of the player Cecotti by the Emilian club , who would not have served a one-match ban. According to the interpretation of the lawyers of Forlì and Ravenna, the president of the Coni Board of Guarantee, not being able to decide independently given the delicate nature of the situation, invited the National Amateur League to take note of it, after having set the hearing, which will on the merits. And, to get into the matter, a cross-examination is needed.
The hearing will be scheduled today and, again according to the interpretation of the ‘offended party’, it will force the NLD itself – specifically the interregional department that ‘governs’ the D series – to block competitive activity, also to avoid having to take, subsequently, even more invasive decisions. If this were the case, that is, if the LND really suspended the competitive activity of the ‘post season’ of group D, it would obviously be a first step. But in reality it would be a giant step, if we consider that the Football Federation had rejected Forlì’s appeal, as mentioned, both in the 1st and 2nd degree. All parties remained silent and did not comment. The situation, moreover, has become very delicate. Not so much for the playoffs, but for promotion to Serie C. Carpi has already celebrated its return to the professional ranks. Ravenna shed tears. Forlì put it on the level of pride. Should it go as the two clubs from Romagna hope, now more than ever ‘friends-enemies’, a precedent dating back to 1987 would be evoked when – still in group D of Serie D – San Marino, coached at the time by Lele Lucchi from Cesena, after having widely celebrated the historic promotion to C2 with all the authorities of the Republic, was mocked a few weeks later by the ruling of the Caf, which allowed Riccione to bypass the titans and obtain the leap into the professional ranks.
