There was a worse way to end a championship which, if on the one hand it is not about to end with relegation as happened in the past, on the other hand has still disappointed for the umpteenth time those who persist in supporting Torino despite the not exactly exciting progress of the Granata team, not to mention the merciless statistic that sees us last overall in Italy in terms of points collected in direct comparisons with Juventus?
No, it definitely wasn’t there.
For those who have faith in Toro – in the Toro that was and that frankly has nothing to do with the current Turin – 4 May is, as we know, the date on which homage is paid to the broken lives of the champions of an unrepeatable era, capable not only to win championship after championship and to enchant those who saw them take the field but also to embody the desire for rebirth of an entire nation in the aftermath of the deaths and destruction of the war.
Toro, hunt for those responsible for the insult video. The company: they will be sanctioned
And if already on the eve we had witnessed with dismay Kabic’s dribbling during the interval of Turin-Bologna at the moment in which SensoUnico sang the song they dedicated to the Superga tragedy, «That day of rain», the video shot and shared live by Gemello as the club bus arrived at the commemoration – the assistant goalkeeper intended to show the crowd who had come to greet the team – represents the classic straw that breaks the camel’s back.
The pink people of Turin, from Pantani’s lookalike to the grandfather who arrived by bike with his grandson
Philip Femia
05 May 2024
In the video, which is circulating on the Web despite Gemello immediately removing it, the voice of a footballer can be heard saying «These here are the same ones who booed us yesterday», followed by a «Yes yes» and a couple of insults aimed at to the supporters who unawarely applaud the bus passengers. Result: indignation naturally mounted on the so-called social media, immediately accompanied by the simultaneous hunt for the culprits.
Juric’s double middle finger: “Fans, my gesture wasn’t for you”
francesco manassero
09 November 2023
The first name to circulate was that of Pietro Pellegri, already immortalized a couple of months ago by a shot which in turn was widely circulated on the so-called social networks mentioned above, in which he was seen while under the tunnel leading to the changing rooms he was addressing the middle finger to someone, perhaps to a fan who contested it (something already done last November by the coach Ivan Juric at the end of the match won by Torino against Sassuolo, when from the stand where he was located because he was disqualified he made the same gesture in the direction of of the Curva Maratona, guilty of having had something to say about the not-so-brilliant start of the season, so to speak).
And in short: for generations, May 4th has been a sacred date, and not only for Granata supporters. In Superga, the scarves left by fans of other Italian and foreign clubs who have come to greet Valentino Mazzola and his teammates over time are countless. But we must finally acknowledge, and once and for all, that it is not a given that those who take the field today with the shirt of the team now captained by Alessandro Buongiorno will realize its meaning. Once upon a time, those who had seen Grande Torino play told the players who trained at Philadelphia about the exploits of Bacigalupo, Grezar, Loik, Gabetto, Ossola.
Today that transmission link between the Granata people and the members who for a season or so are paid to take the field with a shirt that in their eyes is actually equivalent to another one has disappeared, exactly as society lacks those who could and should have played the indispensable role of historical memory, starting with the last ones who managed to win the scudetto in the now distant 1975/’76. Beyond the ease with which words and gestures go “viral” today, since then the world has changed, football has changed, everything has changed. And consequently Turin has also changed, which no longer has anything to do with the Toro of the past. We are left with many indelible memories, and a bitterness that is independent of sporting results.
