A feud between an Italian Serie A club and the league itself made its way to the pitch in the form of protest kits this past weekend.
US Lecce were originally scheduled to play Atalanta BC on Friday, April 25. But the night before, Lecce team physiotherapist Graziano Fiorita—who had been employed by the club for 26 years—died at the team hotel after suffering a heart attack.
Following the tragedy, the game was rescheduled, but only for two days later on Sunday, April 27. Lecce petitioned Serie A for the game to be postponed further, but were denied by the league.
In response, Lecce took to the pitch at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo wearing not their usual away kits, but all-white kits in protest of Serie A forcing them to play. The kits had a black ribbon on the chest in place of the club crest, and “NESSUN VALORE, NESSUN COLORE” (“No Value, No Colour”) written across the chest in black.
US Lecce released a statement on their website on Sunday, prior to the rescheduled match, which read in part:
Graziano Fiorita died while he was on retreat with the team, far from his wife and 4 children and still lies thousands of kilometers away from home, waiting for the magistrate to authorize his return. This match should not have been played today, but all attempts to postpone it have been cynically rejected. We thank the Minister of Sport Andrea Abodi who until the last, but without success, tried to have the match played on a more suitable date. The team will regularly show up on the field despite having left Salento only today, hoping, until the last, for a change of heart that never came. Graziano’s memory is not honored by not showing up on the field or by having the Primavera play.
You don’t respond to a grave injustice by blatantly violating the rules, as if honoring Graziano meant starting a competition between us and the League to see who can do worse.
We will play the game of “trampled values”, but we will do it wearing an anonymous white jersey, which does not represent us, without colors, crests and logos. We will wear our jersey again when Graziano returns home and is honored, as he deserves, by his people.
— US Lecce club statement
Player names and numbers on the back and shorts were black. Lecce players also wore black armbands in mourning.
Lecce produces their kits in-house through their M903 brand.
Lecce and Atalanta played to a 1-1 draw. Atalanta players and staff joined their opponents in mourning Fiorita with a minute of silence and by placing flowers in front of the bench where the physiotherapist would have sat. Atalanta fans also placed memorial banners throughout the stands.
According to Tribuna.com, the all-white kits could cost Lecce: “According to the Code of Sports Justice, Lecce broke two rules: playing ‘with unauthorized match equipment not approved by the relevant football league’ and ‘displaying unauthorized symbols or messages,’ as well as skipping the post-match press conference.”
The same report quotes Serie A president Ezio Maria Simonelli from a press conference:
“I believe the league showed great sensitivity toward the grief experienced by Lecce and the Fiorita family. Rescheduling the game immediately was the most we could do. I’m not saying ‘the show must go on,’ but we are the football league: we must ensure football continues and that the league runs as regularly as possible.
“We accommodated every possible request, but we had to preserve the integrity of the league, which couldn’t allow a postponement of such a crucial match, important for both Champions League and relegation battles. It’s easy to criticize the league from the couch. The decision we made respects Lecce’s mourning and the family, but also the millions of football fans who need a fair and regular championship.”
— Serie A president Ezio Maria Simonelli
US Lecce currently sit in 17th place in the Serie A standings, one place above relegation, with four games remaining in the season.
