Serie A: Politics and Religion

By European Football
April 16 2006

I have recently been grabbed in a professional manner by the elections in Italy, having spent the last 2 weeks or so in the madness that is Rome at the moment, my mind turned for solace to one of the great philosophies of our time, namely football.

Ignazio Silone wrote: This sort of sadness has always prevailed among intelligent Italians, but most of them, to evade suicide or madness, have taken to every known means of escape, a passion for women, for food and above all, for fine sounding words.

And it is true that football in Italy is far more linked with the everyday world of politics than it is anywhere else in Europe.

Where else could I be confidently told, as I was during the last election, that if AC Milan were winning Serie A, in place of Juventus, Berlusconi would still be in charge of the country?

It was a strange election, almost reaching the farce of the American elections of a few years ago, claim and counter claim, as the country rocked from one scandal to another.

But scandal is what Italy is all about; it always has been since the days of the emperors:

In any self-respecting democracy it would be unthinkable that the man assumed to be on the verge of being elected Prime Minister would recently have come under investigation for, among other things money –laundering, complicity in murder, connections with the mafia, tax evasion and the bribing of politicians, judges and the tax-police. But this country is Italy (The Economist)

And that encapsulates what people do not understand about the Italians and in particular Italian football, Italy does not possess an Anglo-Saxon work ethic (all though Italians do tend to be hard working on the whole) they do not expect fair play in all quarters.

On the contrary they expect to be cheated and the entire system runs on a series of favours owed to and demanded from the individual.

Juventus are the force of Italian football, its most successful club, yet they are not even the biggest club in their own city, football is big business and egos, and few had a bigger ego than the man so long linked with AC Milan.

It is worth considering that for a moment, Berlusconi could still be in charge of an entire nation, if AC Milan were winning Serie A.

It sounds preposterous, but it’s also possibly true.

In fact if Milan wins the CL, then it looks more a case of bad timing by Berlusconi, than anything else.

Religion of course plays a major part in Italian life as Federico Fellini observed: Italy is a land of ancient cults, rich in natural and supernatural powers. And so everyone feels its influence. After all, whoever seeks God, finds him, wherever he wants.

Before I left Italy yesterday, I met with some Italian relatives of mine that were in the capital for today’s mass, my mother had her husband in toe and my youngest brother, we met for a meal and a chance for me to get a telling off for yet again missing mass (its been about 25 years since my last one, but this is scant time to parents I find) but once my telling off had stopped, the conversation turned naturally to the new religion of football.

Because religion is what it is, in an age, where the church has few answers and politicians even less, the vagaries of professional football have more relevance to the average man than anything loftier.

Answer yourself this, truly when was the last time you prayed?

Mine was that Newcastle would beat Chelsea, I know where the modern gods are, they are on the football field, not the over paid and frankly dubiously intelligent individuals that hoof the ball about, more the clubs, the passion, the belief, everything that was turned towards God in medieval times is evident on the terraces up and down the length of every country in the western world.