Italian Amateur Football: The Impacts of Covid-19
In April, the streets of Rome should be bustling with tourists. But no queues are snaking across the pavement to see the Colosseum nor are their thousands of tourists waiting to see the Sistine Chapel. The Stadio Olimpico, home to fierce rivals Roma and Lazio, is empty. The stands, normally host to some of the most passionate fans in Italian football lie quiet.
Roma Termini station, which handles over 180,000,000 passengers a year, is desolated. The capital and the most populous city in Italy is a ghost town.
One of the office buildings left deserted is the headquarters of the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti, one of the largest and most important administrative organs in the Italian football pyramid. Out of sight and out of view from the large majority of the general public, it sanctions the sprawling world of Italian Amateur Football. As an indicator of its sheer size, the LND presides over almost 12,000 clubs, 1,050,451 players and over 500,000 matches per year, making it an essential component of Italian Football.
Out of these 1,000,000 players, 360,000 participate in youth football, whilst the remaining 640,000 participate in various amateur or semi-professional leagues across Italy. In 2019, 1 out of 58 Italians was registered to the national database of the LND, a staggering number. Furthermore, 272 players registered in the 2017/18 season signed professional contracts, either in Italy or abroad, whilst 452 Serie D clubs (the 4th tier of Italian Football) ascended to the professional leagues between 2000 and 2020.
“The Lega Nazionale Dilettanti administrates in a non-profit form, the sports clubs and associations affiliated to the Italian Football Federation that participate in the national, regional and provincial amateur football championships. These leagues make exclusive use of the services of non-professional players’,”
‘The LND coordinates, directs and develops the football sports activities of the associated sports clubs and associations and promotes the competitive events announced or directly organized by it’, adds Coscarella.
The LND is also vital for the development of young players. 272 youth players registered in the 2017/18 season signed professional contracts, either in Italy or abroad, the season afterwards.
Without the presence of the LND, some of Italian Football’s brightest talents, such as Sandro Tonali and Federico Chiesa would have never reached the dizzying heights at which they play today. For many aspiring football players and coaches, life without the LND sanctioning and organizing tournaments, leagues and friendlies would be unimaginable.
Yet that is what happened in 2020, the annus horribilis for Italian football.
By April 30th 2020, over 200,000 confirmed cases and 35,000 deaths due to Covid- 19 were registered in Italy. The health and safety of the general public rightly became the number one priority. All sports, including football, were forced to take a backseat. On the 9th of March 2020, the juggernaut of the LND came to a creaking halt. All activity was suspended until further notice.
The impacts of this decision were ruinous.
“ The world of sport, like other realities, has had to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic. Many teams are struggling to survive. The survival of these teams is subject to support from economic partners, which do not guarantee support. ”
During a regular season, only the most dramatic matches merit inclusion on the ‘sports page’ of a major newspaper. Even then, 90 minutes of thrilling action are reduced to a drab footnote, destined to be ignored by the readers. To millions of people in Italy, the world of amateur football is one which they will never step foot in. For the 12,000 clubs and the 1,050,451 players, it is their livelihood. As Coscarella rightly says, ‘The world of amateur football is often overshadowed by the world of information and politics.
Another hidden impact of the suspension of the activities of the LND was not physical, but social. The thousands of children who received essential physical activity and social support by playing football were now confined to their bedrooms, their only portal to the outside world a small screen.
A study conducted by the National Center of Biotechnology Information in America found that ‘pandemic produce potential risks to child development due to the risk of illness, protective confinement and social isolation’. This opinion is shared by Coscarella, who comments that ‘Sport is a vehicle for inclusion, participation and social aggregation as well as a tool for psycho-physical well-being and prevention’
“The pandemic produced potential risks to child development due to the risk of illness, protective confinement and social isolation’”
These impacts are only scratching the surface of the deep-rooted and systemic damage which Covid-19 caused the LND and the clubs which it represents. To millions of people in Italy, the world of amateur football is one which they will never step foot in. For the 12,000 clubs and the 1,050,451 players who are registered to the LND database, it is their livelihood.
The outlook for the resumption for the leagues represented by the LND remains bleak. After the first 15 rounds of the 2020/21 Serie D the season was suspended until the 6th of December, subject to Covid regulations’, despite 73% of all Serie D Presidents voting to continue with the season. As of January 2021, the season has not been resumed, and Coscarella admits that it is likely that ‘a total resumption of footballing abilities will only occur during the 21/22 season, and not earlier’ due to the logistic and financial constraints of implementing Covid-19 protocols upon clubs and players, all of whom are not professional.
The unwavering commitment of the LND in exhausting all possible solutions must be lauded. Coscarella describes their biggest triumph during these testing times was the ‘creation of an ever effective medical protocol which allowed the continuation of footballing activities’
The biggest challenge, however, is yet to come.
For many clubs, it is a race against time to find sufficient financial backing to compete in next year’s Serie D. For the sake of football gans around the world, we hope that this battle can be won.
