Bitterness, disappointment, even anger. The announcement of the farewell of Biella basketball to the A2 series triggered a tsunami among the fans, not only of the Piedmontese team, but of all basketball. “This is the news that no fan would ever want to read”, says Alessio, he supports Pistoia. And again: “What a pity, I’m sorry. Knowing that next year there will be no other fiery Casale-Biella derby makes me sad. I hope you can return to high levels soon”, hopes Giovanni. Among the most disappointed fans is the deputy mayor of Biella Giacomo Moscarola who entrusts his bitterness to a post on Facebook.
“I write this post first as a fan than as a councilor for sport – he says – It was back in 1997 when I crossed the doors of PalaPaietta for the first time to attend a basketball game, and since then you can count the times on the fingers of one hand that on Sunday I didn’t go to support our team “. Remember anecdotes, points, wins and losses. “Thinking that all this is over leaves a bad taste in the mouth and a lot of anger because it didn’t have to end like this” Moscarola talks about a failure of the territory. “Few have believed and still believe in sport in this area. The Biellese no longer enjoys that patronage that was present until a few decades ago. Surely too many are turning a deaf ear to the screams for help from so many realities in this area. The administration is investing a lot about the city structures that are envied by many parts, but we have some beautiful containers but without contents “.
Then there are the messages from the former players. “If a club like Biella, with years of experience in Serie A and A2, for me one of the most series I’ve played for, is in such a situation, I think it’s worth asking a few questions about how these leagues are managed. . Best wishes to the whole city and society, an example of passion for basketball “, says one of them. The company announced on Facebook that it is withdrawing from the Serie A2 championship after two seasons. The debts are too many: they would exceed two million euros between taxes and unpaid bills that come from the heyday but expensive of the A1 Series.
“After years and seasons in which, in the face of a” modest “economic response from the territory, the members of Pallacanestro Biella took it upon themselves to personally cover the holes in an increasingly deficient budget for a Serie A2, the new scenarios – not certainly rosy from an economic point of view – they now make it impossible to continue the business “, reads the official statement. Biella basketball, however, will not disappear “by maintaining the membership of all its Under 21 athletes (thus continuing in the youth activity) and the federal parameters that are paid every year for the dozens and dozens of athletes that our youth sector has trained in almost 3 decades “.
