Piazza di Spagna, steps of Trinità dei Monti. One hundred patricians of the Rome goodfully deployed in smoking e evening dresses, they pose smiling together with the cup. And then off we all go together on private shuttles towards Caracalla’s thermal bathswhere the gala dinner reserved for a select few (but not that many) takes place: over a thousand people, half the government, not just the Minister of Sport, Andrea Abodibut also Santanché e Tajani who spent the most on the event, and so on Sangiuliano e Ursus. The entire Olympus of sports politics, from the host golf to football, including the former coach Roberto Mancini who found his old friend for the first time Gravina. And also athletes, actors, subrettes, entrepreneurs, lobbyists, anyone who has managed to secure the coveted invitation, or grab one of the prizes worth its weight in gold (especially foreigners). 85 tableswhere those who have been there say that fish-based dishes were served and only champagne was drunk throughout the dinner Moët & Chandon, before a final shot for the cameras. The perfect group photo of Ryder Cup 2023: a tournament of the rich, for the rich.
Over the years, the Ryder Cup and its public organization (60 million euros put into maneuvers at the time of the Renzian governments and discovered by Everyday occurrence) have been at the center of controversy. “Give money to golf” has become an almost proverbial expression, synonymous with waste e inequality. The organizers have always defended themselves by claiming that the Ryder Cup in Rome it would have been quite the opposite, it would have served to make golf a popular sport accessible to everyone. However, today that the great event has become reality, we realize that it went exactly as everyone imagined. A private event who made the fortune of a few – the n.1 in Italian golf, Franco Chimentiwho can boast of having brought her to Italy, the English organizers who took their Roman holidays and obviously the owners of the camp, the family Biagiotti – leaving little or nothing to the country.
If this happened it is also and above all the fault of how the system was conceived project. Spoiled by an original sin, which still exists today shout vendetta: the gaming venue, not a public structure but a circle privatenot of any family but of the Biagiotti. Chosen somehow eight years ago, without one transparent procedure (the organizers have always said that it was the English who indicated it as the only option, a version never confirmed in these terms by those directly involved). The fact is that the money of progetto Ryder financed by the public were also used to rent the field, and therefore pay directly (as in the case of the work on the electrical cables of Terna) or indirectly the restructuring of the club. There FeatherGolf he could have focused on his federal field, a Sutriwhich has also been renovated in recent years but will certainly not be able to boast the prestige of the Ryder, or build one new structure from scratch. Instead it was decided to turn to private individuals, and once the event is over they will be the ones to find themselves in their hands little gem which hosted Ryder and enjoy the benefits (including economic ones) that such pride entails.
Similar speech for the movement, which had to become one national popular sport thanks to Ryder. But there wasn’t nessun boom of golf in Italy, at least not until today: the increase in membership was at the center of the project and its business plan, the organizers expected to earn 30 million euros from it. In reality, from the candidacy to today, the number has remained more or less stationary, going from 90 thousand in 2015 to 94 thousand as of 31 December 2022 (latest data available on the Federation website). 60 million or more in public contributions for 4 thousand more cards. Maybe it will get better in the next few years, in the wake of the big event. For now it is just proof that the promotion plan behind the event was a failure. Initiatives to spread the practice have been limited to a few small ones open day in famous clubs or squares, with evidently minimal impact, as the numbers show. The organizers they claim to have made golf accessible to all, thanks to commercial agreements with decathlon (where you can buy a starter kit at controlled prices) and the federal card for just 100 euros a year, even 10 for kids. All true, but today playing golf in Italy remains difficult and expensive. Once registered with the Federationyou still have to pay the entrance (the so-called “green fee”) in the circles, which are few, almost all private and certainly not economic. To the Marco Simone, for example, after the event the rates will skyrocket up to 350 euros per day. You want to dare to get a couple of holes on the same course where you are challenge yourself the Champions. But how many will be able to afford it?
Despite the rhetoric, golf in Italy is still a sport for the rich. And the Ryder It’s their tournament. THE tickets, prices up to hundreds of euros, have been sold out for some time and have almost all been sold abroad (just 10% were bought by Italians). Proving that this is a tournament for others. To the romani, however, apart from the influx of tourists who invaded the city for a week (which in any case had already been full for months, even without the Ryder), nothing happened. Indeed, they woke up with the city paralyzed from traffic, even more than usual. And the Municipality also took away the metro from them, because despite knowing it for seven years no one thought about strengthening the services, and the trains of the B1 line as revealed by the Done they were diverted to the parallel line serving the tournament, cutting off three entire neighborhoods and over 50 thousand residents. What are they complaining about: as they say in these cases, let them eat croissants. Rather than let’s play golf.
2023-09-30 06:56:16
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