I leave Città di Castello and Trestina-Grosseto behind me and get in the car towards Gubbio, where the match between the home rossoblù and Cesena’s Romagna team will begin at 6.30pm. Apart from a section of the E45 closed for works, I don’t encounter any particular obstacles in order to reach the medieval city when there are still three quarters of an hour until kick-off.
This evening at the “Barbetti” there was a good crowd with almost two thousand fans present, while 638 tickets were sold by Juventus fans who arrived in Umbria with numerous private cars but also a coach.
Before entering, the Gubbio ultras stop at their meeting point and then take their places in the corner. The new course of the “ULTRAS UNONOVEUNOZERO” is decidedly uphill, mostly because it is not easy to take up the baton of the now dissolved “GUBBIO SUPPORTERS” who had written important pages of history together with the team, whose highest point was the historic promotion to Serie B. Despite these difficulties, in a small city of just over thirty thousand inhabitants, credit goes to them who try to carry on the consolidated local ultras tradition. Compared to their predecessors stationed in the covered grandstand, they have decided to move to the historic Curva Nord, fiefdom of the other historic group of the “ULTRÀ GUBBIO”, where, despite giving up a few more presences, they can qualitatively restrict the following to only the ultras, the which can be counted regardless.
On the opposite side, Cesena is vice-leader behind the surprise Torres this evening followed by many Cesena ultras crowding the guest sector of the Umbrian stadium, with all the historical acronyms of the various ultras groups present and with the banners well displayed on the balcony. The guests, even before the initial whistle, are very colorful thanks to the waving of various flags, flags, pennants and two poles, their unmistakable trademark. Once the teams enter the field, the people of Cesena insist on this line, transforming the sector into a riot of colour, sealing everything with the lighting of a couple of torches. The hosts, however, accompanied for the occasion by their friends from Forlì complete with a rag over the banner of the supporting group, limited themselves to waving two flags and raising a banner.
In the first half, both factions start off well in terms of singing but with totally different styles, with the guests pursuing the color to which they match so much of their voices, while the Umbrians above all perform a good number of handclaps to accompany the choirs. Thanks to the goal scored by Di Massimo after just sixteen minutes, the hosts try to raise the decibels despite, or perhaps precisely because of, the fact that they have a fanbase as famous as the Cesena fans in front of them.
As the match continued, the people from Gubbio didn’t give up and continued to cheer discreetly, always with a high number of handclaps to accompany the chants. The host sector, on the other hand, continues to be a whirlwind of colors even if, to be honest, I saw them less bright than on other previous occasions. In the thirty-seventh minute their team equalizes and even a small portion of the stands rejoices, where other Juventus fans are sitting, as well as obviously the away section which, a few moments later, lights a couple of torches to celebrate.
In the second half the script does not change much, on both fronts, until a quarter of an hour from the end when the guests perform their classic, dense and long-lasting scarf to the notes of “Romagna mia” to seal a good second part of competition from a singing point of view. The rossoblù, not wanting to be outdone, carry out a good number of claps and color their sector with the two flags, the banner and another couple of flags, trying to push the team to a surprising victory which however does not arrive after the canonical minutes injury time, the referee sends everyone to the locker rooms. Finally, both teams go to greet their respective fans, thus the curtain closes on this non-stop Sunday where there was no lack of fun and points of interest for the ultras, the same ones that I always hope to find at every new match, the same ones that they are the reason for every other trip around Italy.
Marco Gasparri
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2023-11-29 09:31:10
#GubbioCesena #consolidated #traditions
