I recently had to completely redraw a trip to Italy when it became apparent Finland was following Estonia in closing its borders to Russia, thus precluding my girl from getting a land exit, and that time, the alternative of a flight via Istanbul had reached the realms of silly money. There are a lot of understandable circumstances why, but it doesn’t make it less frustrating for those caught up in the side issues. A potential two game romantic trip to Tuscany would by the end of the week have become a 13 game romp around 8 separate regions, culminating in a final day down in the 5th tier Italian football in one of the two Eccellenza leagues from the vast region of Puglia, essentially the heel of Italy’s boot.
I have previously asked questions as to why certain teams stick in our psyche, and we support them, or at least look out for their results. Amongst the many rationale, a combination of the view from the mainstand and a macabre fascination as to how a team is going to get out of any particular season’s sticky mess might seem unlikely, but that is why Bisceglie became part of my staple of viewing. That was in the recent past when they were in the third tier, Serie C, who have a contract with an online broadcaster Eleven Sport, and the magnificent offering of being able to choose from the entire 27 game roster of fixtures on any given weekend during the season is great. It is a world of football that I am more drawn to as I edge further away from the monied end of the game.
Bisceglie (pronounced B-shell-yeh) weren’t necessarily out of their depth in the third tier, they just struggled to get out of the bottom five places in Serie C year on year, resulting in play outs to save themselves on a regular basis. I say on a regular basis, because twice the club was saved from the drop down by virtue of other clubs going out of business. At the third time of Play Out asking, a very late strike at Paganese seemed to finally be the turning point, an aggregate win, with no need to hope for any more bankruptcy elsewhere. However, this is Bisceglie and I was used to dark plot twists, and unbelievably Paganese would score deep into injury-time, but like a punch drunk boxer, they got up off the canvas and manufactured a glorious last kick of the game chance that agonisingly sailed wide and Bisceglie were down. This time they were down, Pistoiese were given a reprieve (again), ahead of them. Last season, the losing habit was still prevalent and it was made even worse as Serie D isn’t available on any streaming platform, so watching this slow regression was even more depressing.
Sometimes, after years of underachieving and underperforming it takes a couple of drops for the ship to steady, it can take new management, new players, new ideas and even a new ethos to come along to stop the rot. That is what seems to be happening at the start of the 2022/23 campaign in the top league within the Puglia regional league system, the Eccellenza. With things seemingly in a more upbeat place, this seemed like the perfect time to finally drop into the Gustavo Ventura stadium, as well as visit Bisceglie, which with a population of 70,000 is bigger than most Scottish cities, but merely a small place in the congested world of Italian conurbations.
Bisceglie is thirty minutes north of Bari on the coast on one of the relatively fast trains, a little longer on the regional service, as you head in the direction of Foggia. There are a lot of minor celebrity footballing outposts on this line, with Cerignola, Barletta, Trani and Molfetta either side of Bisceglie. The town is quaint without being spectacular but anywhere that resides by the sea in my book is always a winner. Indeed, it was the glimpse of the Adriatic over the goal to the left of the Tribuna (mainstand) that had first caught my attention when watching live online. At the other end, an impressive church dominates the sky just above where the away fans are housed. The other aspect of the team from Bisceglie that I was fascinated by, was the duel badge on the kit. The classic club badge with design and black and blue colours of the team on one side, and a big white star on the other. This was the second Italian team with this badge, Casale in Piemonte being the other. It almost makes them look like sheriffs! That same white star is in the seating design on the opposite side from the Tribuna too, visible when people weren’t filling all the seats. It was all quite curious and wonderful, and little by little they became one of my teams.
Ticketing the world over these days seems to be a big stupid issue, and part of the problem is the lack of information on club websites, but even in the case of Maastricht that I wrote about recently, you just can’t necessarily believe what you read. Bisceglie has a very good Social Media presence, and after this visit, not only would I get to know the man behind it, Mino, but I fleetingly became part of it. However, the posts for each Bisceglie home game would always tell readers where to go and buy your ticket in town ahead of the game, but it wasn’t clear if tickets were on sale outside the ground on the day. At the fifth level, I can assure anyone thinking of going, the answer to that is quite emphatically yes, no matter who you are going to watch. The need for ID and individualised tickets doesn’t exist at this level either. We are back into the glorious realm of a little window that invariably you have to stoop down to, (why are they so low?) flash the cash and a brief will pop out with some change depending on how much you offered, obviously!
My exchange of messages with Mino the Bisceglie media man was great, and they were both delighted and curious that anyone from Scotland would want to come to see their team, let alone potentially write about it for a wider audience. I was to be a guest of the club and it all felt very humbling. They asked if I would record a message for the Social Media, something I am always loath to do, but for these warm people, it seemed the least I could do. So the morning of the day before the game, I sat up on the hotel roof in the empty bar area in Bari and recorded a minutes worth of my bad Italian banter basically regaling some of what you have already read, most importantly that this was a new chapter in the club’s history, and it was time to start looking upwards again. It seemed to go down well, thankfully.
I don’t know about other regular contributors to Football Weekends, but I find it easier to write about places that I am engaged with. Occasionally, if it’s just telling a tale for the sake of the team or the city, it can all feel a bit stodgy. But if you are a fan, or even merely a passing interest, it does help. I love writing about Italian football, but the odd situation comes along that I just want to do the best I can to bring the club to people’s attention, and Bisceglie is one of these clubs. On this occasion I also wanted to get my hands on the home and away shirts with those white stars, as I wasn’t just wanting the Bisceglie experience to be read, I wanted the memory to live long for me too. I am a fan, and that passion was about to grow!
However, having pointed out the sheriff like badge on the kit, when I arrived at the top of the road that leads down to the stadium, the lack of a police presence had encouraged a baying mob in anticipation of the arrival of the away support. No sooner was I 50 metres down that road than my walk became a run as firecrackers, bottles and fighting started to follow me down the road. Once I had reached a safe distance I turned around and tried to see what was going on. It was an unfortunate start, and my first run from trouble since Ascoli broke through the police ranks in Ancona in the early ‘90’s. Does the lack of accountability via personalised ticketing make this level more vulnerable to the potential of throwback violence?
Still a little flustered I entered, and was greeted by Mino, and Donatella, who would be my charming chaperone for the afternoon. Within minutes, with my mind still reeling I found myself on local TV, a morsel of free advertising for Football Weekends, but I guess without a digital platform, one that would largely have gone over everyone’s heads, even if they could understand my rubbish Italian. My passion for Bisceglie did come across though.
This was only game six of the season, but already Manfredonia, who were two points clear, and Bisceglie were looking like the strongest two clubs in the league. Both teams would have periods on top, and Bisceglie certainly created the better openings, but goal scoring has always been the clubs achilles heel, and I wasn’t surprised that this one ended goalless. The atmosphere had been vociferous and tense throughout. When these two meet later in the campaign in Manfredonia it may well be the decisive match, and this tetchy rivalry is going to be potentially even more high powered.
The Gustavo Ventura stadium has a capacity of 5,000, with a roofed main stand and a fine seated terrace running the length of the pitch on the opposite side of the pitch. The away support are housed in the only curva, as the sea view side doesn’t have any accommodation for fans, meaning unusually, the fervent home support is housed on terracing just to the left of the main stand.
At half-time I was invited into the hospitality area, where the President presented me with a Bisceglie shirt and scarf. I was suitably embarrassed and insisted on buying the other shirt making sure I gave him more than the sale price, as my wish was never to take advantage of anyone’s hospitality, especially at a small club I care about. The new President is a Bisceglie fan, who used to be on the terraces with the Ultras, so his understanding of both aspects of football will be vital to help bring more of the local population back to the Ventura stadium, and they are succeeding with various sponsors being added week on week. The half-time break also allowed me the opportunity to try a local delicacy that is renowned throughout Italy known as a Sospiro, a dome shaped tasty bite, covered in casting sugar and a sort of custard centre. You can imagine the mess upon first bite!
Despite the draw, the general feeling was relatively upbeat. Six games unbeaten is nosebleed material for Bisceglie of old, and having kept six clean sheets too, the future is starting to look brighter with the desire of the club to try to get back to Serie C as soon as possible sitting quietly in the corner. Getting a winning mentality back is the first step. Having the view of the Adriatic regularly back on my computer screen would be wonderful in Serie C, but watch out, I will be back in Bisceglie.
How to get there
I based myself in Bari, which is a great option for a weekend of football north, south or west of the city. As mentioned, Bisceglie is 30 to 45 minutes north of Bari, depending on the speed of the train. From the station, if you take the road straight in front of the quaint fountain down a few blocks, the road gently eases toward a large main square. It is pretty much straight again, across the square and onwards, slightly uphill past the enormous church, with the first entry road to the stadium taking you to the away end, so at a junction where a supermarket resides, a right here and you’ll soon see the Ventura ticket booth just outside the Tribuna, the main stand. Allow 20/25 minutes to get there at a leisurely pace
There aren’t any bars or restaurants around the ground, but you will have walked by some options en route, so if you have time, for sure make sure you try a Sospiro or two in the home city of this tasty treat.
Football Adventures with James Rendall 