I love Italy, and I love its Calcio (football), but dear goodness it can sometimes be like the most strained relationship. Perhaps similar to a football daft fan bored in the summer without his/her team, they find themselves home too much for his/her partners liking. It is like that in those June to September months of Italian football that just frustrate the life out me.
It is totally understandable that the authorities, the FIGC want to discourage and weed out the rogue club owners, and they endeavour to do that by insisting on a significant monetary bond to be paid just to enter the third tier or above. In the cases of Pordenone, recent Serie B participants, they chose to step down out of the professional leagues altogether as they couldn’t, or didn’t want to raise the bond monies. In such a case it is relatively quick and easy, but last summer it was Teramo and Campobasso with late appeals against missing payment deadlines etc. This year it is even higher up the tree at Reggina, who were in B.
The other issue that arose this summer resulted from Lecco winning the Serie C playoffs. Their stadium isn’t up to the standard for the second tier, but the issue centred on the notion that the date to register a ground-share was before they actually knew they were going up. What harm in a provisional registration? Alas they didn’t make any plan, and then to compound matters they couldn’t find club in the near vicinity to take them on, which resulted in an arrangement being struck more than 250 kilometres away in Padova. It is a crazy distance for such a small team and it is asking too much of its relatively small, but loyal support base. I know Lecco fans don’t want to read this, but maybe staying in C and playing at home would be a safer financial option rather than overextending and risking one of those bankruptcy issues. However, Lecco deserve their chance in the second toer, they won it fair and square.
An easy fix for the FIGC going forward must surely be only to allow access to the third tier playoffs to clubs with a stadium that can be Serie B ready for early August, or is such a simple suggestion?!
The chairman of the clubs in Serie B who were not involved in any of these situations (the majority) eventually snapped, citing a loss of revenue, let alone a loss of any professional face, and they demanded the season start on time. The caveat for those scheduled to play the two “issue” scenarios, Lecco/Perugia or Reggina/Brescia was that they would have to sit out for those games awaiting the final court deliberations, and catching up on the fixtures further down the line. At the end of August, the final judgements were made with Lecco given the go-ahead for B, but having to play in Padova, while Reggina’s failure to meet the required payment day has seen them relegated two leagues, with Brescia reprieved in the second tier, and Casertana (who won one of the 4th division play offs), rewarded with stepping into Serie C.
Personally it was a relief to have football, as having taken the bold step to finally head to the deep south as soon as the fixtures were announced, I entered a rollercoaster of whether I would see a game or not. It was a constant oscillation for weeks, and ultimately a constant frustration. Domani, domani (tomorrow, tomorrow) is very much the laid back attitude, but every summer it seems to get worse. When it finally became apparent it was green for go, I was happy to settle for just one game from my Monday to Friday trip, but then the scheduling gods played me an ace, placing both Catanzaro and Cosenza at home on consecutive nights. In the grand old scheme of a sizable land like Italy, the two aren’t too far apart, so it would be rude not to!
Cosenza have become quite trendy! Recent books, especially Ultras by Tobias Jones, helped put the city and the club in the spotlight. Whether that has resulted in more visitors from elsewhere to watch, I am unsure, but I can imagine that is the case. That said, the curmudgeonly behind the times way of the majority of Italian clubs, they don’t outwardly look to cash in on any rise in curiosity. While Cosenza might have an online store, they don’t do shipping overseas, a great pity given it would be a shirt welcomed with relish in my collection. Needless to say the shirt conundrum was a situation remedied on my visit with a club shop right in the heart of the city centre. That said, it is perhaps the poorest club shop I have ever visited. The brand new home shirt was available, but only three of them were pathetically hanging on three separate racks. The rest of the shop was strewn with stuff that looked merely like padding out the place. No away shirts, no t-shirts, or scarves, or pennants, not even a metal badge, just lots of tin boxes with the logo was one odd exhibit I recall, and baby bibs! The rossoblu (red and blue) Cosenza colours can be similar to my charges Inverness CT, but this season they have reverted to a darker blue with red hoops, a nod to the great side who wore it getting the club into the second tier six years ago. Whisper it quietly, but the 23/24 Cosenza shirt is more Ross County!
Cosenza seems to have been allowed to move into the “International” psyche as the doyen of the left in Italy, probably aided by Jones’ book. The inference sees them taking over that mantle from Livorno, whose lowly fourth tier position obviously renders them as immaterial to some. The thing about these political alignments in Italy is curious to me; Cosenza/SPAL/Genoa/Ancona/Napoli are all close in some regard and friends, while Reggiana/Cremonese/Vicenza and Genoa again are allegedly left wing friends too. Perhaps varying degrees of left, but if that’s the case, what’s Genoa’s true position?! Where are Livorno in these chums united? Surely not the rationale given for leaving them out of another recent publication suggesting they were too far left, almost maoist! How my Livornesi buddy chuckles at that!
Lupi is one of Cosenza’s nicknames, it means wolves, but just read and kept in English, loopy does sum up this constant need for validation of having friends from elsewhere. In the case of Cosenza it does seem that they were rather put in the spotlight without ever actually actively seeking it, the club shop is a case in point but now it is inescapable. I hope the club has benefitted from the increased attention, albeit surely not just the “Tooting Popular Front Brigade”. Here I am in Cosenza adding to the club’s popularity myth, hopefully.
Technically Cosenza has a population of 70,000, but if you take into consideration the entire urban area, that jumps up to 200,000. Nearby Rende is included in that latter figure, home of the University of Calabria, and a name that will crop until later in the complex recent history of the football club. It is a learned city with the Cosentian Academy, a place of philosophy and literature studies being one of the oldest seats of study not only in Italy but the entire continent.
The city sits at the confluence of two rivers, the Busento and the Crati, surrounded by mountains. It’s a hilly city in places, well certainly the older half, which is significantly older, nee ancient. It is a sprawling metropolis sitting at a slightly raised altitude at 328 metres above sea level (enough to make an altiplano Bolivian snigger!), just high enough to afford the city a microclimate all of its own. The area is known as Sila, and Cosenza people as well as the football club are known as Silani. Amongst the many interesting buildings is a castle that overshadows the old town atop its mountain plinth. As you walk down the main shopping thoroughfare Corso Mazzini you will see it upon high. In some ways this castle tells the history of Cosenza in a nutshell. The Saracens and the Lombards fought over the city, and following one of those local uprising against them both, along came the Hohenstaufen (whoever they were), who built the imposing Castello Svevo (Swabian Castle) as well as putting the bricks in place for Cosenza to be the seat of learning that remains to this day. However, the Bourbons (not the tasty biscuit) came along and altered the castle to make it a prison, but adding dashes of French flourish as they tried to erase the architecture of the Hohenstaufen.
Arriving in modern day Cosenza at the railway station, it is an arresting scene, and I don’t mean in a good way! The city is off the beaten track on the rail network, it has two or three trains to/from Napoli a day, but other than that it is just local trains to Paola/Lamezia on the main line, and Sapri. The station is enormous, built in some, almost Communist brutalist style that would not look out of place in Minsk or Rostov. Just to compound matters, it has no pavement leading to it, and if you want to walk, it requires negotiating a duel carriageway. I did this, as no bus in sight and no taxi. The walk once safely across the busy road was a vortex of horrible apartment blocks akin to any old Eastern European city you have ever visited. It wasn’t the best start to Cosenza, but once in and around Corso Mazzini, I calmed down!
Oddly Cosenza Calcio 1914, started out in 1912, but the anomaly comes from only actually playing a first match two years later. I hope they were well prepared! For the next 89 years of existence they dotted around the lower leagues, rarely troubling the trophy cabinet, save for an Anglo Italian Cup win in 1983 when they beat Padova in the final. This was the semi-professional era of the now defunct competition, badly structured in my opinion if two teams from the same land contested the final, that said, this is why the Anglo Scottish Cup was retired too as the likes of Chesterfield was winning at Ibrox!
In 2003 Cosenza were expelled from the professional leagues for financial reasons and the downward spiral it brought saw history repeat itself yet again in 2011. That first bankruptcy brought one of these situations that Belenenses in Portugal has more recently experienced, with two clubs rising from the embers. An illegitimate club AS Cosenza FC appeared almost immediately, whereas the old, true Cosenza took a while to get its house in order and skipped a year. An appeal to the authorities was won and they were granted a place in the 5th tier for 2004/05 as AS Cosenza Calcio, where lo and behold the illegitimate club were playing, and two unique derbies between old and new took place. AS Cosenza struggled and were nearing collapse yet again when they decided to resign its Serie D position in 2007. Fortitudo Cosenza was born, basically by usurping relegated Rende from the nearby town and moving them into Cosenza. They quickly won Serie D after which they reverted back to Cosenza Calcio 1914, but the legacy of all the mismanagement saw five men (a mix of ex-players, managers, president and his son) were all jailed for between two and five years.
Cosenza’s licence was revoked once again in 2011 starting as Nuova Cosenza back in Serie D again. This is where the story finally bottoms out as they have largely been onwards and upwards ever since, back as Cosenza Calcio. They reached Serie B in 2018 after being the first and only club thus far to come through the entire Serie C playoffs from round one to success in the final, playing 10 games to achieve that magnificent promotion. The last five second tier campaigns have been tough, but they have always survived. Like many clubs in the south, they have a much more loyal support base, and finding a little more success would see the attendances respond accordingly. They might have been through the mill in the first quarter of this century, but il Lupi are still standing and while at times its support base can be fractious, they are always ready to cheer them on. Although sometimes I do find myself asking if the Ultras think they are bigger than the club itself, which should never be the case, but in Italy it happens.
The elipse style of the San Vito-Gigi Marulla stadium (the former portion of the name was added in 2015 in respect to former coach and player Luigi “Gigi” Marulla) is classic Mussolini construction, and while it has a running track around it, the municipal facility for such activity is now behind the main stand. The ground is exclusively used by the football team, although Bob Dylan and Sting amongst others have played concerts here too. With a near 21,000 capacity it takes a lot for Cosenza to get near a sell-out, but a good start to a campaign and you never know. It’s in good nick, albeit the stand opposite the main one is unused, with the upper tier needing work carried out. It stands almost Como-esque as a fine advert for the club with the name emblazoned on the seats.
Having watched many games from here online, I am familiar with the dramatic view from the cameras at the back of the tribuna (main stand) afford, with the old part of Cosenza sloping down on the near horizon almost akin to Edinburgh’s Royal Mile coming down from the castle. Now having a stadium in Princes Street Gardens, that would really put Edinburgh on the football map!
The new season kicked off for Cosenza at home to Ascoli who, considering their rivalry with Ancona and our friendship with il Lupi, were given a cordially hostile welcome, and it all kicked off in more ways than one. Trailing 1-0, Ascoli spectacularly imploded, with three men sent off in seven minutes before half-time! The Calabrians will be trying to get away from being the great escapologists of Serie B this season, and while they merely toyed with Ascoli, adding two more goals was a fine start.
My goodness, the dramatic conclusion at Brescia in the Play Out at the end of last season was one act that Harry Houdini might not have escaped from, but Cosenza did, and spared themselves being one of these “team x” names sat awaiting final court rulings as to where they will play. Ironically, just days after ‘x’ became Brescia, their first game of the season was a repeat of their last from 22/23 with Cosenza back in town. Quirks like that, football has a habit of throwing at us, and while the issues surrounding the Lombardia club had nothing to do with Cosenza, for the fans revenge would be sweet reversing the loss in the play offs with a 1-0 win. Unlike Brescia though, who won’t be complaining at their good fortune, at least Cosenza had the summer to get ready for a sixth successive second tier campaign, and with the added delight of il derby di Calabria to look forward to against Catanzaro. Indeed, in preparation for that occasion, giallorosso (yellow and red, Catanzaro colours) could be picked out amid the occasional insulting the rival chant. Maybe they will both inspire each other to greater heights, I hope so.
The visitors for the game were Modena, from the rich lands of Ferrari, Balsamic oil et al, just north of Bologna in Emilia-Romagna. They are a club who have also had a raft of financial issues too in the recent past, but things seem to have settled down, and maybe finally Modena Calcio are looking to live up to the prosperous vein that runs through the city. Hats off to the 100 or so Modena fans who ventured south for a game only ending at 22,30, and doubtlessly they were kept in until the locals had scampered.
A healthy crowd was out for this one, on a night, nee a day that threatened heavy rain, but thankfully it only periodically turned the tap on. I had plumped for a fairly central Tribuna brief, so during the match no rain was ever venturing my way. Modena, sporting a kit almost whiter than white with no obviously trimmings were almost in Real Madrid circa 1960 garb, but here the similarities end.
It was a rousing contest, perhaps the drop in temperature from those hideous highs of August allowed both to be a tad more cavalier. Confidence was obvious in the Cosenza play and they deservedly took the lead from a fine diving header by centre forward Tutino, somewhat of a fans favourite even before this goal it has to be said. They couldn’t add to the lead, and unlike Ascoli, Modena kept their discipline, but when the equaliser came it looked to everyone around me as if the ref had given the home team a free kick followed immediately by two efforts on goal, the second going in. If he had given a foul, VAR sent him to the screen, and we all know what largely happens then. This incident was just ahead of the break and it certainly led to a lot of half-time muttering and shaking of the head.
If the first half had been entertaining, the second was even more brilliant. Cosenza gave it everything but the white shirts were never slow at countering. After an almost incessant period of Lupi attacks, Modena broke away forcing a stunning save from Micai the Cosenza keeper. I am giving him a nice moment here because his awful error three minutes from time gifted Modena the win.
Pre-match had been a fabulous ’80’s musical medley, and once Modena scored the winner, another throwback presented itself, humility. They didn’t want it to come, a win might have put Cosenza near the top, even with a draw, but the resigned nature was both a surprise and nice to see. No one was angry, it is what traditionally Cosenza do in Serie B, they shoot themselves in the foot, but the fans enjoy the ride because they have seen it all before and invariably it doesn’t always end in disaster. I hope Cosenza can get clear of the bottom five places this season. It might not be the most picturesque city, but it has a beating heart, and great fans.
GETTING THERE
Cosenza is off the beaten track slightly. An occasional train from Napoli direct, but more likely get off the mainline service Roma-Napoli headed to Reggio Calabria or Sicily at Paola and take the local train.
The stadium is maybe 4km from the station if daytripping, but beware my warnings of a dangerous start to the walk. I used one of the few hotels in the city, IH Italiana Hotel, perhaps the nearest for a night game, just 20 minute walk away, and a fine establishment.
FOOD AND DRINK
A couple of small bars are outside the ground nearby, as well as limited selection of merely crisps and drinks inside. Corso Mazzini for a nice meal, if you have time is your best option.
One stall outside will sell you a scarf, but not the club shop off Corso Mazzini on Via Arabia, up to the right where a water feature leads to a church. However, if you are lucky, they might have a shirt!
Football Adventures with James Rendall 