Killer Italian Drama

If only Italians were as serious about making decisions as they are about their food. We have seen it so many times, where indecision and a lack of clarity about authority have fueled political drama that makes soap operas look boring. No one wants to be the one responsible to make the decisions, yet everyone wants their opinion to be decisive. We already saw how this dysfunctional style of government likely cost lives at the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak. That is some killer Italian drama.

Italians are used to drama in football

Serie A is worth hundreds of millions of Euros per year in the Italian economy. When the league and the FIGC are not shooting themselves in the foot by making racist remarks or otherwise fighting amongst themselves and destroying the credibility of Italian football, they create drama between themselves and the government.

This is not drama like you would see on TV or in a movie, it’s drama that even Hollywood would deem unbelievable. Like an owner screaming at the other owners in a Serie A meeting and then making his dramatic exit on the back of a stranger’s scooter, for example. Or people in authority making racist or sexist remarks to defend their clubs or fans from racism or sexism.

When death is on the line...

But when COVID-19 hit, it really took a special kind of stupid to argue about if, when, and how games could be played. Not based on anyone’s safety of course, but which team had the advantage and who had the authority. Games were postponed or canceled literally as the away teams were arriving at the stadium to play. Decisions to play behind closed doors were evaluated by the popularity of the matches, rather than the safety of all those involved. And always, always, bickering over who did or did not have the final say.

It is no wonder, then, that as the curve flattens on this virus and Italy is looking to open up, that all of us are dragged through the same farcical display of ineptness that Italian politics are famous for. The medics of the league have their say. The FIGC gives their two cents. The sporting minister says one thing, the Prime Minister says another.

He says...

Who has the final say? That changes from hour to hour. Statements are made. Statements are refuted. Plans are made. Plans must be changed. Organizations complain. Other countries write off their seasons. Don’t like what someone says? Italy makes threats to call the whole thing off, too.

UEFA has now set a deadline for associations to make a decision to resolve their situations. There are also set deadlines for when games must be completed. Will their parental-like time limit help Italy make a final decision? You know, while players wait in quarantine and in limbo and the economy takes a bigger hit every day? Clubs stand to lose more money as this continues to hang in the balance. But most importantly, people are still dying, there is not yet a vaccine, and it seems that no one really knows what will happen if teams start training again and maybe even playing behind closed doors to complete this season.

...She says

Instead of spending every waking hour figuring out the answers to the death and money parts that are so crucial to the country, not to mention the morale of the people, Italians keep fighting and changing the rules from day to day, hour to hour. People’s lives and livelihoods take a back seat to impotent men in power arguing like children. It’s either the worst soap opera you’ve ever seen, of some kind of killer Italian drama.

This post inspired by the music of Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name”