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the grapevine

Our KCIC Newsletter

Empty Stadiums: How the Pandemic changed soccer

2/20/2021

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Picture

By Pietro Arrigoni

(ITALIAN VERSION BELOW)

​Across the greater portion of Europe, soccer is the number one sport for many countries. The popularity of the sport has brought thousands of professional players to compete in various leagues around the countries, many of which have become extremely competitive. 
​

With the creation of professional teams and leagues, fans also started supporting their city’s team, or a team their entire family supported. But being a fan used to mean much more than just cheering your team on on game day. 

In countries like England, Spain, Italy, and Germany, being a fan is a whole different experience. Imagine walking to the beautiful stadium in your city, entering this sacred space with so many people who share the same passion as you, and then chanting and cheering your team on with so much intensity that you most likely will lose your voice. This is what being a fan means, it’s culture and tradition, and it is a huge part of the sport. 

In the early months of 2020, as we all remember, the Pandemic really started to take off. From one week to the next, millions and millions of fans around Europe were told that the entire season would be suspended and that there will be no games throughout most of the summer as well. For some people this was already a huge shock. However, in many ways, the worst was yet to come. In late August of 2020, when most competitions resumed, it was announced that they would be behind closed doors, with no fans in the stands. 

I remember hearing about this on the radio that my family likes to listen to, to keep up with Italian news. At the moment, it felt unreal that they would play in empty stadiums. Growing up, I experienced the very atmosphere of being in a stadium full of fans, and every match I watched on the TV had fans chanting and screaming in the background. 

I find it hard to properly describe how wrong it felt at the time to see my favourite team play in front of no fans. If one has never experienced first hand what it’s like being in a packed stadium, I don’t think it’s possible to really comprehend. However, this was going to be a long term fix, as we would come to find out nearly seven months later. 

Now we know what it was like for the fans, the greater part of the soccer community who live and breathe soccer, but what is it like for the players? Players have also felt the effects of this change, in the better and worse. 

There are some positives I feel the players won’t like to share with the press about playing in front of no fans. For a first, let’s say you are playing away from home in front of a wall of thousands of fans who just want to see you fail that night. Mentally, I feel it’s much easier to gain confidence and stay sharp, as a player, when playing without fans. No one to judge you, yell at you, or whistle when you play poorly. 

On the other hand however, teams draw energy from their fans during games they play at home. Players get motivated by the fans and actually can improve their performance quite a bit if they are backed up by their fans and more confident. So without any fans, the away fixtures have lost their stigma and don’t seem to be as taunting, which has created the opportunity for some great upsets. 

In a way, empty stadiums have created a sort of “neutral zone”, where teams play each other at home and away but without the advantage of being the home team. Of course, players from every league have told the press that they miss their fans and that these are tough times, but it's impossible to have anything else but this at the moment. With the pandemic still at large and vaccines slowly making their way to immunize the community, it seems empty stadiums are going to remain the trend for the second part of the 2020/21 season. 

Calcio: Come la Pandemia ha cambiato lo sport

Per la maggior parte delle nazioni europee, il calcio è lo sport più praticato e seguito. Essendo così  popolare, in giro per l'Europa si sono formate numerose leghe di calcio nel tempo di prosperità della seconda metà  del secolo scorso, portando migliaia di calciatori professionisti a competere con le loro rispettive squadre. 

Con la creazione di queste squadre e campionati, diversi appassionati di calcio nella comunità cominciarono a supportare le squadre locali delle loro città, formando vere e proprie tifoserie. Prima della pandemia, essere un tifoso era molto più che guardare la partita della propria squadra in televisione. 

Nei paesi che hanno i campionati migliori, come Germania, Italia, Spagna, e Francia, essere un tifoso è un'esperienza unica e ricca di tradizione e cultura. Prendiamo come esempio lo stadio della squadra del cuore: un posto sacro per i tifosi, nel quale ritrovarsi ogni fine settimana per incitare la propria squadra alla vittoria. L’atmosfera degli stadi Europei e non solo, che ospitano con facilità diverse migliaia di tifosi, è semplicemente incomprensibile per chi non l'ha mai vissuta. 

Se torniamo ai primi mesi del 2020, in cui la pandemia ha dilagato e velocemente messo in ginocchio il mondo, ci ricorderemo dell’inevitabile sospensione di ogni attività sportiva professionale. Per i tifosi questo fu sicuramente uno shock, ma pensando alle diverse componenti della crisi era la cosa giusta da fare. Il peggio però doveva forse ancora presentarsi. Infatti, verso la fine di Agosto quando i campionati ebbero il via libera per riprendere, fu annunciato che gli stadi sarebbero rimasti chiusi al pubblico. 

Personalmente mi ricordo benissimo quando per la prima volta sentii la notizia. Inizialmente non ci potevo credere. Per tutta la mia vita, ho vissuto l’esperienza dello stadio ed ho sentito le voci di migliaia di tifosi attraverso la televisione, perciò rimasi a bocca aperta. È alquanto difficile spiegare quanto pensai fosse sbagliato chiudere le porte degli stadi ai tifosi al tempo, ma questo cambio provvisorio sarebbe diventato in fretta la norma del calcio in Europa. 

Certo, i tifosi sono la maggior parte della comunità calcistica, ma i calciatori, quelli che sono parte attiva dello show, come si sono sentiti a giocare in stadi vuoti?

Ci sono entrambi aspetti positivi e negativi per i giocatori, che involgono il vantaggio di giocare in casa. Quando una squadra gioca in casa, ovvero nel proprio stadio, ha la maggior parte degli spalti occupati dai propri tifosi. Per questo, durante la partita, i giocatori possono utilizzare l’energia e l'intensità’ che i tifosi creano con i loro cori e quindi giocare al meglio. 

Al tempo stesso però, la squadra che gioca fuori casa verrà fischiata e denigrata dalla maggior parte dei tifosi, e questo rende più difficile la parte mentale della partita. Senza tifosi, il vantaggio di giocare in casa è essenzialmente inesistente. Per paragone, è  come giocare in territorio neutro, la terra di nessuno, dando a squadre minori la possibilità’ di ribaltare le aspettative. 

Dopo quasi sette mesi da quando i campionati hanno ripreso, ci troviamo nella stessa posizione: con stadi chiusi e senza la presenza dei tifosi. Indubbiamente ci sono stati dei miglioramenti, con i vaccini che stanno iniziando l’immunità di gregge in Europa. Tuttavia, questa sembra che resterà’ la normalità ancora per qualche tempo
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The Kelowna Canadian Italian Club acknowledges that our clubhouse is situated on the beautiful unceded traditional territory of the Syilx/Okanagan people. Who, for thousands of years, have lived in harmony with nature and continue to this day to offer us so much culture and understanding.
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • About KCIC and Our History
    • President's Message
    • Vice President's Message
    • Executive and Directors
    • Membership
    • Volunteers
  • NEWS & ARTICLES
    • The Grapevine Newsletter
    • THE ITALIAN GARDENER
    • Kelowna's First Families
  • WHAT'S HAPPENING AT KCIC
    • 2025 Calendar
    • Club Happenings >
      • Bocce
      • Ferragosto Family Picnic
      • Giuseppe's Cafe
      • Trattoria Dinners
      • LUNCH Open House
      • La Bella Tavola - Cooking Classes
      • KCIC Library
      • La Nostra Famiglia Italiana >
        • Order First Family Books!
        • CASORSO DOCUMENTARY
        • Upcoming NFI Events
        • Il Nostro Lascito Legacy Project
        • Past NFI Events >
          • NFI - ROOTS TO RESILIENCE
          • NFI - Follow That Bell!
          • NFI - Spaghetti
          • NFI - Bisnonno
          • NFI - L'Acqua
          • NFI - Terrazzo
          • NFI - Guerra
          • NFI - Lilia
          • Coming to Pier 21
          • Dalla Terra
          • Dialetti!
          • Sveva Caetani
          • Emilio Picariello
          • Between Neighbours
      • Ladies Night Out
      • Vendemmia Highlights 2024
      • Family Games Night
      • Festa Della Repubblica
    • Our 55th Birthday!
  • More From Us
    • CONTACT US
    • Clubhouse Rentals
    • 50th ANNIVERSARY >
      • 50th Anniversary
      • Mercato
      • Dinner & Dance Gala
    • Miss Kelowna Cdn. Italian Club
    • Calendar Page
  • Take Out Dinners
  • Family Games Night