Cremona also rebels: "Trample on our and Trieste’s history and fans"
The Province of Cremona also takes stock of the very delicate situation being experienced by both the Lombard club and Pallacanestro Trieste. “Uncertainty reigns supreme, the string of owner Paul Matiasic from Trieste has been joined by Donny Nelson and Luka Doncic who aspired to bring Cremona’s sports title to the capital; but now there would be two roosters aiming at the same henhouse (Rome), not only in case the phantom NBA Europe leaves but even now there is talk of a possible participation of the new Roman entity in the EuroLeague.”
“To get a headache, especially since in both cases it is just mere business (Baron De Coubertin, founder of the Modern Olympic Games, is turning in his grave), yet trampling on the dignity and history of two cities (Cremona and Trieste) and their fans.”
A situation that has prompted Trieste fans to mobilize concretely. An online petition was launched with the goal of saving Pallacanestro Trieste, which within a short time collected thousands of certified signatures. “Trieste is not just any square for Italian and European basketball. It is a city that has helped build the history of basketball since its origins, with Ginnastica Triestina the Italian champion in the first championship in 1929-1930. Today this tradition, alive and competitive, is in danger of being challenged,” the text of the petition reads. “Pallacanestro Trieste has proven its value on the field, with important results even in the European arena and with one of the most numerous and participating audiences in Italy. A reality built over time, supported by thousands of fans, cannot be treated as a mere transferable sports title. A sports club can be sold. But a sports culture cannot.”
Valerio Bianchini, the historic coach who on the bench of Virtus Roma won the championship in the 1982-83 season and in the following season put the Champions Cup in the Capitoline club’s trophy cabinet, also spoke on the subject. The coach from Bergamo tried to dampen the controversy with a sharp defense of the Rome project but achieved the opposite effect: “To all those who live as usurpation the arrival in Rome of new forms of professional basketball, I would like to remind them that the clubs that should allow the transfer to another location would be richly reimbursed, that such transfers are allowed by federal regulations, that the essence of sport is the overcoming of limits and not the acceptance of mediocrity.”
