Italian first division team leaves league in a rage
Imagine you are a fan of the women's Bundesliga team SGS Essen and after just a few match days in the new season there is nothing left to be a fan of. This is exactly what has just happened in Italy. The first division team Pomigliano Calcio from near Naples has withdrawn from the Serie A femminile with "immediate effect" and mighty anger. The reason: "A fight against invisible opponents." Or rather: frustration with the refereeing decisions.
What had happened anyway? In Pomigliano's 0:1 draw against Sampdoria Genoa last Saturday, the score was 0:0 for a long time. In the 80th minute, Genoa put a ball through into the penalty area, a few seconds later a player lay on the ground and the referee decided to award a penalty, to everyone's astonishment. The 26-year-old defender Aryana Harvey is said to have brought down the 18-year-old youngster Eva Schatzer.
The penalty was a "fictitious" one, Pomigliano now scolded. Her retraction statement was published in the Italian sports newspaper"Tuttosport". "As TV pictures show, the opposing player was not even touched by our defender."
There is not a word on the website
The referee saw things differently, sealing Pomigliano's fifth defeat in their sixth game of the season. This leaves them in penultimate place in the league, which was only professionalized at the start of the 2022/2023 season, one point ahead of SSC Napoli, who are still winless. In addition to the controversial penalty decision, the club felt disadvantaged by a number of other decisions last Saturday. They looked to the fourth official as the main culprit.
In addition to the acute anger over the match management, the club also listed the organization and the handling of the league's finances. "It is pointless to fight against all these opponents," the club announced and continued: "When the fight against an invisible opponent becomes an unequal battle that robs both the energy and the will to carry on."
And then they withdrew. Or did they? They are still listed on the league's official website the day after their withdrawal via "Tuttosport", and there is no mention of their departure from the league on their own website either. On the contrary: the game at Inter Milan is advertised as the next match.
Despite Pomigliano Calcio's public withdrawal from the Serie A femminile following a contentious penalty call, the team remains listed on the league's official website the day after the announcement, and there's no mention of their departure on their own site. Even so, the women's soccer team from Italy has expressed their frustration, not only over the match refereeing but also the league's financial management, likening their struggle as an "unequal battle" against "invisible opponents."
Source: www.ntv.de
