It is just gone half ten Italian time last Saturday night, the players of Reggiana calcio traipse off the pitch at the Stadio Mapei in Reggio Emilia. They have just beaten Renate four-nil in front of around 2000 loyal supporters, what’s more the win boosts the Granata up into third place in Lega Pro Girone A only two points off Bassano in first.
Many of you who would have read the above paragraph will probably think okay that is all well and good for them but really it means nothing at all to me and that’s okay Lega Pro is not the most glamorous league to be paying attention to. A small few of you however may have picked up on a small nugget of information in the opening statement – The Stadio Mapei you might say is that not Sassuolo’s stadium why would this club Reggiana be using it?
To answer that question, we must take a trip back to 1993 to a time when the Stadio Mapei was known as the Stadio Citta Del Tricolore (It’s still called that today also Stadio Mapei – Citta Del Tricolore is its full name). In the summer of 1993 Reggiana had just been promoted to Serie A for the first time in its up to then 74-year history. However similar to the situation that Carpi faced this season their stadium was not up to the required standards. Desperate for Serie A football to be played in their city the club did the only thing that they thought logical, they decided to completely build a new stadium. The resulting stadium which was opened in 1995 was the first ever non-publically financed stadium in Italian history (And you thought Juventus were first). Enthusiasm for the project was huge and over 1000 fans ploughed there hard earn wages into it by buying long term season tickets. The rest of the money was raised through sponsorship and a bank loan.
And so in April 1995 the stadium officially held its first ever Serie A match as 22000 people turned up to see the Granata take on Juventus. The future was looking very bright for the Reggio Emilia club not only where they playing in what was then perhaps the best league in the world they also had a brand spanking new stadium to go with it. Skipping forward to the present day however and things have gone slightly sour for Reggiana and her supporters. Back during the initial construction phase is was planned to build a shopping centre in close proximity to the ground to garner some extra income and help pay back the debts owed on the stadium. For some reason though the shopping centre was never built (A fault the fans lay at the feet of the local council). Without the commercial revenue the club were expecting to get from the project, their finances took a huge hit along with displays on the pitch, until eventually in 2005 the club could function no more and was forced to restart down in the old Serie C2.
With financial ruin being the case the club were forced to sell the ground to appease creditors. If that wasn’t a kick in the teeth for the fans who had put their own money into funding it, worse was yet to come. In December of 2013 the stadium was put up for sale at only 30% of its original value. For Reggiana though, who were now back in the current Lega Pro set up, it was still way outside anything that they could afford. What’s more the local council washed their hands of the matter infuriating supporters who felt it was that very council that had deliberately held the club from growing. Eventually the ground went up for auction and Reggiana scraped together what they could. However, in stepped another bidder Giorgio Squinz the very deep pocketed owner of the Mapei Construction company. Squinz was also and still is the owner of Sassuolo Calcio. Sassuolo themselves were now a Serie A club yet their rapid rise through the divisions had left the condition of their stadium lagging far behind what it needed to be. The few years before this they had been using the Stadio Braglia in Modena. Squinz though used his wealth to purchase the stadium at the auction and quickly moved his club into the ground.
This has led to the situation where you have a club in Sassuolo owning and playing in a stadium that is not only not even in their city but it’s not even in their province. While Reggiana a club that has represented the city proudly for just shy of a hundred years are now tenants in a stadium that their own fans paid to build. Needless to say it is not a situation that Reggiana fans are too thrilled about it and when the deal did go through over 500 fans turned up at a Sassuolo – Chievo match and chanted protests throughout. Marches were also held in the city showcasing the wealth of announce at the situation. It is necessary to point out that the anger was not focused primarily on Sassuolo but on the council again who once more they felt had let the club down.
Reggiana are now second class citizens in their own city, guests in their home. It is a bitter pill to swallow but on the pitch at least things are beginning to improve, last season they came very close to promotion to Serie B and should run it close again this year.
For now, though next time you watch Sassuolo at home in Serie A keep an eye out for one of the four pillars the hold up the stands for painted clearly on one is the crest of Reggiana Calcio and don’t forget when spoken aloud to use its full name the Stadio Mapei – CITTA DEL TRICOLORE.
Link to Video of Protest by Reggiana Fans HERE.
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