Why Lecce protested Serie A’s scheduling decision over physio’s death by wearing jersey with no color or crest

Lecce have decided not to wear their usual away jersey during the Serie A match against Atalanta on Sunday after the club have expressed their disagreement with the Italian Serie A after the league postponed Friday’s game to Sunday after the passing of Lecce’s physiotherapist, Graziano Fiorita. Lecce were against playing on the weekend, as the same club announced, and to show their disappointment, they have decided not to wear their usual jersey, but wear a white jersey with no club logo, in an unprecedented but respectful gesture. Their jerseys, instead, read “No value, no color.”

The same club have announced their decision with a strong official statement on their social media channels:

“U.S. Lecce considers the league’s decision to reschedule the match against Atalanta few hours after the passing of our Graziano Fiorita to be terribly disrespectful to the profound grief affecting the boy’s family, the club, and Lecce’s fans. In other equally painful cases, more reasonable decisions have been made. A hierarchy of death seems to emerge based on the prestige of the affected club, or worse, on the role of the person who has passed. For those familiar with football, the ‘team group’ is a bubble away from the spotlight where less prominent figures can be driving examples of virtue. This was true for our Graziano, who served Lecce for 26 years and, as far as we are concerned, will continue to do so, at least as long as this ownership remains. Graziano Fiorita passed away while on a team pre-match camp, far from his wife and four children, and still lies thousands of kilometers from home, awaiting the magistrate’s authorization for his return.”

Despite the Italian Ministry of Sport having tried to change the decision of the league, things haven’t changed. On the matter, Lecce said that “this match should not have been played, but all attempts to postpone it were cynically rejected. We thank the Minister of Sport, Andrea Abodi, who tried until the last moment, albeit unsuccessfully, to have the match scheduled for a more appropriate date. The team will take to the field as planned, despite only leaving Lecce today, still hoping, until the very end, for a reconsideration that never came.”

Finally, the club announced they will wear a special jersey on Sunday.

“Graziano’s memory is not honored by refusing to play or fielding the youth team. One does not respond to a grave injustice by blatantly breaking the rules, as if honoring Graziano means engaging in a contest with the league to see who can act worse. We will play the match of ‘trampled values,’ but we will do so wearing a plain white jersey that does not represent us, devoid of colors, crests, or logos. We will return to wearing our true kit when Graziano returns home and is honored, as he deserves, by his people.”