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I have always been reluctant to write posts outside of my interests but this time I will make an exception.
And I will do it above all for little Andrea, unjustly deprived of the opportunity to cheer for his favorite team. Unjustly deprived of attending the first Champions League match. To shout the cry “The Champions” into the sky.
Last November Andrea and I should have been in the stands of Maradona cheering for Napoli.
Andrea super excited, everything strictly in the blue theme. Naples blue.
We had two hours of traffic with the Naples ring road obviously completely blocked. We headed to the entrance gates waiting for our tickets to be scanned.
Our odyssey would start from here. A misadventure at Maradona that I would dare to define as shameful for how it was managed especially by Calcio Napoli.
To my surprise we discovered that the agency I had purchased the tickets from had canceled them. Just like that. Out of the blue and without any warning, or valid reason.
The only thing I was told was that even though I had paid, and even though I had two tickets for the match in hand, my son and I would not be able to enter.
Today, what I am left with is great bitterness. And it’s not just against that couple of incompetents who, as I would discover the next day, had MISTAKENLY canceled our two tickets. Not even towards the head of the agency who didn’t even bother to apologize in person for what happened.
No.
My bitterness concerns the shameful way in which my son (I repeat, an 11 year old) and I were treated.
I don’t doubt that the stewards’ job is to check tickets. We agree. And the stewards simply did their job. Yet, in front, they had two people with two tickets. Is it normal to leave a father and his eleven-year-old son waiting for more than 30 minutes by the clock at the stadium gates??
Is it normal that no responsible person showed up to solve the problem?? A manager who could find a solution. And, believe me, a solution can always be found. Also because we are talking about Napoli Calcio, the Italian champion team.
Instead, after more than 30 minutes of waiting between calls from the stewards to who knows who, they simply made us sign two pieces of paper and kicked us out of the stadium. Not literally obviously, but go and explain it to little Andrea, so happy at the beginning, and so disconsolate at having to return home without being able to cheer for his favorite team.
There are games and games. And there are ways and ways to treat people. Especially the little fans. On a human level, Napoli Calcio’s defeat was without any extenuating circumstances.
A shame!
I apologize if I went too long in describing this misadventure at Maradona. The hope is that such unpleasant situations never occur again.
