Farce surrounds Serie A postponement

Proceedings were officially brought to an end 45 minutes after the scheduled kick-off time.

Pa Sport Staff
Tuesday 21 December 2021 15:18 EST
The Dacia Arena stands empty in the absence of visitors Salernitana (Andrea Bressanutti/LaPresse via AP)
The Dacia Arena stands empty in the absence of visitors Salernitana (Andrea Bressanutti/LaPresse via AP) (AP)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Tuesday’s Serie A fixture between Udinese and Salernitana descended into farce with the away side prevented from travelling by their local health authority but the league refusing to postpone the match.

Three Salernitana players tested positive for coronavirus ahead of the game and, although they were prepared to travel, they were ordered not to do so.

The league, though, refused to postpone the fixture because the number of cases did not meet its threshold, meaning Udinese had to continue as if the contest was going ahead while knowing their opponents would not turn up.

Forty-five minutes after what was supposed to have been the kick-off time, the referee officially called off proceedings.

A message on Serie A’s Twitter feed read: “The match #UdineseSalernitana was not held due to @OfficialUSS1919 failing to show up.”

The same scenario occurred last year in a contest between Juventus and Napoli Juve were originally awarded a 3-0 win and Napoli docked a point after they did not attend the game but the decision was overturned on appeal and the match rearranged.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in