Passione unica!
Riporto un articolo pubblicato l'anno scorso su Alpine Anarchist Productions e che parla della squadra di hockey su ghiaccio che seguo.
"Only few places in European hockey can become as intimidating as the Valascia."
C'è da andarne fieri:)
What Does Geronimo have to do with Ice Hockey? An Excursion to a Swiss Valley
My contribution to Give ‘em the Lumber 2 was the account of an unsuccessful search for radical hockey culture in what was supposed to be perfect terrain for such an endeavor: Sweden. Luckily, the European possibilities for an overlap of slapshots and righteous politics do not end in Malmö.
Enter Ticino, the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland – the multilingual Alpine nation that proves that recognizing more than one of its spoken languages as »official« does not inevitably lead to a country’s demise, contrary to what a lot of Anglos in the US still wanna make you believe (even though in this case the demise might be an even better thing than in that of Switzerland – but I’m digressing...).
Ticino is no historical stranger to radical politics. Michael Bakunin lived here in the early 1870s (the »Villa Baronata«, possibly his most famous domicile, still exists in Minusio), and in the early 1900s the community of Monte Verità, near Ascona, developed fame for its free spiritedness, vegetarianism and nudity. Amongst the frequent visitors were German anarchist Erich Mühsam, the Dadaists Emmy and Hugo Ball, the writer Hermann Hesse, and the painter Paul Klee. (The Monte Verità still exists as well – in form of a luxury resort.)
Today, it would be difficult to present Ticino as a hotbed of revolutionary activity. Its politics are moderate at best (with the Lega dei Ticinesi, the local right-wingers, w
ielding significant influence), its biggest town, Lugano, is Switzerland’s third most important banking center (and this says a lot in a nation whose riches largely rely on banking), and its valleys, mountains, and shores are overrun by affluent German tourists in both summer and winter. Nonetheless, this is where our radical hockey story begins.
The set-up is well-known: David vs. Goliath, the underdog vs. the champion, the Irish vs. the English – whichever way you want it. The opponents in this case are, on the one hand, the HC Lugano, the banking city’s hockey club pride, one of the most successful in the history of Swiss hockey and these days without doubt one of its richest (mainly thanks to the investments of controversial businessman Geo Mantegazza). And on the other hand, the HC Ambri-Piotta, a hockey club tucked away in the Leventina valley whose stadium’s capacity of 7000 becomes somewhat baffling once we consider that the hamlets of Ambri and Piotta (part of the municipality of Quinto) combine for a mere total of a couple of hundred inhabitants. (Unsurprisingly, the hockey club goes as the hamlets’ biggest employer and their economic backbone.) Contrary to the Lugano club, the HC Ambri-Piotta is one of the most unsuccessful clubs in the history of Switzerland’s first hockey league (compare one runner-up achievement in 1999 to seven Lugano championships in the last 20 years) and definitely one of its poorest. Which, combined with its remote location, quaint setting, miniscule hometown and remarkable perseverance (the club’s foundation goes back to 1937, even outdating the Lugano city rival by a few years), provides the charm that makes the club so attractive for the hockey fan with a political edge who wants to feel good about the team he or she supports. (Continua)
