Footballer convicted of sexual assault: fans defend him, controversy in Padua

(ANSA) – Controversy in Padua over the defense of the fans and the attitude of the team that decided to send the 25-year-old footballer Michael Liguori onto the field yesterday, originally from Alba Adriatica (Teramo), convicted, together with a friend of the same age, three years and four months in prison for sexual violence by the Court of Teramo. To the various interventions of political exponents in recent days, today was added that of the regional councilor of Il Veneto che riamo Elena Ostanel according to which it was «a missed opportunity by Calcio Padova to send a strong message against violence against women: wrong choose silence.”

«Football – he added – is a world I know because I had the opportunity to frequent it several years ago as a former men’s football referee. I believe that it is not enough to take the field once a year with a red mark on your face if you don’t act from within to change its face, which is still too chauvinist. Silence – he observed – is not up my alley and for this reason I express all my solidarity with the two girls who courageously reported: we cannot afford to remain silent and turn the other way because even the words we spend against any violence can help counter it. Politics must do it, the world of sport can do it, especially if called into question directly.”