corrects the referee and is rewarded

The referee whistles a throw-in in his favor, but the 11-year-old goalkeeper stops the game and corrects the decision that the referee had mistakenly favored favoring his team. To make the unexpected as spontaneous gesture of fair play, far from the spotlight of the big screen, but on a suburban field of the province of Lecce, was the small Mattia Nicolaci, extreme defender of the formation of the Levante Caprarica.An example of sportsmanship and fairness that came during the championship match that saw the baby formations of the hosts Asd Fabrizio Miccoli San Donato and the Levante Caprarica challenge each other, and that the small football player received the compliments of the race director, of companions and opponents in the field and the assignment of the Green Card by the Provincial Delegation of the Italian Football Federation.

The race was now in full swing, the kids of the two teams intent on playing to win a challenge that for Mattia Nicolaci, from San Donato, but registered with the Levante Caprarica, had a particular taste, derby. In the middle of the second half, a home formation striker shoots in the goal, Mattia between the posts, stretches and saves the goal with the tip of his foot and sends the ball in the corner.

The referee, a role that in these categories is often held by a manager of the local team, does not see the touch and assigns the throw-in from the bottom. And this is where Mattia intervenes. The eleven-year-old goalkeeper leaves the door and calls the referee's attention to stop the game. No request from Var, or other technological means or protest, but the pure and loyal confession of a baby athlete who warned of the oversight asking to review the decision in favor of the opposing team.

Fair play which, at the end of the match, did not go unnoticed, so much so that it was reported by the referee on the scoresheet, then sent to the offices of the youth and school sector of the FIGC. Gesture, appreciated and highlighted also with a note of credit always sent in the Federation by the San Donato company led by Enrico Miccoli.

And it is here that the procedure for assigning the Green Card to the baby goalkeeper has begun, for having expressed and valued the principles of fair play with its behavior in the field. "Mattia is a small athlete who has shown he has great values," commented the president of Levante Caprarica, Pierpaolo Morello. The fair-play prize makes its comrades proud, Mr. Stefano Palmarini and all of us, managers and parents. Communication came during training yesterday and it was a party on the pitch. As a sports company, which practices youth and school amateur activity, "continues Morello," it is years that, through the work of the technical staff and the help of families, we are committed to the children, to transmit respect for the rules and the adversaries " .

Reporting then made official through the press release issued by the Figc / Lnd Lecce delegation, signed by the person in charge of basic activities Cesario Manco and the provincial delegate Luana De Mitri. "Congratulations to the small champion, the managers and the technicians, who have made themselves the makers of this important and beautiful gesture of fair play", declares De Mitri. «This is the example that sport is also culture. The path traced is the right one and all together we must continue to promote and enhance small and large athletes' application of the values ​​of loyalty, fairness and respect on the soccer fields as the founding principles of sport ". Last updated: 11:44


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