"We come to Sardinia five times": Corino responds to the Budoni president

The controversy surrounding Group G away games has a new chapter, and this time, Ischia has become the center of the debate. In recent days, Budoni president Filippo Fois spoke to Notiziariocalcio.com about his club's logistical challenges, forced to contend with flights, hotels, and impossible schedules every week. Nothing new, one might say, for someone who lives on an island and has long been aware of the impact that insularity has on budgets and sports organization. But there's one point in the Gallura-born club's comments that has caused a stir: the away game in Ischia, described as a sort of organizational nightmare.

"They only promised us a few teams from Campania, but instead they put Ischia in, an away game that's terrible for us," Fois said, recalling the match played in mid-September. "Since it was around September 14th, we had to book three hotels because there wasn't enough room in one hotel for the entire team. Imagine how uncomfortable it is to stay in three different hotels... In Ischia, you try to play at 11:00 in the morning: after the game, you have to stay for an hour and a half to catch the ferry and only just manage to catch the plane. We arrived 20 minutes before the gate closed."

This complaint is part of a broader framework, in which the Budoni president has been insisting for years on a specific goal: to have an "exclusively Lazio" group, with close-quarters away from home and travel within a hundred kilometers. "We've been fighting for years to have an exclusively Lazio championship, because in that group, travel is easy and all the teams are within a hundred kilometers. That's what we've always hoped for." In addition to Ischia, the focus is on the package of away games in Campania, considered too costly and demanding for a Sardinian club.

Across the pond, however, the version is not so clear. Restoring balance to the debate is Ischia coach Simone Corino, who, speaking specifically about the logistical difficulties associated with away games, offered an indirect but very clear response to the Budoni president's comments. Without mentioning Fois, he got straight to the point.

"When you come to work on an island, you take these things into account," explained the Gialloblù coach. "We've been traveling to Sardinia for two years. I'd like to point out that we travel to Sardinia five times, while the Sardinian teams only come here once." A clear shift in perspective, shifting the focus from the story of a single side to a shared reality: insularity and the sea are not just a problem for those departing from Sardinia, but also for those who, from the island of Ischia, are forced to constantly take boats to Olbia, Sassari, Budoni, and the like.

Corino doesn't downplay the difficulties; he knows them well: "When we have to travel, it's never easy for us. Last year we went to Puglia and the travel was exhausting, just like this year. I fully understand the issues and I've experienced them firsthand." But his reasoning goes beyond complaints and emphasizes the need for concrete solutions. "The schedule comes out fairly early, and we need to get organized. I know the financial and logistical challenges, but I also know that in Sardinia we've always found a warm welcome from the clubs and the fans. And when Sardinian teams come here, we try, wherever possible, to welcome them in the best possible way."

The message is clear: sacrifices aren't one-way. If Budoni denounces the trip to Ischia as "terrible," Ischia could say the same about the five times they have to cross the Tyrrhenian Sea to face Sardinian teams. With a clear numerical difference, which Corino summarizes with a phrase destined to remain on the table in the inter-club debate: "We go to Sardinia five times, they come here only once."

This topic is complemented by another consideration from the coach, which almost seems to address President Fois' concerns about the championship's sustainability in a line-by-line manner: "There are difficulties, but as I always say, we need to find solutions. If we only talk about problems, we'll never solve them. In the end, it all comes down to the pitch: you have to get out there and perform, trying to win matches."

Meanwhile, the league reform, with twenty-team groups and midweek rounds, looms on the horizon. Budoni's president considers it a nightmare: "Playing games during the week is terrible for us. You waste precious time, you can't recover or properly prepare for the next match." Here too, the island of Ischia is well acquainted with the burden of late-night commutes, late Sunday mornings, and early wake-ups to catch the first available ferry.

The result is a picture where everyone has something to complain about and very little to celebrate on a logistical level. But while some have been calling for a "tailor-made" group for years, others, like Corino, accept the situation as it is and try to shift the focus from complaints to planning. With one reiterated certainty: the sea doesn't just divide the Sardinians from the mainland, it also divides and complicates the championship for those, like Ischia, who every week live with the exact same word that Fois uses as the key to everything: insularity. Only here, instead of becoming an excuse, it must transform into an identity.