in their traditional Christmas video, football players take action against violence against women

“We want to make noise,” assume the Ascoli Calcio footballers, covering “Every breath you take” by Police, two months after the feminicide of Giulia Ceccatin, which particularly shook Italy.

It’s a tradition in Italy. Every year, the second division football club Ascoli Calcio, in Marche, near the Adriatic coast, treats its supporters to a Christmas clip. The players cover a pop classic, like “Conceived” in 2021 or even “The Sound of Silence” last year. But this year, it is a choice very anchored in the news that the footballers, by taking up the mythical “Every breath you take”from police.

What is a love song takes a much more disturbing turn in the music video that accompanies the lyrics. Images of the players recording the song and a story alternate. We see the legs of a woman walking in the street at night, wearing red pumps. Then black shoes appear. The woman is followed by a man, getting closer and closer. And in the last image, the red shoes, stained with dust, are abandoned in an alley. It was an attack that took place before our eyes.

“We want to make noise”

At the end of the song, several players, including midfielder Fabrizio Caligara, speak, and add this:

“We, as men, want to send this message: love and affection have nothing to do with violence and oppression.”

Fabrizio Caligara, midfielder

in the Ascoli Calcio Christmas clip

And the players add, waving their keys: “We want to make noise”. An allusion to a recent feminicide, which particularly marked the spirits in a country where there is almost one every three days: that of Giulia Cecchetin.

She was 22 years old and was killed by her ex-partner who couldn’t bear to see her leave him. After his death, a minute of silence was to be held in Italy, but his sister Elena, said “no way, it’s a minute of noise and anger that must be organized”. Message received, in high schools in particular: on November 21, students banged on the tables and walls of schools and applauded. Elena Cecchetin was named personality of the year by the Italian weekly Espressoand is one of the women of the year Corriere de la Sera. During Giulia’s funeral on December 5, which brought together 10,000 people in Padua near Venice, Giulia’s father, Gino, called on men to mobilize. This little clip of footballers shows that the discourse infuses Italian society.