It was a case of "as you were" at the end of the 2018-19 Vatican City league championship, which saw Rappresentitiva OPBG, the team of the Ospedale Pediatrico Bambin Gesù (Bambin Gesù Paediatric Hospital) lift the title for the second year in a row, but it was yet another season which was plagued by controversy almost from the start.
There was a particularly bitter encounter between Musei Vaticani and Dirseco, which the latter had originally won by three goals to one, despite having three players sent off. One of them, Marco Puoti, was subsequently suspended for three matches for foul and abusive language.
Worse was to follow for Dirseco; Musei Vaticani complained to the ACDV that one of the Dirseco squad who had played in the match had not supplied said medical documentation, and their complaint was eventually upheld after a hearing at the end of November and an appeal from Dirseco in early December. As a result, Dirseco were forced to forfeit the match, and were penalised with a 3:0 defeat, a result which changed the course of the championship season.
Dirseco were also badly affected by a ruling in the intervening period which stated that any and all players who had not forwarded the correct medical documentation to the ACDV on time would have their registrations scrapped with immediate effect, and any teams who subsequently fielded players with no medical documentation would be penalised with a 3:0 defeat.
Three of the Dirseco squad were among nineteen players whose registrations were revoked, but Dirseco were by no means the worst-affected team; that dubious distinction fell to Dirtel, who lost nine of their squad in one fell swoop. However, most, if not all, of those banned were eventually able to play again after supplying the required documents.
The temporary loss of players did Dirtel no good at all, and they were bumping along at the bottom of the table for most of the season, just out of reach of Guardia. Both teams picked up points deductions of two points each during the season to leave them even further behind everyone else, which halved the Swiss Guards' side's points haul at the end of the season. They also lost one of their players for five matches due to a red-card offence.
PUL (Pontificia Universitas Lateranense) picked up an alarming amount of bookings during the season, but still did not finish bottom of the fair-play table - Guardia compounded their miserable season by filling that spot; PUL somehow took fourth place in the offenders' list. They ended their league campaign in a very distant fourth place, the same position in which they finished the 2017-18 season.
At the top end of the table, meanwhile, Rappresentativa OPBG were leading the pack, with Dirseco and Musei Vaticani in hot pursuit, but they were unable to catch the leaders, who won the championship with a game to spare after a 0:0 draw - the only scoreless match of the entire 2018-19 league season - against Musei Vaticani. There was one source of comfort for Dirseco, however: Santo Morabito finished as top goalscorer for the season after netting seven goals in his team's last two matches as Dirseco ended the season in style, scoring thirteen goals against Fortitudo 2007 and Archivio, and firmly hitting form ahead of the Coppa Sergio Valci.
04/11/18 PUL 1:1 Rappresentativa OPBG (Angelo Petrelli; Andrea Matano)
04/11/18 Fortitudo 2007 4:0 Guardia (Emanuele Perucci 2, Francesco Caputo, Flavio Elmi)
05/11/18 Dirtel 0:3 Archivio (Simone Salvati 2, Marco Di Pietro)
05/11/18 Dirseco 1:2 Musei Vaticani (Fabio Ioannilli; Simone Angelini, Giorgio Vinciguerra)
12/11/18 Rappresentativa OPBG 2:0 Dirseco (Marco Guisti 2)
12/11/18 Musei Vaticani 3:0 Dirseco (walkover; Dirseco had won the match 3:1, but played a squad-member without the correct medical documentation)
RED CARD (in original match): M Puoti, Gianfranco Guadagnoli, Cao (all Dirseco)
13/11/18 Archivio 1:0 Fortitudo 2007 (Francesco Cataldo)
13/11/18 Guardia 0:2 PUL (Edoardo Paruta, Romano Scaccia)
19/11/18 Fortitudo 2007 2:1 Musei Vaticani (Andrea Adriani, Flaviano Sperati; Mirko Panebianco)
RED CARD: Bna' (Musei Vaticani)
19/11/18 Archivio 4:1 Guardia (Luca Pasquazzo 3, Simone Salvati; Nicola Crivelli)
20/11/18 Dirtel 0:3 Rappresentativa OPBG (Fabio Alviani 2, Marco Giusti)
20/11/18 Dirseco 1:1 PUL (Alessandro Quarta; Francesco Forina)
26/11/18 PUL 3:1 Dirtel (Carmine Salvato 2, Valerio Rubbo; Luigi Portarulo)
26/11/18 Guardia 1:7 Dirseco (David Sailer; Alessandro Quarta 3, Santo Morabito 2, Enrico Rimauro, Angelo Palma)
27/11/18 Musei Vaticani 4:0 Archivio (Marzio Chirieletti 3, Giorgio Vinciguerra)
27/11/18 Rappresentativa OPBG 4:1 Fortitudo 2007 (Iacopo Albano 3, Marco Guisti; Danilo Troiani)
03/12/18 Fortitudo 2007 2:3 PUL (Flaviano Sperati, Marco Fabrizi; Edoardo Paruta 2, Andrea Quinti)
03/12/18 Musei Vaticani 3:0 Guardia (walkover)
04/12/18 Dirtel 1:2 Dirseco (Marco Pacenza; Santo Morabito, Alessandro Quarta)
04/12/18 Archivio 0:5 Rappresentativa OPBG (Tiziano Tintisona, Matteo Mattiuzzo, Marco Giusti, Stefano Di Cecca, Domenico Orlando)
10/12/18 PUL 1:2 Archivio (Flavio Guglielmi; Marco Di Pietro, Francesco Cataldo)
10/12/18 Rappresentativa OPBG 2:2 Musei Vaticani (Fabio Alviani, Matteo Mattiuzzo; Federico Berdini, Marzio Chirieletti)
11/12/18 Dirseco 2:1 Fortitudo 2007 (Santo Morabito, Alessandro Quarta; Andrea Adriani)
11/12/18 Dirtel 0:2 Guardia (Alain Gianoni, Leonardo Schlatter)
17/12/18 Fortitudo 2007 3:2 Dirtel (Flavio Elmi, Alex Piermarini, Flaviano Sperati; D Colagrossi, Luigi Portarulo)
17/12/18 Archivio 0:6 Dirseco (Alessandro Quarta 3, Santo Morabito 2, Santiago Perez)
18/12/18 Musei Vaticani 4:1 PUL (Marzio Chirieletti 2, Giorgio Vinciguerra 2; Filippo Rita)
18/12/18 Guardia 0:7 Rappresentativa OPBG (Marzio Giusti 3, Fabio Alviani 2, Iacopo Albano, Carlo Iorio)
21/01/19 Rappresentativa OPBG 3:2 PUL (Marco Giusti, Stefano Di Cecca, Matteo Mattiuzzo; Lorenzo Menesto' 2)
21/01/19 Guardia 2:2 Fortitudo 2007 (Gabriel Alleman 2; Flaviano Sperati, Marco Antonelli)
22/01/19 Archivio 2:1 Dirtel (Simone Salvati, Luca Pasquazzo; Luigi Portarulo)
22/01/19 Musei Vaticani 0:1 Dirseco (Santo Morabito)
RED CARD: Secone (Musei Vaticani)
28/01/19 Dirseco 2:3 Rappresentativa OPBG (Claudio Cittadini, Alessandro Quarta; Marco Giusti 2, OG)
28/01/19 Dirtel 1:2 Musei Vaticani (Daniele Colagrossi; Armando Goxhaj 2)
29/01/19 Fortitudo 2007 4:1 Archivio (Emanuele Perucci 2, Flaviano Sperati 2; Giuseppe Malizia)
29/01/19 PUL 4:1 Guardia (Lorenzo Menesto', Valerio Spagnoli, Alessandro Elia, Andrea Quinti; S Dietrich)
04/02/19 Musei Vaticani 6:1 Fortitudo 2007 (Marzio Chirieletti 2, Armando Goxhaj 2, Giorgio Vinciguerra; Maurizio Lepri)
04/02/19 Guardia 1:2 Archivio (Gabriel Alleman; Luca Pasquazzo, Luca Alonzi)
RED CARD: Pelosi (Guardia)
05/02/19 Rappresentativa OPBG 3:0 Dirtel (Stefano Di Cecca, Nicholas Monopoli, Francesco Faggiano)
05/02/19 PUL 1:4 Dirseco (Edoardo Paruta; Santo Morabito 3, Claudio Cittadini)
18/02/19 Dirtel 2:5 PUL (D Colagrossi, Daniele Carilli; A Pietro De Curati, Alessandro Elia, Andrea Quinti, Filippo Rita, Valerio Rubbo)
18/02/19 Dirseco 3:0 Guardia (Alessandro Quarta 2, Santo Morabito)
19/02/19 Archivio 0:4 Musei Vaticani (Marzio Chirieletti 2, Armando Goxhaj 2)
19/02/19 Fortitudo 2007 1:1 Rappresentativa OPBG (Emanuele Perucci; Marco Giusti)
25/02/19 PUL 0:1 Fortitudo 2007 (Flaviano Sperati)
25/02/19 Guardia 1:4 Musei Vaticani (Nicola Crivelli; Marzio Chirieletti 2, Simone Angelini, Giorgio Vinciguerra)
26/02/19 Dirseco 1:0 Dirtel (Santo Morabito)
26/02/19 Rappresentativa OPBG 7:0 Archivio (Marco Giusti 3, Marco Della Porta, Fabio Alviani, Carlo Iorio, OG)
04/03/19 Archivio 1:3 PUL (Luca Pasquazzo; Alessandro Elia 2, Carmine Salvato)
04/03/19 Musei Vaticani 0:0 Rappresentativa OPBG
05/03/19 Fortitudo 2007 1:4 Dirseco (Emanuele Perucci; Santo Morabito 2, Alessandro Rossi, Maurizio Baroncini)
05/03/19 Guardia 2:3 Dirtel (Guillaume Favre, Nicolà Crivelli; Luigi Portarulo 2, Guido Margiotta)
11/03/19 Dirtel 3:0 Fortitudo 2007 (walkover)
11/03/19 Dirseco 9:2 Archivio (Santo Morabito 5, Alessandro Quercellini 2, Claudio Cittadini, Alessandro Rossi; Luca Pasquazzo, Giuseppe Malizia)
12/03/19 PUL 2:4 Musei Vaticani (Daniel Tumiel, Filippo Rita; Armando Goxhaj 3, Marzio Chirieletti)
20/03/19 Rappresentativa OPBG 3:2 Guardia (Marco Della Porta 2, Matteo Mattiuzzo; Gabriel Allemann 2)
|
TEAM
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GF
|
GA
|
PTS
|
GD
|
|
RAPPRESENTATIVA
OPBG
|
14
|
10
|
4
|
0
|
44
|
11
|
34
|
33
|
|
Dirseco
|
14
|
10
|
1
|
3
|
43
|
15
|
31
|
28
|
|
Musei
Vaticani
|
14
|
9
|
2
|
3
|
33
|
15
|
29
|
18
|
|
PUL
|
14
|
6
|
2
|
6
|
25
|
18
|
20
|
7
|
|
Archivio
|
14
|
6
|
0
|
8
|
18
|
42
|
18
|
-24
|
|
Fortitudo
2007
|
14
|
5
|
2
|
7
|
22
|
21
|
17
|
1
|
|
Dirtel*
|
14
|
3
|
0
|
11
|
14
|
29
|
7
|
-15
|
|
Guardia*
|
14
|
1
|
1
|
12
|
13
|
41
|
2
|
-28
|
TOP SCORERS
19 Santo MORABITO (DIRSECO)
15 Marzio CHIRIELETTI (Musei Vaticani)
15 Marco GUISTI (Rappresentativa OPBG)
12 Alessandro QUERTO (Dirseco)
7 Armando GOXHAJ (Musei Vaticani)
7 Luca PASQUAZZO (Archivio)
7 Flaviano SPERATI (Fortitudo 2007)
07 Giorgio VINCIGUERRA (Musei Vaticani)
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: As always, many thanks to the ACDV for passing on the above information. Any discrepancies will gladly be amended upon notification of same (as and when time allows!).
