The only flag on the bench is in Avellino, where a man who has achieved four promotions on the field and one on the bench coaches: “When I came as an opponent, it always rained, and I wondered how they did it, then this jersey gave me something special. Thanks to Novellino, I realized I could coach, and when they called me at night, I told the president only one thing…”

There is something romantic in Avellino that you don’t see elsewhere. Raffaele Biancolino is the only coach who has also been a symbol on the field for the team he coaches. If you look through the lists, you’ll find many former players: Chivu played and won with Inter, Pisacane fought for Cagliari, Fabregas ended his career in Como, but it’s a long way from here to calling them symbols. Biancolino is the second highest scorer in the history of the Biancoverdi, he led Avellino to four promotions from Serie C to Serie B as a striker and did the same last year as coach. That would be six promotions, if you count one as Primavera coach. Behind it all is a visceral, sometimes quarrelsome story, written with the pen of love.

Let’s start from the beginning: how did Biancolino come about?

“Naples, Capodichino district, Amicizia neighborhood. In the center was a church, in front of which was a soccer field where I practically spent my nights because whoever got there first got to use it. Then I joined a soccer school in San Giovanni a Teduccio, while I was studying and working: bartending, delivering water bottles, I wanted to earn money so I wouldn’t have to ask my father for ‘the week’. At soccer school, they tried to make me a full-back, but every time I played up front, I scored goals, so they resigned themselves: Biancolino is a center forward. No youth teams, at 16 I was in Giugliano in Serie D, after a year Atalanta saw me and sent me to Leffe: two mountains, three houses in between, in one of them were me and Ignoffo (former defender for Napoli and Palermo, ed.). I made my debut among the professionals, then love came along…”.

And what did love do?

“It made me quit. I was 17, her name was Mery, she was from my neighborhood, and the distance was palpable. At a certain point, I said: I’m not playing anymore, I’m going back to Napoli. My father was suffering, he wanted to know who this girl was, so he called her and said: ‘You talk to us’. So I went back to playing in Anagni, closer to home. That’s where the adventure began.“

Biancolino, known as ‘the python’.

”My brother in Naples had an iguana and one day he asked me to go with him to buy some food. The shop owner said to me: ‘Have you ever seen how a python eats?’. ‘No.’ He put a rabbit in the tank and it ate it. As soon as I saw it, I said, ‘Hold on, I want it.’ People lined up in front of my house: everyone wanted to see it. One day, I took it to the locker room, put it in the laundry basket, and asked the storekeeper if he would kindly wash my jerseys. He picked up the basket, the snake came out, and I still remember the jump he made. A reporter from Sports Predictions heard the story and wrote about it. Since then, I’ve been known as ‘The Python.’”

Love stories always begin with something strange that ends with a kiss.

“I play for Chieti, in the first leg I score against Avellino, in the return leg in Irpinia my opponents whisper to me on the field: ‘Take it easy, we need you, we have to win the championship’. ‘You guys, not me,’ I reply. And they, especially Voria who was marking me, said: ‘You’re coming to play here, everyone knows it.’ Anyway, we lost, I took a shower and someone called me: ‘Casillo, the president of Avellino wants to talk to you.’ I walked into a room and found the two management teams with the contract in their hands. They had done everything and I was the only one who didn’t know.”

Biancolino, 479 games and 179 goals in a career that never went beyond Serie B. Any regrets?

“Yes, not giving my father the satisfaction of seeing me in Serie A. I came very close. At one point, it was a done deal with Cagliari, but suddenly they turned off their phones. And I signed on the spot with Messina at the check-in counter at Catania airport, with people behind me protesting.“

On the other hand, however, he found a love affair with soccer that few can match.

”And in the beginning, there wasn’t even that much love. When I came to Avellino as an opponent, it always rained, and I said to myself, ‘How do they do it?’ But it was a place that had made it to Serie A, I could make a name for myself. Then when I put on that shirt, I felt something special, I immediately felt it was mine. She gave me so much, I gave her so much. I am proud to be Neapolitan, but woe betide anyone who touches Avellino.”

Biancolino arrived in Avellino, left, came back, left again…

“It means it’s true love. Like with a girlfriend, you might argue or do something silly one evening, but you also know that on the other side is your life, a piece of your heart. At one point in Messina, we were third, and while staying at a hotel during a trip to Mantua, I called the president of Avellino: ‘Will you let me come back?’. And he said, ‘Are you crazy? You’re playing for the championship’. ‘Yes, but I don’t feel at home here’. It was never about money, but about love. I even returned to Avellino two years later: I was captain of Venezia in Serie B and I went down to Serie C, only a madman would have done that. I had to bring the team back to where I had left it.“

What does it mean to coach a team you used to be the star player of?

”Responsibility, above all: I know entire generations of fans here, I don’t want to disappoint them or give them false hope. But these are responsibilities that motivate me, that push me to convey a sense of belonging to the players I coach. I still remember how I felt during a relegation when I was injured in the stands: ‘If I have to go down, I want to do it on the field, that’s my thing,’ I thought.”

In Avellino in 2018, he also prevented a femicide by stopping a man who was attacking his ex-partner with a hammer.

“In that moment, there’s little time to think. That’s how I am; if someone is in trouble, I defend them.”

How did Biancolino become a coach?

“I was the club manager at Avellino, but I didn’t show myself much to the team; I thought I was getting in the way. One day, Mr. Novellino said to the president, ‘Why is he staying in the stands? He’s a man of the field; he should be with us.’ My job was to watch the opponents and report back to him. I wrote down their strengths, weaknesses, and observations on a piece of paper and gave it to him. He put it in his pocket, and I saw him take it out during the technical meeting and give my recommendations. It meant he trusted me, and that’s when I started thinking of myself as a coach.”

One night, Avellino fired Pazienza and replaced him with you, the Primavera coach. A stopgap, they said.

“That night, I asked the president for one thing: ‘I don’t want to be a stopgap, give me at least two or three games’. And he gave them to me. It was the opportunity I had always dreamed of. I wasn’t and never will be happy about the sacking of a colleague, but I had been watching those boys for months and taking notes. I did it unconsciously, so I wouldn’t be caught unprepared, so I knew where to intervene.”

What does Biancolino the coach have in common with Biancolino the player?

“The relationship with the players. You have to be clear and sincere. I know this because someone wasn’t with me, and then certain cracks spread throughout the locker room. I always tell my players: I will never do anything to you that hurt me. I’d rather argue than stab you in the back.“

His mentors?

”I learned something from every coach: aggression from Zeman, tactics from Sarri, team management from Galderisi, responsibility on the field from Vavassori… I combine everything with my character, I am never satisfied and I don’t want my players to be satisfied either.“

Biancolino’s ritual: before and after every game, he kisses a bracelet.

”The Madonna of Montevergine. I am devout. Before my debut on the bench, I went on a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary. The real graces that the Madonna gives are other things, this is work, but since then I will never stop thanking her.“

You celebrated your silver wedding anniversary with Mery this summer.

”We are made for each other. We have three children, two are studying in New York and the third plays in the Avellino youth team. Center forward.”