An Italian soccer club is jeopardising a scheme to promote ethical values on and off the field, Catholic sports organisation CSI said Friday.
Third-division side Ancona is ''too stingy'' in funding the project, CSI chief Edio Costantini said.
Costantini noted that Ancona's well-publicised espousal of Catholic values has led to ''a level of advertising revenue only a handful of clubs enjoy, even in Serie A''.
''Divorce will be inevitable unless it opens its purse strings,'' he told reporters.
Club CEO Giampiero Schiavoni had pledged to use the publicity boost from CSI's Project Soccer to bankroll social work in Italy and Africa.
But his commitment has ''apparently wavered,'' Costantini complained, saying ''the club will have to accept full responsibility if the scheme collapses''.
The CSI chief said he hoped his complaints would serve as a ''wake-up call'' to the club management, who met the pope and received international media coverage for their drive.
''Let's hope they repent,'' Costantini said, adding that CSI still has a ''major international event'' planned for Ancona in the near future. Ancona linked up with CSI to much fanfare in October, embracing the organisation's code aimed at promoting fair play on the field and funding charitable works in Italy and abroad.
The club was dubbed ''the Vatican team'' by the world's media.
Film crews from the BBC and two German TV stations were on hand to record subsequent games. They filed reports highlighting that Ancona - from the historically Communist Marche port of the same name - had committed no fouls on its ongoing ''mission from God'' .
But both the club's management and the Holy See denied a direct link to the Vatican.
A Vatican spokesman said it had had nothing to do with the Ancona-CSI deal - although it looked ''benevolently'' on such charity and anti-hooligan moves.
The agreement with the CSI, an organisation of lay Catholics, includes a commitment by both club and players to do good works ''in remission of sins on the field''.
Ancona's famously left-wing fans, who regularly wave Che Guevara banners and campaign against neo-Fascists, said they welcomed any ''worthwhile social initiatives'' but did not expect to be ''muzzled'' by the club's new Catholic turn.
Ancona was in Serie A as recently as 2004 but was double-demoted to the fourth division after bankruptcy. It has rallied, however, and is currently topping the third division.
