Promises to come down hard on the soccer hooligans have so far
fallen short, but how many more people need to die before Italy
finally deals with a sickness that is killing its favourite
sport?
?
On Friday, all professional and amateur soccer championships were
suspended until further notice following the death of a policeman
after the highly-charged Serie A match between Sicilian rivals
Catania and Palermo.
Filippo Raciti died after a home-made bomb was thrown into his
car as police officers came under attack from Catania fans outside
the Massimino stadium.
Raciti's death follows the murder last Saturday of Ermanno
Licursi, a director of Calabria-based amateur team Sammartinese who
suffered a brain haemorrhage after being kicked in the face by a
fan of rival team Cancellese.
Italy, the home of the World Cup champions, is struggling to
contain the violence.
But Italian soccer federation president Luca Pancalli, who was
brought in to clean up the sport's image following the Serie A
match-fixing scandal, is promising swift and decisive action.
"The suspension will remain in place until sufficient measures
have been taken to restore calm," Pancalli said.
"I stand by my decision to call a halt to football. My
conscience left me with no other choice.
"Football needs to pull together and make sure incidents like
this never happen again."
Italy coach Roberto Donadoni believes hooliganism should have
been properly dealt with years ago.
"We don't practice what we preach," said Donadoni whose team's
friendly against Romania next Wednesday was also called off.
"We've been talking about these incidents for years and they
still keep on happening. Too often we talk too much and now
concrete steps must be taken."
Italy's Olympic Committee (CONI), which oversees the activities
of all sports federations, are holding an emergency meeting on
Sunday while Pancalli will meet Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi
on Monday.
Legislation to try and clamp down on the violence was introduced
over a year ago, including named tickets, more CCTV cameras, extra
stewards and stringent body searches.
But many clubs have failed to meet the criteria set by the
government and the trouble has continued up and down the country
every week.
In Italy, many stadiums are owned by the local council and
rented out to the clubs, so the clubs are reluctant to spend money
on improving security.
Despite being banned, flares, bottles and offensive banners are
seen regularly at matches, clear evidence that searches are not
being properly carried out.
Some of the security measures have simply moved the trouble
outside the stadiums and onto the streets.
Italian soccer has been plagued by violence in recent years.
In March 2004 the Rome derby between Lazio and Roma was
abandoned at half-time because of crowd trouble inside and outside
the Olympic stadium.
The unrest erupted after a rumour, which later proved to be
false, went around that a young Roma fan had been run over and
killed by a police car outside the ground.
Later that year Roma fans were once again in the spotlight.
The Champions League match between Roma and Dynamo Kiev was
abandoned at half time after Swedish referee Anders Frisk was hit
by an object thrown from the crowd.
In April 2005 the Champions League quarterfinal, second leg
between Inter and AC Milan was abandoned in the 73rd minute after
Inter fans threw dozens of flares onto the San Siro pitch.
One of them struck and injured Milan goalkeeper, Nelson
Dida.
Soccer-related violence in Italy has claimed the lives of 12
people since 1962.
Meanwhile, the president of Catania as well as one of his
leading officials said Saturday they will quit their posts in the
light of the violence.
"I didn't sleep last night (because of the violence) and I
decided that I'm going to resign," said president Antonio
Pulvirenti who will step down along with director Pietro Lo
Monaco.
(China Daily via AFP February 5, 2007)