A man was killed during fighting at a football match in Italy recently. Much was made of the event. Newspapers expended considerable effort asking what was to be done about the violence that has been blighting Italian football for so long, lamenting the waste of a man’s life over something as simple as a game of football. Government ministers were quoted as saying that they were on “high alert” as regards football. Brows were furrowed, fingers were wagged. As a mark of respect for the dead man, a minute’s silence was held at the recent Sicilian derby game in Catania.
That very evening, during disturbances in and around the Massimino, a policeman was killed after being struck by a “blunt instrument”.
It would be hard to understate the shockwaves that the death has sent through both Italian football and Italy itself, and the next few days were given over to mass media coverage of the events in Sicily that evening - video footage from the ground, photos of the bereaved family, and all newspapers were almost entirely given over to questions about the immediate future of the game in Italy. A message from the Pope was relayed at the funeral and the initial signs are that this time maybe, just maybe, those in power in Italy might actually have to do something to bring about an end to the violence.
The episode also gave rise to serious debate about the state of the nation, especially after graffiti appeared in several cities seemingly applauding the death of Filipo Raciti. Given that this is a football related website I think I’ll leave the larger issues until another time, although for the record anyone who knows anything about the game in Italy would have swerved this fixture. Catania’s ultras are renowned throughout Italy and their behaviour and organisation transcend the normal shape of an ultras group – there are larger issues at stake than mere football (some onlookers claim that Sicily still remains largely ungovernable) and it would appear that the far right has recently gained a toe hold in the group. Add to this the team who Catania were playing (their eternal enemies Palermo), disturbances at the first game between the two teams and an evening kick off and you pretty much had guaranteed trouble, made worse presumably by a home defeat.
I spoke at length to someone who was at the game. For much of the first half there were less than 20 fans in the away section and when Palermo scored lots of fireworks and missiles were sent their way. This is bog standard in Italy. The response however was not, as the police apparently launched random tear gas rounds into the fans nearest the away pen. This cloud of teargas then drifted back across the pitch into the main stand, sparking panic in the stairwells as many tried to get out of the ground. There was constant disorder during the game outside the ground, presumably as the Catania ultras tried to get at their Palermo counterparts who for whatever reason had not yet got into the ground. It sounded like a deeply unpleasant evening but not untypical of many Italian games.
From a footballing point of view, and speaking as a long term fan of the Italian game, it’s hard to describe adequately calcio’s fall from grace. The days of peerless football played in vast, fabulous stadiums are long, long gone.
I recently visited the Rome derby (my eighth) and the standard of football was very poor. Indeed, for Rome to be currently second in the league is the greatest indication of how weak the league has become. The standard of Serie A has been slipping for quite a while now but fans like me have stuck with it because we’re so hooked on the total experience. Watch any game in Spain and then watch one in Italy and you can quite clearly see the difference.
This long term decline though has been brought into sharp relief by the latest match fixing scandal which was “dealt” with over the summer (whilst the national team was winning the World Cup).
Whilst the FIGC had the chance once and for all to grasp the nettle and tackle the endemic corruption in the Italian game it imposed relatively weak sentences on the guilty clubs concerned and then allowed appeals to further dilute the sting of the sentencing.
Juve are a good example. Found guilty of match fixing, the club’s initial punishment was to be relegated into Serie B and start the season with a points deduction of 30 points. This would have effectively kept the Turin team out of Europe for at least three years and financially at least would have been extremely painful. Two appeals later, the points deduction had become 9 and this time next year Juve will be playing in Serie A. Indeed, points deductions for all teams concerned were reduced on appeal and Lazio and Fiorentina, originally demoted with Juve, were allowed back into A. Hardly a robust message is it?
There’s also a great deal of hypocrisy as well over the incidents in Catania.
Three years ago, at another Rome derby (this time with my family over from Ireland) the game was abandoned in the 48th minute as a result of serious crowd trouble. The level of disorder before, during and after the game was extraordinary and to this day I am amazed that no one was killed that night.
The day before the match I met and spoke to a member of staff at Lazio. Whilst showing me around the stadium and pitch (it’s as equally impressive as it is decrepit) I asked if the club was expecting trouble and he said “yes, maybe more than usual” but this was “normal” for the game.
Arriving two hours before kick off it was nearly impossible to get into the stadium without having to dash around running battles between the police and various groups of tifosi hurling anything they could lay their hands on. Thick clouds of tear gas hung in the air and missiles and “bombs” whizzed over our heads. Most people arriving in the ground were choking. Problems were not confined to one specific area – there was large scale disorder taking place all around the ground.
Inside, the mood was as dark as I can ever remember in a stadium.
Throughout the first half the main entrances to both Curvas were a seething mass of ultras running in and out of the ground to “fight” with police. At half time, with thick clouds of black smoke billowing into the ground from fires set at the back of the curva and fighting continuing both in and outside, the stadium announcer asked for calm and said that the rumours about a child being killed by the police were false. The announcement was met with a chorus of derision.
Shortly after the players reappeared for the second half, three leaders of the Roma ultras strolled onto the pitch and beckoned Roma’s captain Francesco Totti over for a chat, telling him that they would not be held responsible for what might happen if the game continued. Totti’s overheard comment to his manager at the time “if we play they say they will kill us all” provoked a national scandal at the apparent power of the ultras. The subsequent postponement of the game also drew a lot of flak as it was seen to be giving in to fans, but I was there and I can tell you that if the game had gone on I am certain that someone would have been killed in the ground that night.
Interestingly, once the game had been abandoned, it was the ultras themselves who organised the evacuation of both ends of the ground. Roma fans were lead out onto the pitch and through an exit on the far side of the ground avoiding the fires and fighting. I thought this was impressive but it only goes to show the extent of the ultras’ control whilst in the stadium – effectively they are in charge.
Outside was chaos and more than 150 police were injured in a full on riot that lasted the night.
The next three days saw much hand wringing in Italy. As ever, the media was full of articles about the fans being a disgrace, what can be done about the trouble, what improvements can be made to the stadiums and then…..well, the following weekend arrived and Serie A just carried on as per.
You’d think that events of this magnitude were extremely rare in Italy. They’re not. Quite the opposite in fact. The Italian authorities have been turning a blind eye to this problem for at least two decades now and they must bear some responsibility for the death of Raciti.
Go to many stadia in Italy and you will find that they are very run down. Your seat will probably be broken, definitely filthy. There will be no stewards. Get to any big game later than an hour before kick off and there will be someone in your seat who will not really want to move. Stair cases and fire exits are unofficial seats. You will see that segregation doesn’t always work and that away fans will be able to throw stuff at home fans (and vice versa) should they wish.
One of the main reasons for the dilapidated state of many grounds in Italy is that in many instances the clubs do not own the stadium and are therefore not inclined to pay any money to make it safer, more comfortable or more secure. This in turn has scuppered any attempts to force changes. The Pisanu Law of 2005 was introduced to improve stadium security and included elements like compulsory numbered seating, electronic ticketing and CCTV. So the government was seen to be acting. But the clubs who don’t own their stadiums said it wasn’t their responsibility and the local authorities in charge of the grounds simply ignored the new law. So, with the authorities being perceived as having “done something” the status quo was preserved and everyone was happy.
The people caught in the middle of all this are of course, the police. I would imagine that the death of Raciti (one of his colleagues is still seriously ill in hospital) represents a watershed. Two years ago the Carabinieri threatened to refuse to police certain grounds after a particularly nasty evening in the San Paolo in Naples when local police were targeted by ultras. When ultras fail to “get” at their opposite numbers it is always the police who bear the brunt of ensuing trouble and the trouble in Catania will have provided them (rightly) with a “told you so” argument. Arrests are rare and those who do go through the judicial procedure receive token punishment.
So, two years after the Pisanu Law was introduced yet another serious crowd disturbance has resulted in the death of a policeman, adding to the 11 fans that have been killed attending calcio in recent times.
Will anything change this time around? Certainly, it would appear that parts of the footballing authorities simply do not have the inclination to radically overhaul the ugliness besetting the national game.
For example, if you were the head of the Italian FA what would you deem as an appropriate response? Would you be like Antonio Matarrese and say that “deaths unfortunately form part of this huge movement that is football and which the forces of law and order are not always able to control…we are pained, but the show must go on.”
This quote is hugely indicative of the nature of the beast. Calcio is an “industry” worth approximately £4 billion per annum. An industry that must be kept going, seemingly at any cost – be it human or ethical. And so we come full circle to the apparent lack of desire to actually want to change Italian football so manifest in the Juve/Moggi scandal of last summer.
Add to this the much vaunted “non-governability” of Italy and you can see the problems facing the authorities. There are already fans’ groups saying that if their team is ordered to play behind closed doors then they will simply turn up outside the ground anyway. This is no idle threat.
The clubs themselves seem averse to strong administration and in the last few days the mood has seemingly changed from one of apparent sorrow and determination to get things right to one of potential strike action should government measures not be to their liking. Again, this is no idle threat.
As I write, draconian measures are being drawn up to counter the “growing” violence in and around Italian football. Games are going to be played behind closed doors. Indeed, the entire Serie B fixture last Sunday was “senza pubblico.” Away fans may be permanently banned. Of course, what ends up actually being implemented in the long run is another matter but whatever the outcome, for Italian football it’s probably too little and for some, definitely too late.
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