Thread: So Euro football fans...RESPOND
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Old 04-15-2005, 11:43 AM   #20
El Capitano Gatisto
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I laughed my balls off when I was watching it.

It's an Italian problem, not a wider football issue. The Italians accept it as part of their culture. UEFA need to send a message out to them that it is not accepted by the wider footballing world.

Last weekend there was a huge riot between Lazio fans, far right wing fans who regularly racially abuse coloured players and make fascist salutes, and Livorno fans, far left wing fans and in whose town the Italian communist party was founded. Livorno's best player plays with a Che Guevara t-shirt underneath his kit and idolises him, while a lot of people witnessed Paolo Di Canio giving the fascist salute to the Lazio fans after the Rome derby.

Things like this are common place in Italy where left and right wing politics go together with the teams and tend to result in confrontation. The police would rather let everyone in the ground and then beat the shit out of them when they start up, rather than enforce any real security before a match.

Also, the Italian clubs do not own their own stadiums, the city municipals do, so the clubs cannot ban trouble-makers or kick fans out. It's up the police and the city. The clubs will be punished, ultimately, but it requires government legislation and tougher policing.

Inter should be banned from European football for 2 or 3 years and Italian clubs given a final warning. One more incident and they'll all be out for a year or two. That will force them, through financial pressures, to sort the problem out, because the Italian clubs cannot afford to miss out on European football. Their stars may look to go elsewhere, also.
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