Italian Football in Crisis....Again

[Saj]

After the match fixing crisis comes this :-

Police chiefs, politicians and football administrators are meeting in Italy to discuss violence that erupted after a policeman shot dead a fan in Tuscany.
Police said the killing, in the city of Arezzo during clashes on Sunday between rival fans, was "a tragic error".

It triggered violence in Rome, Bergamo and Milan and resulted in several Serie A matches being cancelled.

Last season Italy's football programme was badly disrupted after a policeman was killed in a riot in Sicily.

New measures were introduced and stadium security was tightened in an effort to dampen hooliganism.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has called for a full investigation into Sunday's shooting, and described the violence as "very worrying".

The fighting broke out after Gabriele Sandri, 26, was hit in the neck by gunfire at a motorway service station.

He was he hit while sitting in a car as police tried to stop fighting between Lazio and Juventus supporters.

Mr Sandri, a disc jockey from Rome, was a Lazio fan on his way to a match with Inter Milan. The match was later postponed.

As news of Mr Sandri's death emerged, angry fans took to the streets in several parts of Italy.

The worst of the violence came in Rome - home of Lazio - where hundreds of armed fans blocked off one end of a bridge over the River Tiber.

Sunday's late match between AS Roma and Cagliari was postponed but supporters wielding rocks and clubs turned up anyway outside the Stadio Olimpico.


Police say Gabriele Sandri may have been killed by a warning shot
The mob attacked a police barracks and the city headquarters of the Italian Olympic Committee, the body which oversees all sport in Italy.

Security guards in the Olympic headquarters barricaded themselves in as fans outside smashed windows and burned vehicles during clashes with police.

A bus was torched and several people were injured, including police.

Nationwide anger

Across Italy seven of the top league games started 10 minutes late. Players wore black armbands but atmospheres remained tense.

In other developments:

Fans in Milan hurled rocks at a police station and beat up two journalists
In Bergamo, a match between Atalanta and AC Milan was abandoned 10 minutes after kick-off during at attempted pitch invasion
Supporters in Siena shouted "murderers" at police
There was also violence at lower league games in southern Italy.
As an investigation into the shooting of Mr Sandri was launched, police suggested he may have been killed by a warning shot.

Arezzo police chief Vincenzo Giacobbe told Italian media: "It was a tragic error.

"Our agent had intervened to prevent the brawl between these two groups, who had not been identified as fans."

In April the Italian government introduced a law aimed at stamping out football hooliganism.

It was enacted after policeman Filippo Raciti was killed in rioting at a match outside a stadium in Catania, Sicily, in February.

Italy's league programme was suspended, and some matches were then played behind closed doors.

But the BBC's Frances Kennedy in Rome says that despite the new anti-hooliganism measures, Sunday's explosion of anger shows violence is never far from the surface.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7090170.stm

[Oxy]

Italien football is so messed up!

Their policing is shocking - treat ordinary fans like animals.

Wales played their 3 years ago - 10 000 decent Welsh fans treated like dirt, battoned and attacked by the police!

[The Godfather]

well in itallien football something bad had to happen they need to sort it out but i dont think that will happen

[Saj]

The Italian Football Federation has suspended next weekend's Serie B and C matches after the latest fan violence.
On Sunday, games were halted across the country and police attacked after a Lazio fan was shot by a policeman.

Italy's Euro 2008 qualifier away to Scotland on Saturday means there are no top-flight Serie A games next weekend.

Sports minister Giovanna Melandri had earlier asked for "a strong gesture, in particular suspending the championships for a few weeks".

Melandri added: "Today I think a significant gesture needs to be made to express the condolences from the sporting world and the football world and the shared mourning and at the same time a condemnation without hesitation of violence."

Sunday's incident occurred when Lazio fans travelling to see their team play at Inter Milan encountered Juventus fans at a motorway service station in Tuscany.

Lazio's game with Inter and Roma's match with Cagliari were both postponed in the aftermath of the fatal shooting, and Atalanta's game with Milan was abandoned after just seven minutes.

Italy's anti-hooligan body has proposed the banning of large groups of potentially violent away supporters from all grounds.

It has also suggested that away fan attendance should be decided on a game-by-game basis, and wants 'supporter passports' introduced as soon as possible.

Uefa spokesman William Gaillard told BBC Sport that although there was clearly a serious problem, it was unfair to lay the blame entirely at the door of football.

"It reflects social difficulties in Italian cities which have little to do with football, and also the presence of extremists and organised groups do not reflect what the average fan feels about football," he said.

"That bullet could have hit anyone in the parking lot, so it's tragic. Football has a central place in the life of Italy, so whatever problems exist at a social level find their way to the stadium."