Roma-Cagliari Postponed Due To Death Of Lazio Fan
By: chris | November 11th, 2007
Due to the death of Gabriele Sandri during a clash of ultras in Arezzo, the game between the Sardinians and Roma has been suspended indefinitely:
“in segno di solidarietà nei confronti della tifoseria laziale e di tutta la città di Roma colpita dal lutto per la scomparsa del tifoso Gabriele Sandri, fosse giusto chiedere il rinvio della partita in programma questa sera allo stadio Olimpico con il Cagliari”.
E’ ufficaile. Roma-Cagliari è stata rinviata a data da destinarsi.
Apparently much of this was Rosella’s idea, and I don’t think we can do anything but commend her for deciding to show solidarity with Lazio and the city of Rome, as the game was being played in the city. Yes, I’d love to see Roma play today, but I suppose it’s right.
Obviously a part of this has to due with the death of Filippo Raciti in Catania last year, and the ever-present tension between the tifosi and the police, which are sure to heat up with this latest development. What happened to Gabriele is still under investigation, but having the authorities claim this as a “tragic error” certainly sheds light onto what the eventual outcome of that investigation will be. Presumably this is much of what caused the uproar in Bergamo (whose ultras are BFF with Lazio’s ultras), causing that game to be postponed, and was just as instrumental in the postponement of this game. And no, I do not believe this game being suspended and the Atalanta game being suspended are mutually exclusive.
(Courtesy of Gabriella)
To me, this suspension has little to do with football and everything to do with limiting the interactions between the police and mass groups of convened fans, notably the ultras. In the end, probably right. Unfortunately, time will most likely find that faults resides with the police, but most will label it as yet another black eye on Italian football, which it is not.
To escape from the off-the-field mess for a minute, the games that were played and finished today all had positive outcomes for the boys in yellow and red. Fiorentina finally lost to the deadly duo of Fab Quags and Antonio Di Natale, while Juventus only picked up a point at Parma, the same place that Roma left with a 3-0 victory not so long ago (add that to the Napoli loss…). So, even without playing a game this weekend Roma has seen positive advancements in the table. That is, if they can dispose of Cagliari properly, whenever that does happen.
Also, with half the team injured - yet some having to play - and a two week rest, for most, coming up, taking a weekend off may not be such a bad thing in the long run. This team’s greatest need is to get healthy, and this will enable that. It gets two of Roma’s best players, Francesco & Alberto, onto the field for the next match - never a bad thing.
Updating as info comes in…
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Comments
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this is going out of control. even thou a huge ammount of money will be lost, i think they will stop the season. at this point it seems the only logical thing to do
Posted from
United States
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Very intellegent points, Nick. A+
Posted from
United States -
Nick, great post. To clarify one point,you probably typo’d it, Chelsea plays at Stamford Bridge while Manchester Utd. is at Old Trafford. Which one is ‘The Library” now ?
Posted from
United States -
stamford bridge; long gone are the days of the chelsea head hunters
kudo’s on the post Nick, well thought out and articulated.
R.I.P. -
SandriPosted from
United States -
Sounds like we hit someone’s point of interest.
Posted from
United States -
Btw, some people lost their comments. The Spam Karma thing came and got them. Not sure why, unless you posted too many in a row or too quickly and the program thought it was a threat. They may show back up eventually if I can dig through the thousands of asian mistress and horse testosterone ads to find them (don’t count on it).
Posted from
United States -
Btw, some people lost their comments. The Spam Karma thing came and got them. Not sure why, unless you posted too many in a row or too quickly and the program thought it was a threat. They may show back up eventually if I can dig through the thousands of asian mistress and horse testosterone ads to find them (don’t count on it).
Posted from
United States -
Sorry Avala, I meant to call Stamford Bridge “the library”. Old Trafford can be a pretty miserably deafening place to play, while Stamford Bridge barely had 25,000 fans for a recent Champions League match against Rosenborg. Chelsea was pretty widely mocked for that showing, both in the stands and on the field (they tied Rosenborg 1-1).
Posted from
France -
I’m already going through Roma-withdrawal. This international break might kill me.
Posted from
United States -
hmmm.. I just realized that was very uncouth wording. My apologies, no offense.
Posted from
United States -
Those are all very good points Nick. I don’t think many people would say that solving the violence problem in Italy’s stadiums would be easy, nor that applying a series of measures such as the ones used in England would work overnight, but they appear to have worked. I know many people that have gone to the UK to watch matches, and they all praise the incredible vibrant atmosphere that one can experience in most Premiership stadiums, so it doesn’t look like it transformed watching a match into sitting quiet and pretty at the opera.
Having said that, I also believe that it would be particularly hard to find and implement a solution in Italy, because the mentality of the whole country seems out of whack. Look at what happened tonight in Rome: close to 1000 people (most of them Roma supporters, lest we kid ourselves in thinking that our own are immune from stupidity) litterally occupied the area around the Olimpico, blocked several streets and a bridge off, devastated local shops, set many cars and dumpsters on fire, attacked two police stations injuring 20 cops, and stormed into the offices of CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) with the intent of ambushing a group of policemen; when the cops smelled the trick and stayed out of the building, the crowd trashed the lobby of the building. How many poeple were arrested for all of this? 3. Three, out of a crowd of almost 1000. Now to me these facts are a symptom of many more and bigger problems than simply soccer, that should remain a game.
Posted from
United States -
Agreed Ezio. This isn’t going to go away in a hurry. But it’s not just going to take a seismic shift in football culture, it will also take a change in Italian POLICING culture, which won’t happen very quickly at all.
I have been amazed by some of the things I have seen at games in Italy, with police literally endangering the lives of those they are meant to protect.Posted from
Australia -
What’s this “no second chance” thing with the commenting? I’ve tried posting two or three times and it’s rejecting it.
Posted from
Australia -
Whoops. Sorry guys.
Posted from
Australia -
Don, the protector of spammage has gone on a mission to seek and destroy and is thus a little overzealous at the moment. They’ll appear eventually but I need to get to them first from here on out.
Posted from
United States -
I support Roma. I support Italia. I defend Serie A and the national team against the constant slags, especially from the English. But you know…they’re right. Italian football culture is an abomination right now. Just when Serie A is getting back on its feet after the scandal with thrilling matches week in and week out (see Napoli/Palermo for recent example) we get another completely avoidable tragedy. Again, that tragedy is the result of primitive, barbaric behavior. It sounds like the cops stepped in to break up a fight among testosterone-fueled morons and the cops overreacted by firing “warning” shots that turned fatal. A similar overreaction happened in Rome last year against United. BUT can you really blame the cops? No way. They had one of their own brutally slain in Palermo last year following the Catania match and they deal with this criminal behavior, week in and week out. Of course they’re on edge. The culture of football violence created by hooligans/criminals in Italy is at the root of this tragedy. Why is Italy trying to be England in the 1980s? Stadiums are consistently half-empty because people fear the violence. It’s sad.
The violence at the other grounds today only compounded the tragedy. It proved another embarrassment for Italy. This behavior “ruins the pith and marrow of our attribute” (look up the quote). It confirms everyone’s worst perceptions of Italy. That bums me out. And what saddens me even more is that the Italian nation is mourning another avoidable death.Posted from
United States -
HORATIO
Is it a custom?HAMLET
Ay, marry, is ‘t.
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honored in the breach than the observance.
This heavy-headed revel east and west
Makes us traduced and taxed of other nations.They clepe us drunkards and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition. And indeed it takes
From our achievements, though performed at height,
The pith and marrow of our attribute.
So oft it chances in particular men
That for some vicious mole of nature in them—
As in their birth (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose his origin),
By the o’ergrowth of some complexion,
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason,
Or by some habit that too much o’erleavens
The form of plausive manners—that these men,
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,
Being nature’s livery or fortune’s star,
Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo)
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault. The dram of evil
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt
To his own scandal.Posted from
United States -
and now for something completely different:
[court transcript]
contempt
of courtFrom the transcript of a pretrial hearing that took
place on May 5,in a criminal court in Adelaide,
Australia,before judge Roy Grubb.In the transcript
below,the prisoner is Yusuf Biyikli,a Turkish immi-
grant charged with “assault occasioning actual bodi-
ly harm”;Mr. Smart is the attorney for the crown.[The charge is read]
PRISONER:Shut up,fucking poofter.You poofter,
thank you.
HIS HONOR:You just keep quiet,we will have
a word with you in a moment.
PRISONER:Fuck to you.All right,you poofter.
All right,I fuck you.That is answer.
HIS HONOR:It is said that you assaulted-
PRISONER:Fuck the English,fuck the colony,
all right.
HIS HONOR:If you don’t shut up-
PRISONER:Fuck the judge too.That is not true.
HIS HONOR:Do we assume this is a plea of not
guilty?
MR.SMART:Yes,I think wa can assume that.
PRISONER:I fuck you,answer you,stuff you,
poofter.Is that enough for you answer?
HIS HONOR:That is no answer,but I take it as
a plea of not guilty.Inview of the out-
rageous outburst from the accused,I assume that
the torrent of language from him is a plea of not
guilty to each count.Remand for trial.Has some-
one been imprudent enough to grant a bail
agreement?
MR. SMART:I hesitate to ask him
PRISONER:Fuck you.
HIS HONOR:Do you wish to ask for bail?
PRISONER:You ask yourself bail,poofter.
Now ask me.
HIS HONOR:I don’t have to ask.
PRISONER:Fuck the bail,fuck Australia.
HIS HONOR:I take it ,then, you don’t wish
to seek bail.
PRISONER:Stuff that.
HIS HONOR:No application for bail,the ac-
cused is remanded for trial in custody.
PRISONER:Fucking bastard,poofter,melon-arse.from Harper’s Magazine,December 1993.
Posted from
United States -
nick - I have to commend you on a very lucid post.
you’ve outlined the basic conundrum here - things do need to change and change drastically. however, i cant see the ‘english model’ ever being accepted either. i also have to admit that it would be a big let-down to see a more ’sterilized’ serie a. the fan base and tifo are a huge part of the spectacle and game but it seems to be coming with a progressively increasing price to pay.
Posted from
Canada -
DonSimon..its more than just changing the police culture in Italy, but also the fans/Italians in general…what happened today is a tragedy..no question about that…but i fear that this problem of violence will be much more difficult to change in Italy, than say England…respecting the laws in Italy is not always something they take well…this will have to be a broad cultural change and everyone knows that is a difficult thing to achieve
the police’s action towards fans is not a one way street…just as the police acted in poor judgement today, fans have historically shown ill judgement as well…i lived in Italy for three years (recently) and the utter disregard for laws/rules can be at times disheartening…i will never forget attending a game at the san siro and while walking up the circle ramp in the stadium, having to avoid two crazy guys driving their vespas up and down amongst the people…who does that? how did they get the motorinos in the stadium? especially after someone had once tossed one off the upper tier? that’s a disregard to rules/order…. ive also been in a bar in milan and seen ultras from milan come out of nowhere and pick a fight with a bunch of friendly Celtic fans
i dont want to point fingers..its impossible…every side in this debate can be at fault in some way…but when a small group of fans continue to act like animals, think they are above the law, and put the rest of the public in danger, then its not surprising that they are treated like animals (i am not speaking about today’s shooting, but rather the police’s attitude at stadiums)
i love italy and wish i could still live there (no more work papers/visa), and i dont want to generalize, BUT from my experience (especially in rome) people point the finger WAY TOO often at the police/government without taking responsibility for their own actions
Posted from
United States -
you cannot blame calcio for this!
perhaps iti was the ultras but
1:THE FIGHT TOOK PLACE AT A LONG DISTANCE FROM A STADIA.
2: WAS DIFFERENT ULTRAS FIGHTING THAN THE ONES MEETING IN THE WEEKEND.
ALL THOSE AGRUMENT IS CRAZING? WANT TO SIT IN THE STADIA A MATCH, ARE WE TRYING TO KILL CALCIO?
THE BANNING SHOULD BE INTENSIFIED, THE POLICE SHOULD REALLY BE UPGRADED SO THAT WE CAN GET SOME REAL POLICING AT GAMES. THEY HAVENT GOT A CLUE HOW TO CONTAIN THE ULTRAES WHICH HURTS THE CALCIO SO MUCH, WE HAVE THE MOST PASSIONATE GAME OF THE WORLD LETS PROTECT IT NOT BREAK IT!Posted from
Sweden -
http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/nov12g.html
Shooting officer speaksPosted from
United States -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23eGEKSYC8Q&NR=1
this was the TG1 news coverage about the events at the Olimpico
Posted from
United States -
christian, ultras from opposing teams, whether playing each other or not, have always met up to fight away from stadiums
many of these ultras are on the paybooks of the clubs…how in some way is it not about calcio?
just because it didnt take place at the stadium, does not mean that these people are not affiliated with the club or represent the club in some fashion
to change news…rumor on goal.com…Hicks is trying to buy Roma
Posted from
United States -
nonononononoooooo to Hicks!!!
Posted from
United States
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