I remember in the bad old days of English fooball hooliganism that UEFA were always quick to slap bans, fines and make threats to the FA and to English football as a whole.
So on reading the news about continued violence in Italian football, I wonder why UEFA are so silent, just like they are when it is Dutch hooligans or Croatians or Poles who are rioting.
I guess the problem is with UEFA, it is easy to attack the FA and England, a country that has taken the hooligans on and where the police, the football authorities and the clubs work hand in hand to keep people safe at football matches.
Come on UEFA, treat the rest of Europe as you would treat England. Show some backbone.
2 comments:
The English FA removed all teams from Europe after 1985. UEFA then agreed to it.
Also, back then, most of the English trouble was in European football competitions (and internations) - so UEFA had to act.
In Italy, it's happening in the National League - Serie A and down the football leagues.
Yes, absolutely no excuse for it, something must be done to clean football in Italy.
The Italian authorities will have act heavily on this matter (as they hopefully are!). If they weren't, yes UEFA would've had to.
The other thing is that, the tragic death of the police officer last Friday was outside the ground were Catania 'fans' were attacking the Palermo fans/police.
In 1995, the fan that was killed was also outside the ground.
The problem is more to do with society rather than football. I don't know how much you know about politics in Italy - it's in a real mess, no one really has any control!
Politics failed 'Calcio' in Italy and I hope one day it can help it back!
One of the most stunning things that foreign fans discover about Italian grounds is that in some stands the football club does not control the stewarding, it is left to football "gangs" to control the stands, with club officials being largely banned from having any influence on what happens in some stands.
Italian football has got to stop this. However, anoth big problem in Italy is that violence and an overselling of TV rights is leading to a massive decline in people going to matches. Some Italian games can be shown on two or three channels at the same time meaning that people do not have to go to matches.
In the UK the Premiership has controlled TV rights in a sensible way, sharing the money more between clubs and prventing over-exposure.
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