tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202491.post113861570534948424..comments2023-08-13T10:44:53.168+02:00Comments on j'accuse: Ma vuoi vedere che...Jacques René Zammithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04881306009904413979noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202491.post-1138622187556756512006-01-30T12:56:00.000+01:002006-01-30T12:56:00.000+01:00Anyway, mercifully Italy have been drawn a tough g...Anyway, mercifully Italy have been drawn a tough group for the Euro qualifiers. Hopefully, this will prevent a horde of uncivilized Italian louts from having to leave their own country. Why can't Italy take a leaf out England's book in tackling the disease of hooliganism. That and not having a team that is, to put it diplomatically, utterly shit; Lippi or no Lippi.vladhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06232419490615704288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202491.post-1138621463185083872006-01-30T12:44:00.000+01:002006-01-30T12:44:00.000+01:00May a loyal Roma supporter please stand up and con...May a loyal Roma supporter please stand up and condemn those ugly scenes? <BR/><BR/>Present, your honour. <BR/><BR/>I am doubly horrified because, as Vlad rightly points out, Roma supporters tend to be left-wingers and this sort of behaviour is left to a group of Lazio ultras who are generally associated with the far-right. You may recall that when Aaron Winter used to play for them, some idiots used to boo their own player because he was coloured. <BR/><BR/>This politics in football phenomenon is both ugly and a pain. The Stadio Olimpico has a capacity of 80,000 and on its best days it's a wonderful spectacle of warmth, camaredrie and support for a great team from a great city. I know, because I was there when Roma won the league a few summers ago. <BR/><BR/>And yet it can be hijacked by a hundred fascist louts. To tar a whole team and fan-base is greatly unfair. <BR/><BR/>I await Wednesday's game with trepidation and hope that we won't have to play sul campo neutro di Palermo... <BR/><BR/>ps: which Maltese team will be the first to be associated with our own far-right at Ta' Qali?davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02715813772087478969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202491.post-1138617824425291642006-01-30T11:43:00.000+01:002006-01-30T11:43:00.000+01:00Too true. And I do know a couple of Roma supporter...Too true. And I do know a couple of Roma supporters who would be horrified by what happened. The thing is that reality is what it is. Juve is often derided for the lack of warmth of its support and it is a cross that it bears. It is a fact that Juventus would be more at home in Pescara or Palermo than in cold Turin but it is also true that the cold support is part of the spirit of the Piemontesi. In an interview with Equipe magazine last Sunday Platini said he felt at home with Juve and would never have fit in in Rome or Naples because it (Juve) is as cold as his character. Not many people would agree that it is a good thing and I envy Rome for its support but my envy stops there. I find blind support as irritating as much as I am capable to descend to being a blind supporter myself.<BR/><BR/>Now, while I sit back and try to solve this very conundrum I still hope that Olimpico will be banned next Wednesday - both for the political reasons of meting out a proper punishment that hurts as well as for the blind passion that makes me hope that banning the supporters will help Juve get through this stage!Jacques René Zammithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04881306009904413979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202491.post-1138617519632377952006-01-30T11:38:00.000+01:002006-01-30T11:38:00.000+01:00The simple reason that Juventus does not suffer su...The simple reason that Juventus does not suffer such serious hooligan problems is that unlike teams like Roma and Lazio they are supported predominantly by non-locals. As is the case with Manchester United most of the Juventus followers do not come from the city in which they are based, and more often don't even live there. Indeed, Juventus is the most popular team in Calabria, Sicily, Puglia and various other similarly underprivileged regions. Large swathes of the supporters on any given match day are bussed in from all over Italy. They certainly share footballing sympathies, but the groups are far from the gang-style aggregations one might find at the Olimpico stadium. What hooligans there are tend to be in small groups and not so politically charged. Inevitably, the deficit in localism does much to mitigate the passion with which the team is supported. That can only be a good thing, though I admit would be far from true to say that any Italian stadium is a healthy atmosphere to which to expose young children.<BR/>As for Roma, I am intrigued by the horrific Nazi banners. The most archetypally Roma-supporting districts of the city are usually quite left-wing. The city as a whole, in fact, is mostly left-wing, though the situation changes as you head out into the suburbs and region, a fact reflected in the political representation at city and regional level. I imagine the events of this Sunday will have horrified loyal Roma supporters above all, and one can only hope suitable remedial action is undertaken.vladhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06232419490615704288noreply@blogger.com