ITALIAN DISEASE

Last updated : 24 February 2003 By editor

Saturday’s match at Delle Alpi was abandoned after trouble in the stands and fans tried to invade the pitch.

From Reuters:

‘Saturday's Serie A match between Torino and AC Milan was called off after fans attempted to invade the pitch in the 64th minute and clashed with police. In December, Como's game against Udinese was abandoned with the home side banned from playing at their stadium for four games.

Torino are likely to face an even tougher sanction as their fans actually invaded the athletics track around the pitch and the violence was much more serious.

On Friday the Italian government passed a decree that gives police the opportunity to arrest suspects up to 36 hours after an incident, ending the restrictive legal situation that effectively meant vandals had to be caught red-handed. The old law meant that arrest figures following major incidents were always very low and ruled out use of video or photographic evidence to apprehend miscreants.

But while the new decree will help to catch the thugs, many in the game are trying to work out why violence remains such a problem in Italy when it appears to have waned as a threat in many other western European countries.

'These things only happen in Italy, they don't happen in Spain. In England, teams that are relegated get applauded off the field,' said Football League president Adriano Galliani who was at the Delle Alpi stadium in Turin in his role as vice-president of Milan.’

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