Fan power condemned after Genoa 'madness'
Reuters - Monday 23 April 2012, 13:35
Genoa will have to play their
next two home games behind closed doors after players bowed to
the demands of rioting fans who halted play and ordered them to
take off their shirts as the Serie A team lost 4-1 at home to
Siena on Sunday.
"Madness in Genoa", was Monday's headline in sports daily
Gazzetta dello Sport, while all newspapers carried articles on
the "shame" of Genoa for letting their hardcore "ultras" fans
dictate terms to the players.
"These things must end quickly, putting up with this causes
too much damage to Italian football," said Paris Saint-Germain coach
Carlo Ancelotti, formerly at Chelsea, AC Milan and Juventus.
The referee stopped play as smoke bombs and firecrackers
were hurled onto the pitch by a small contingent of Genoa's
fans, some of whom then climbed over the perspex barriers
separating them from the field.
The supporters, some of them hooded, demanded the players
remove their shirts after chanting they were not worthy of
wearing them.
While Siena retired to their dressing room, most Genoa
players handed their shirts to captain Marco Rossi although
striker Giuseppe Sculli refused and tried to negotiate with the
supporters.
Serie A announced the two-game ban on fans in a statement.
Genoa also face upheaval on the field after colourful owner
Enrico Preziosi, supposedly banned from football for previous
misdemeanours, said in a radio interview that he was sacking
coach Alberto Malesani and replacing him with Luigi De Canio.
Malesani was only reappointed at the start of this month
having been previously sacked in December.
Genoa, who had hoped to mount a challenge for the Europa
League spots at least this term, are 17th in Serie A only one
position and one point clear of Lecce in the relegation zone
with five games left.
Former Queens Park Rangers boss De Canio has a tough baptism
on Wednesday with Genoa travelling to champions Milan, who are
desperate for the win after slipping three points behind
Juventus in the race for the Serie A title.
Sunday's scenes were reminiscent of a European Championships
qualifier between Italy and Serbia at the same stadium in 2010
when visiting fans rioted and caused the match to be abandoned.
"I thought I was dreaming," said former Milan and Italy
midfielder Demetrio Albertini, now vice president of Italy's
football federation. "You only have to compare us with abroad to
see that we have trouble managing our fans and our stadiums."
MATCH-FIXING SCANDAL
The episode is the latest blow to Italian football, which is
already reeling from a new match-fixing scandal currently
centred on Serie B team Bari but which threatens to escalate as
prosecutors continue their investigations.
La Stampa daily said Italian football was made a laughing
stock by "the photo of a bemused Marco Rossi transformed from
captain to laundry boy" as he handed over his team-mates' shirts
to the fans.
Under the headline "The shame and the cowardice" La
Repubblica said Italian stadiums were "places where the law
cannot enter and where the strongest have the power to take away
everyone's dignity".
While the shirt-removal incident in Genoa was unprecedented,
Italian football is not new to episodes of "fan power" from its
notorious but influential "ultra" supporters.
The 2004 Rome derby between AS Roma and Lazio was abandoned
after fans invaded the pitch due to a rumour, which turned out
to be false, that a supporter had been run over by a police
vehicle. On that occasion Roma captain Francesco Totti famously
negotiated with representatives of the team's "ultras".
Other problems with hooligans contributed to Italy failing
in its bid to host Euro 2016 while the country's crumbling
stadiums were also a factor.
The president of Italy's football league Maurizio Beretta
called for the police to take a hard line against the ultras and
Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri said those responsible
for the incident had already been identified.