Italian Football as we see it​…

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Vybik Jon V
Vybik Jon Feb 5, 2007 17:39:59
Replying to handofdave

handofdave wrote:
Hmm. Sounds like American football, baseball, hockey, etc.

Or one of our State College campus riots.

:-/

Possibly, but I know too little about US sport followers to be sure. However, the one important aspect with some Italian supporters groups is the organised right wing element involved. The same is true in Spain, although maybe to a lesser degree.

Some of the 'ultra' groups are little more than political organisations and very well connected in some cases. The police do not seem to have had the powers or, on occasion, the desire to deal with them.

Italy (& Spain) have recent histories of very right wing leadership and neither country made the efforts to ditch fascism after the war in the same way as Germany. I'm not suggesting that either country is a fascist nation, but there remains a groundswell of fuzzy support for the right that can be indulged by young men via football.

British football hooliganism (now and in it's heyday) was associated with the right wing, particularly the National Front. Nevertheless, the recent history of the UK has not easily lent itself to accommodating active right wing extremism on the scale seen in Italy.

H handofdave
handofdave Feb 6, 2007 03:42:15
Replying to Vybik Jon

I see what you're getting at, yeah....
I guess you're right- the hooliganism here is just garden-variety stupidity, it has little to do with politics, unless you count the politics of being a bellowing drunkard out to make a lot of noise and destroy property.

B bubblehead2
bubblehead2 Feb 7, 2007 20:01:20
Replying to Vybik Jon

Well put, I saw a program on the Lazio Ultras not so long ago and was amazed at the power and influence they hold and wield. I didn't think the program was exagerrating either. Although, I was pleased to recently read that the Ultras at Lazio who were taunting Roma fans with anti-semitic abuse were drowned out by other Lazio fans chanting 'buffoons' at their own supporters sickening behaviour.

The sight of right wing Ultra banners with Gestapo deaths-heads on them has been an inescapable sight at many Italian football grounds for at least the last 20 years and hooliganism whether politically motivated or not has been common. The Italian police and the clubs themselves have seemingly been unprepared or unconcerned to deal with these issues. Perhaps the tragic events in Sicilly last weekend will finally force the authorities to confront the problems in their 'beautiful game'.

I do hope so.

Perhaps I'm being naive here, I hope not, but English football's gone a long way in confronting these issues to the extent that it's been marginalised so it's not the problem it once was, well, seemingly at club level anyway. It's a real shame that England at a national level still seem to suffer these very same problems on occasions. Perhaps one day those who try and use football as a vehicle for expressing their bigotted hatred will be eliminated from the game entirely.

Once again, i do hope so.