Everything is Fixed When No One Travels. No, Really.
By: Martha | November 29th, 2007
As a very irritated PalermoSteven noted yesterday, the Observatory for Sport has banned Palermo supporters from traveling to Catania for Sunday’s Sicilian derby. In addition, home supporters are forbidden to buy more than one ticket, or to resell the one they’re allowed. (As you may recall, the last time this fixture was played, Filippo Raciti was killed in fighting outside the ground, a tragedy that, among other things, led to the creation of the very body that has handed down the ban.)
Given the recent history of the match, the Observatory’s decision isn’t really surprising, despite the fact that Palermo supporters, as far as I can recall, have been in no trouble whatsoever this season. That said, the path the sporting divisions of the government have gone down since Gabriel Sandri’s death is laughable: The fact that he was where he was because he was traveling to support his team in another city has, somehow, turned into an excuse to ban away fans or close Curvas at the drop of a hat. Yes, it was the Curva in which the trouble that ended the Atalanta-Milan match took place, but those were the home fans, for god’s sake. Had Milan supporters been banned from the match, the same damn thing would have happened.
Ok, a ban on away support at the Inter-Lazio match Sandri was going to would mean he’d still be alive today. But so what? The authorities aren’t going to forbid travel on the motorway he was on to avoid another accidental (or not) shooting, and banning traveling support is just as ludicrous a response. The Observatory would probably claim they’re taking a step towards the necessary diminishment of the role and power of Ultras groups, but that’s obviously bullshit. They’re putting out a raging fire by, I don’t know, buying a puppy and playing with it in the corner. Meanwhile, the inferno destroys everything in its path — this isn’t solving anything.
Category: 
Tags: Catania, National Observatory of Sport Competition, Osservatorio Nazionale sulle Manifestazioni Sportive, Palermo, Serie A, travel ban, UltrasSubscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments
-
Martha, sorry to play devil’s advocate but I’d be careful in associating any future decisions of the ONMS to what happened to Gabriele Sandri. The observatory’s decisions have been swift since the Serie A started, and they certainly didn’t wait that a Lazio supporter tragically died to come down on dangerous ultrà groups. That has been the objective of the ONMS all along.
As it stands, they must have judged (probably rightfully so) the Catania-Palermo derby to be at “high risk”, hence the away supporters ban. Remember, for things to improve in Italy we are going to need a very long time, things won’t change overnight. We can’t expect the introduction of stewards to be a miracle instantaneous cure. If what it takes is the ban of away supporter groups (at least temporarily) for potentially dangerous matches, then I’m all for it.
Posted from
United States
-
Well, they released a statement after his death that made the connection for me, Marco. Mostly it reiterated past rulings, but the connection was obvious, and it can’t possibly have been a coincidence that they hit the non-travel thing hard in that statement, which came out the day after his death. What do they want us to conclude?
Posted from
United States -
But, Martha, puppies are cute. People like puppies. Therefore playing with puppies must be helpful. And look, the puppy isn’t getting burnt, so clearly playing with puppies is progress against the fire.
Posted from
Italy -
Interesting. It’s such a cosmetic change to bring into play, and as you say it isn’t a long-term solution. As a specific response to the Sandri killing I don’t even know if football *can* offer a long-term solution all on its lonesome.
This sucks.
Posted from
India
Comments are closed
Home 
