Juve Fans Narc on Their Own; Are Celebrated Far and Wide

By: Martha | September 18th, 2007

Il Bomber. At the end of the first half of the Juve-Udinese match on Sunday, an irate fan by the name of Nicholas Ravasio lobbed a smoke bomb onto the pitch (Aren’t they supposed to be frisking people now, so they can’t bring that sort of thing into the ground? My, how shocking that it got through.) in an eloquent form of protest against a bad call, only to have himself pointed out by the fans around. The stewards — Yes, they have those in Italy now! — waded in, apprehended Ravasio, and turned him over to the cops; the offender appeared in court this morning. (No word on if the stewards had to brandish their firearms to collar the smoke-bomber, though we’d probably have heard more about it had the answer been yes.)

This sort of thing pretty much never happens in Italy, and it certainly never leads to things like ~~suspended~~ jail sentences — albeit one that leaves the offender not actually doing any time — and three-year stadium bans as this episode has, so the whole thing is being roundly celebrated in the press. Not only does it mark the first time anyone has been sentenced to anything for throwing something on fire onto a football ground, but the assistance offered by Ravasio’s fellow tifosi in nabbing him has stunned pretty much everyone, as is being celebrated as a sea-change in the attitude of Italian football fans. And, as an added bonus, since Ravasio was identified, he’s at risk for civil suits from the three stewards whose hearing was damaged by the explosion of the smoke bomb. Ha-ha.

While this certainly is an act of bravery and uncommon good sense by those who called the bomber out, if the Juve Ultras react negatively to the incident (as some in the media fear that might) it could also be behavior that’s nipped in the bud before it even has a chance to spread. Sadly, given the past 20-25 year of Italian football, the latter scenario seems most likely; hopefully someone among the Juve fan groups has enough sense (and power) to convince his fellow Ultras to just leave things be, and they’ll behave over the next few weeks and let this thing grow.