You Many Not Have Heard, But Roma and Lazio Are Playing This Weekend
By: Martha | December 8th, 2006
In case you’ve been in a personal media blackout or something, a little thing called “The Rome Derby” will be taking place on Sunday. Needless to say, the Olimpico will be an utter madhouse for the duration, though those of the watching the game from afar will know this only from the muffled sound of flares firing, and the smoke drifting across the pitch as the game starts. Have you noticed how little fan footage is shown during Serie A games, and how low the audio level of the crown noise is? I’ve actually read this was a decision by Italian TV networks calculated to decrease the power of the Ultras, though it seems to have had little impact on anything, apart from denying us a sense of atmosphere.
Speaking of Ultras, those based in Rome have agreed to behave themselves this weekend, which is nice — and, I gather, pretty unusual. Apparently Roma’s fans have been vocally supportive of a group of Lazio Ultras who were arrested this week, and in a continuation of that solidarity of the far right (hey, whatever brings you together), the two sides have agreed to a sort of truce for the match. Theoretically, that means the violence inside and outside the ground will be kept to a minimum, and that “insulting chants” will be limited as well. We’ll see how this works out, but it’ll certainly be nice to have a derby match end and hear ONLY about what happened on the pitch.
Speaking of what happens on the pitch, every preview I’ve read seems to talk about nothing but Totti, his ankle, and whether he’ll play. The current answer, needless to say, is still “Uh, I dunno.” Based on what he’s saying, though, it seems unlikely he’ll be fully fit (he’s telling the press that, were the game not against Lazio, he wouldn’t even try to be ready) for the match, but that in no way means he won’t play. One imagines if he can even walk a little, he’ll be out there Sunday. Hell, he’ll probably score twice, just for good measure.
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