Yesterday night, before this match, a Napoli fan fell off of the upper deck balcony, and 20 meters to the level below. He's is in very serious condition and according to the TV the kid is going to die. Anyways the Napoli fans got furious that the emergency teams, ambulances and what have you took their sweet time arriving on the scene, and as a result totally invaded the pitch, cause a riot, tore down the goal posts, assaulted Avellino fans etc. The match was obviously abandoned Ugly ugly scene. here is the article from la gazzetta http://www.gazzetta.it/primi_piani/2003/pp_1.0.163599051.shtml however, it does no justice to the scene...you should see it on TV
this just got better. one of the policemen (carabinieri) who was on the pitch fighting off the fans, suffered a heart attack during the melee, and has died.
The police officer has not died; while he was lying however he was beaten furiously by the Napoli "supporters"
Not to belittle this awful incident, but that statement, I believe, is used wrt Serie A, right? I don't think anybody's EVER said those words about Serie B!
I saw the highlights on 90to Minuto. Holy Smokes!!!!!! That just looked so scary. Damn, what's with these "fans". I'm ashamed to wear my Napoli shirt now. (BTW, who's the new host of 90to minuto?)
Worst thing is that this happened to be the week they chose to make up the first round of games, so teams are returning to action tonight. And to make things worse, one of the games is Verona-Napoli, two of the most notorious sets of fans. I imagine there will be a large security presence at the games tonight.
La Gazzetta (http://www.gazzetta.it/primi_piani/2003/pp_1.0.166232647.shtml) is expecting that the game will be declared a 3-0 loss for Napoli, and they will be required to play their next 5 home games behind closed doors and away from the San Paolo. I think it also says that charges for some rough equivalent of negligent homicide (my legal Italian is more than a little shakey) will be brought against 3 people in Avellino, including an employee of the team and what must be the head of security for the stadium. That must have been a much larger crowd than they were used to (Avellino apparently won promotion from C1 last May). Is that seen as being part of what happened?
Avellino had a long stretch in Serie A in the late 70s and 80s and have a decent-sized stadium (capacity 38000). However, the last time they were even as high as B was 1995. Last season, in a successful promotion campaign, they led Serie C1 with an average attendance of 8435 (max 25000). The year before that was probably more typical, with an avg attendance of around 4000. Avellino and Napoli are in the same region - hence, it was a derby game. Just piecing things together, it seems like the home team was completely unprepared for the glut of travelling Napoli fans. Apparently, some of these fans - unable to get into the game - charged through the police barrier to get in. It's not clear if the kid who fell was in this group or not (supposedly, this was only his second ever trip to an away game). At any rate, for whatever reason, the Napoli fans felt that help was not quick enough in arriving for their mortally-injured paisan', and that is what set off the riot. It also seems to me that the lack of preparedness by the stadium security is at least partially to blame.
Verona and Napoli played to a 1-1 tie tonight in Verona. From what I can understand, the Napoli fans "deserted" the stadium. Some 60 Napoli fans without tickets were refused admittance.
60 fans traveled all the way from Napoli to Verona without tickets? What do you mean they deserted the stadium?
I don't know what it means, that's why I put it in "". The little headline on teletext said "disertano", which I'm pretty sure means that. I'm JUST guessing it was one of these stunts where they go to the curve and then make a big show out of walking out. Have to watch the news later.
That makes more sense, I guess. It's a pretty long trip for a Tuesday night game. Anyway, this practice of going to a game without tickets and just kind of barging in with the rest of the away fans. Is it common practice there? Sort of sounds like it.
yeah i think so...i just know that like 10 mins from the end they open the gates to let ppl leave but its kind of easy that someone enter in the stadium at that point or even in the players parking
Lazio's Demetrio Albertini commented on fan riots yesterday, suggesting even a player strike...doubt it would ever get that far: Albertini, councilman of the Players Soccer association, also has a proposal on how to fight the violence in the stadiums: "In Italy the situation of the violence in the stadiums has become embarrassing, above all for who loves and practices this sport. Sincerely I do not know what type of position could be taken from the soccer player, because even us, like all of the rest, are awaiting facts from the Government. The stadiums at this point are considered from these pseudo tifosi like nobody's land. Perhaps, the only solution would be the one to stop ourselves and to strike, even if it would be a difficult situation ". (Corrier Della Sera)
Napoli has been penalized for the incident by being forced to play their next 5 home games away from the San Paolo stadium and no fans of the team will be admitted to the neutral sites. This is the same length as the penalty Torino suffered last season (although I don't think their fans were banned from travelling to the other stadiums).
That's ironic given that the first full Serie A matched that I watched on TLN was that Torino-AC Milan match.