Florence has been chosen as a safe neutral site for the second leg of Hapoel Tel Aviv's UEFA Cup tie with Leeds. The irony - I'm just remembering Fiorentina's homefield ban and subsequent expulsion from the UEFA Cup for fan behavior a few years back.... no worries about that now. Hapoel tie set for Florence http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UEFACup/news/Kind=1/newsId=38504.html
If I remember correctly that was the tie agaisnt Grasshoppers of Zurich which was played in PALERMO? I thught i heard that there were less than 500 fans actually from Firenze at that match, and the problems were mostly caused by local fans... I wonder how I can get tickets to this match...I dont care for Leeds or Hapoel, but it would be nice to see some European action in my neighborhood again...
The tie was played in *Salerno* (close ) and it was never proven that it wasn't local fans who threw the giant firecracker on the field. It did seem kind of unfair in that regard ... ... however, the whole reason for playing the game at that site to begin with was because of the battery-throwing incident in Florence against Barcelona in the Champions League(?) the previous season. I guess UEFA doesn't understand the rules of baseball - in that case, it was two strikes and you're out.
Sue...The Barcelona thing came AFTER the UEFA Cup thing After the CL run we had, we had 2 UEFA Cup apperanaces...gettng eliminated by Tirol Inssbruck, then by Lille
Okay, I found it. It was the Cup-Winners Cup semifinals in 96-97 against Barcelona. Think that was the battery-throwing incident. Fiorentina received a home-field ban of at least two matches. They were not in Europe in 97-98 and in the 98-99 UEFA Cup, they played their first "home" game in Bari, and their next in Salerno where the big firecracker incident occurred as the teams and refs walked off at halftime. The game was suspended at that point - with Fiorentina well ahead and essentially already qualified - and the Viola subsequently tossed from the competition.
i remember the Grasshoppers incident...but not the 96-97 Barca thing...i was still living in the states at that time...but i knew it wasnt the Barca CL match...that was the day after my birthday, a 3-3 draw that was the most exciting match i'd ever seen, and there wasnt any problems at that one at all From what i read in this morings paper, Franchi is going to be set up into 2 basic section for the Leeds hapoel match...the opposing curves will be for each teams fans..while one sideline will be opened up for the general public...dont know how well this is gonna work...
If the game is a snoozer (or even if it's not), my guess it be prepared for the Leeds fans to sing joking songs about Fiorentina's demise. By the way, tree, do fans of Florentia Viola still do that huge "'Tina!" yell - for old-times-sake? Or has that gone away along with the name Fiorentina?
all the old chants and songs remain. In fact della valle has been getting annoyed with the fact that they are still calling the team Fiorentina in the papers and TV etc, as well as the signs, banners etc at teh stadium...i agree with him actually...i hope he never reacquires the old AC Fiorentina name