Posted on 02/02/2007 8:32:44 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Police officer killed in riots; all Serie A and B matches suspended
Maria Sanminiatelli
Canadian Press
Friday, February 02, 2007
In this frame made from SKYTG24, fans clash with police outside Catania's Angelo Massimino stadium after the Italian first division soccer league match between Palermo and Catania, in Sicily, southern Italy, Friday. (AP/SkyTG24)
ROME (AP) - A police officer was killed Friday when fans rioted at a Serie A game between Sicilian sides Catania and Palermo, prompting the Italian soccer federation (FIGC) to postpone all league matches this weekend and cancel next week's friendlies involving the national teams.
Fans rioted outside Catania's Angelo Massimino stadium during the second half. Police fired tear gas, which wafted into the stadium and forced the match to be temporarily suspended in the 58th minute with Palermo leading 1-0. Television footage from Sky TG24 News showed players struggling to breathe and pouring bottled water on their faces.
Police said the officer died after an explosive device was thrown inside his vehicle.
The violence continued after the game, in which Palermo beat Catania 2-1, trapping hundreds of fans inside the stadium as authorities sought to avoid further violence and stop people from leaving.
The ANSA news agency reported that nine Catania fans had been detained, but none was suspected of killing the officer. Police in Catania could not confirm the report early Saturday as all top officials were in a meeting or out of their offices.
FIGC commissioner Luca Pancalli called an emergency meeting in Rome late Friday, and announced that he was cancelling all games, the federation said.
"The decision to block the championships was immediate," Pancalli told a news conference after the meeting. "We cannot continue like this. What we're witnessing has nothing to do with soccer, therefore Italian soccer is stopping."
Italy's premier, president and other top officials quickly condemned the violence.
"I feel it is my duty to say that we unfortunately need a loud and clear signal to avoid the degeneration of the sport that we, unfortunately and dramatically, are witnessing," Prime Minister Romano Prodi was quoted as saying by Italian news agencies.
Prodi and President Giorgio Napolitano also said that their thoughts were with the family of the officer, who was identified as Chief Inspector Filippo Raciti.
Napolitano released a statement urging authorities to take a firm stand "against degenerations that demean the values of the sport and offend the country's civic conscience."
Pancalli added that the decision to postpone the weekend's remaining games was not enough, and said there would be more meetings Monday "to identify those drastic measures that will allow us to restart. Otherwise, we're not restarting the games."
The FIGC also cancelled Wednesday's friendly between Italy and Romania and an under-21 friendly scheduled for Tuesday against Belgium.
The federation said that another police officer was in critical condition, and police said dozens of people with lesser injuries had been taken to local hospitals.
Police defended security measures at the game.
"We're talking about incidents that happened outside the stadium and after the game had already started," police Cmdr. Piero Gambuzza told Sky TG24 News. "Police did not allow anyone with explosives to enter the stadium."
The violence follows last month's death of a fourth-division team manager from injuries he received when he tried to stop a brawl during a game.
I suspect this is one of the big reasons why soccer has never caught on in this country. It's got too much of a reputation as a sport for Third World sh!t-holes.
yea, there were 10,000,000 soccer games in the world yesterday and almost 35% of them ended in a riot.
yea, there were no recent riots at other sports events except for http://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/education/10883525/detail.html
or this one (not a riot) http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/article2187739.ece but I think I'm making my point.
Police said the officer died after an explosive device was thrown inside his vehicle.Checklist before heading to a soccer match:
Xenophobe!
There are 4 channels of soccer on TV 24 hours a day in this country and more kids playing it than any other sport.
It's not a "third world sh*thole" sport, it's played EVERYWHERE, including the USA. It's the world's most popular sport, unlike the pathetic NFL that has a tiny domestic competition between, what is it? - thirty teams, and then declares the winners "World Champions"
Word Champions of the NFL? Just what does that "N" stand for?
Moron!
There are thousands of professional soccer matches world wide every week, 52 weeks a year, and every now and then ther is trouble at one.
Your comment is akin to saying "seems like every one who owns a gun is a murderer".
No, riots in and around soccer stadium are not uncommon. I won't get into dissing contest between American Football fans and Soccer fans. I like both.
Getting rowdy in soccer matches has long root in Europe. Clashes between rival groups of fans are common spectacles.
Only in U.S., soccer is regarded as clean and nice sport.
Lots of pics Here
And yet these games can't draw enough support from television sponsors to put them on network television. Why is that?
I'll tell you why . . . It's because the same parents in this country who insist on having their kids play soccer wouldn't even dream of sitting down for 2-3 hours on a weekend to watch adults play the same game. Soccer is the most popular sport among kids these days because it's an inexpensive sport to play, not because so many people actually like it.
It's the world's most popular sport, unlike the pathetic NFL that has a tiny domestic competition between, what is it? - thirty teams, and then declares the winners "World Champions"
You won't get an argument from me on this one. I lost interest in the NFL a long time ago -- not because it is "a tiny domestic competition," but because it is the most overrated sport I've ever seen.
When it comes to sports, there's nothing better than hockey . . .
Maybe they can cool it off, if the game were played on ice, using a puck instead of a soccer ball.
You forgot the gas mask.
Trouble at soccer matches being "not uncommon" is a factor of the number of games there are 114 countries with National leagues, many with multiple divisions, so you can figure on there being 1500-2000 professional clubs worldwide - and they each play on average 40 - 50 games a year.
That's around 40- 50,000 Professional Club games each year, not counting the The World Cup, Regional championships, or the millions of amateur games (Figure 20 - 30 times the number of professional games).
Now out of 50,000 plus games, how many have seen reports of crowd trouble, and how does that compare percentage wise with the NFL's total of 267 gmes in a season?
Unlike NFL Football, that takes three to four hours to run out a one hour clock , and which only has about 15 minutes of actual time with the ball in motion, a soccer match is completed in two hours- two 45 minutes halves of continuous play plus a 15 minutes half time.
It's not on network TV often because it's not part of the American cultural fabric -yet, but it's making inroads, and to decry it as a "third world sport" is just ridiculous.
Hockey is a great game, and in many ways similar to soccer.
From a "spectator sport" standpoint, the problem with soccer is that it is far more exciting to watch kids play it than to watch adults play it. For all the talk about soccer being a sport of constant motion, the game can be incredibly dull -- and extremely predictable -- at its highest levels. And all the candy-@ssed flopping around on the ground whenever incidental contact occurs between players reinforces America's aversion to it.
You've obviously not seen some of the excellent club football that goes on around the world. The World Cup is, certainly somewhat sterile, but watch Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester United play and it is often breathtaking, and there is plenty of passion.
Nearly all American sports are passionless, they are marketed as family social occasions, they stop every ten seconds for time outs and advertising, and the game even stops if the crowd is too noisy!
Soccer matches don't neeed cheeleaders, organs or "applause" signs to tell the crowd when to sing. They sing a whole repertoire of songs in raucous unison - watch Galatasaray play in Istambul- the crowd sings non-stop.
These soccer riots really lend credence to the world media that claims that Americans are the worst behaved, least civilized, and most fanatical sports fans in the world.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.