Violence in football

What a pity that a great footballing nation like Italy has had to stop all its leagues and even matches by the national teams because of violence in stadia. The death of a policeman at the Catania/Palermo Sicilian derby and the horrific attack on a club official after a Serie D match last weekend were only the culmination of a very turbulent two years for Italian football.

Coming after allegations of corruption of club officials and referees, it seems that decisions taken by the Italian football authorities have not managed to dampen the violent element in Italy. There are still more reports of alleged corruption coming out of Italy and many other officials and referees are still under scrutiny.

No decision by the referee, however mistaken, no rivalry between supporters, however strong, can ever justify the violent scenes we saw on television on Friday evening nor the many other incidents during the past few months in the various leagues run under the aegis of the FIGC. When the death occurs of a police official whose only reason for being at the stadium was to protect others then it not only becomes a murder inquiry but it is a case of these so-called supporters dumping a marvellous sport into the gutter. The same can be said of the death of the Serie D official whose only sin was altruism as he tried to stop rivals, players and officials from fighting. He was thanked by being kicked in the head which lead to his death. These people do not even think of the future consequences of their despicable action as Italy could easily lose its chance of organising the 2012 European Nations Cup among other things.

All of us who love football should be deeply hurt by what happened in Italy but let us be frank: crowd trouble in other countries has also been on the upsurge. A concerted effort should be made by UEFA in the case of Europe together with the various member associations and governments to get to the bottom of this. Harsh disciplinary measures are not enough. Why is it happening? Is it because of social problems such as unemployment, drugs, alcohol, the high financial cost of losing a match? I see it as a combination of all these factors.

Let us remember that social deprivation is the root of much evil and those who have had nothing to do but run about the streets for months if not years are always in the forefront of any violence. These youngsters are easy meat for those intent on violence as they can easily be manipulated.

We cannot just sit back and criticise, but we must also help, even in a small way, to solve violence in sport. The Italians are thinking of legislating but will this alone cut out violence? I very much doubt it. Deprivation is the crux and so greater effort to find jobs and to educate people as to their responsibilities will go a long way to bringing things under control. It will take a long time but it will see success in the end.