A group of disgruntled Bologna fans have decided to turn a negative into a positive and donate the money they saved on not travelling to Rome last weekend to the victims of the Abruzzo earthquake.

Away fans were barred from travelling to the AS Roma Bologna match.

It was one of many matches this season that have been played without the presence of visiting supporters as Italian football authorities try to crack down on the plague of hooliganism that has haunted them these past few years.

So now the unhappy "Ultras" of Bologna have decided to donate the money they didn't spend on travelling to Rome to those in need.

"Last Sunday we wanted to descend in force on Rome to try to support our Bologna," said the group.

"Last Sunday no one was allowed to go to the Stadio Olimpico because the usual authorities of this phantom-football and real-repression decided to deny the right to travel.

"This seems to be the umpteenth injustice against football ultras. But after Sunday night, after the 20 seconds (of earthquake) that changed the history, the present and the future of an entire region, the trip that was denied us has become something completely different.

"Hence it has become easy, in fact just, to decide something simple: the money that every one of us would have spent on the coach to Rome can be committed to a different type of trip." Several clubs including Napoli, Fiorentina, Catania and Siena have said they will donate the proceeds from their next home match to the quake victims but this is the first time a group of fans have made such an offer.

The Italian Football League has also decided that a minute's silence will be observed before Sunday's Serie A matches and players will wear black armbands.