It Still Seems that Soccer = Violence in Italy
So, after the Italian Senate recently passed what’s being called an “anti-hooligan law” – a reaction to the killing of a policeman during a post-soccer game riot in early February – it’s now the police themselves who are being taken to task for the ways in which they reacted to a clash in the crowd after a match between Roma and England’s Manchester United. But even though the UK is asking for some kind of action, the Rome Prefect said “the police’s performance … was correct” and “it did not seem like a night of violence to me.”
There’s more about the “no violence to see here, folks, keep walking” story at The Offside.
And for a look at an older form of something vaguely related to both Italian soccer and riots, check out this article on “Calcio Storico” – which has been given a pass for 2007 because the last two years have turned into what amounted to bloody bar fights (only they weren’t in bars). As the article says, “A mix of soccer, rugby, Greco-Roman wrestling and bare-knuckle fighting, Calcio Storico – historic soccer, or soccer in livery – is not for the squeamish.” No, I daresay not.