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La rivista inglese “Football Italiano” si sofferma ad esaminare la situazione del nostro calcio e dei nostri stadi, prendendo spunto dall’ assenza di clubs della Penisola nelle semifinali di “Champions’ League” e dalla vicenda dei cori a Balotelli. I sostenitori delle nostre squadre vengono definiti come soggetti “con la squadra nel cuore, i quali seguono i propri colori come una religione” mentre si evidenzia la presenza di gruppi ultras definiti “estremamente pericolosi”. Viene segnalata la facilità con cui entrano negli stadi le cosiddette ” bombe carta”, viene messa in risalto la scarsa preparazione degli stewards e messa in dubbio la reale volontà di politici e forze dell’ ordine nell’arginare un fenomeno che viene etichettato anche come contiguo a forme di delinquenza organizzata. Infine, si segnala il fatto che gli stadi non siano di proprietà dei clubs, i quali, senza diventarne i proprietari o senza alternative nuove forme di guadagno, non potrebbero contrastare lo strapotere del calcio britannico e spagnolo in un prossimo futuro. In Scozia è stato stabilito che per la finale di Coppa nazionale del 30 maggio i Rangers abbiano circa 25mila biglietti a disposizione mentre quasi 12mila andranno al Falkirk. Altri 15mila tagliandi dovrebbero essere destinati ad inviti, tesserati e sostenitori neutrali , in modo da formare una zona “cuscinetto” tra le opposte tifoserie. Tutti gli abbonati del Falkirk, la cui società aveva vanamente chiesto lo stesso numero di tagliandi destinati ai fans dei “Gers” ( foto ), avranno, comunque, la certezza di potere acquistare il titolo d’ ingresso mentre il contingente destinato ai supporters dei Rangers è inferiore al solo numero degli abbonati ad “Ibrox”:
The paradoxical support of the tifosi
Football Italiano
05 May 2009
By Mina Rzouki
“No one can deny the passion of Italian football fans. The Italian ultras devote their heart and soul to calcio following their teams as if it were a religion Their fervour is unrivalled and their love is absolute. Despite their ritualistic support, many blame them for the recent demise of Italy in Europe. With recent racist behaviour aimed at Mario Balotelli of Inter by the Juventus ultras, along with the killing of a police officer, Filippo Raciti, in Catania in February 2007, the fans have once again shown the ugly side of football worshipping.
Historically, Italy’s Serie A is the most successful football league in Europe. With Italian clubs having reached a record 25 European Cup finals and winning 11, they are beaten only by the Spanish La Liga whose teams have won 15 finals. Serie A plays host to some of the most prestigious clubs in the continent such as Milan and Juventus.
However recent failings have caused Serie A to slowly fall off the European radar and no longer hold the enormous control it once had over Europe. No Italian football club managed to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League this year and Udinese, the only remaining Italian Side in the UEFA Cup, crashed out in the quarter-finals. Should these failings continue, Italy could see France take it’s third place ranking in UEFA which would mean that it will only be offered three places in future Champions League competitions.
With this is mind, Lega Calcio has finally agreed a split to allow the top flight to break away and effectively create a new elite league within Italy called Lega A, similar to the Premier League in England. This would mean that the top clubs will no longer be governed together with Serie B, will no longer donate any funds to leagues below them and will no longer require the consent of much smaller clubs to pass decisions. Essentially they are an entity within themselves that will pass their own rules and organise their own fixtures. This new league will be developed over the next 12 months in hopes of thrusting Serie A back into glory in Europe and return once more to seriously compete with both La Liga and the English Premier League.
So what are the reasons for Italy’s failings in Europe? Obviously lack of money is one of them. Without an abundance of cash, Italy is unable to contend with England and Spain in transfer campaigns, meaning all the stars of the beautiful game cannot be brought over to the peninsula. Despite the constrained wealth of the Italian giants, the other major aspects that have pushed Serie A further down the rankings are both a succession of match-fixing scandals, such as the Calciopoli of 2006, and the regular occurrences of fan violence – the latter being the main focus of this article.
The most beautiful thing about calcio is the atmosphere on the pitch. The fans are die-hard and football is not just a game but a reason to exist. They live by the words of the Scottish footballer, Bill Shankly: “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that.” The Italian tifosi are not just fans who buy a season ticket and attend home games kitted out in the clubs’ merchandise, but rather ardent supporters who hold great control over their teams’ operations. Whilst there is much to admire them for, certain ultra groups are extremely dangerous with a single aim of seeing their team win – their enemies being not just the opposing team and fans but the police themselves.
The Italian police, much like Italian politics are still seen to be heavily corrupt with many of them reportedly striking illegal deals with the ultras to ‘handle’ the fans without their interference. With the great control that the ultras have and their supposed links to the Mafia, they operate a no fear policy to protect their ‘family.’ They will do all they can to deter the opposing team, they will chant, they will destroy and they will fight – safe in the knowledge that although they may get pummelled, they will not get arrested.
With lack of funding, Serie A outfits have less money to spend on security and prefer spending what little money they earn on the transfer markets or even just on keeping the club afloat. With highly powerful fans and limited security at old, decaying grounds, Italian football is on the decline. The absence of wealth is largely due to both council owned football stadiums and the sale of TV rights. In Serie A, as opposed to the English Premier League, all football stadiums are owned by the local councils rather than actual clubs. In effect, this means that all capital generated through ticket sales never wholly ends up in the individual teams’ accounts. This is in addition to the fact that in Serie A, teams sell their TV rights individually rather than collectively as a league. This translates into less money for smaller teams and more money for the bigger teams. If the new Lega A negotiates the same collective TV rights sales then we could see lucrative funding heading towards all Lega A teams to aid in building competitive European teams.
Furthermore, as stadiums are not club owned, they are not well maintained with most found to be in dreadful condition. Games are not properly monitored as there are no stewards, which allows for fans to smuggle in all types of home made weapons with the purpose of destroying the opposing team. There are still no guaranteed measures put in place to prevent the smuggling of hand-made bombs or measures in place to prevent racist chanting whilst punishments for such behaviour can be as small as a several-thousand-Euro fine. This was greatly demonstrated when Juventus appealed the decision to play the Sunday afternoon Lecce game behind closed doors. The appeal was granted and the decision postponed allowing them to play in front of their fans. Despite the public denials of racist chanting of the ultras by famed figureheads such as Marcello Lippi and Jose Mourinho, the fact that the fans behaved ignorantly should have been enough of a reason to penalise the team. These types of punishments will serve in ensuring that clubs spend more of their time and wealth on preventing this type of improper conduct.
The institution of football always walked hand in hand with hooliganism. No country has suffered from it like England. English teams were banned from all European competitions for five years after the Heysel Stadium Disaster that saw Liverpool fans breach a railing to attack the Bianconeri fans in the 1985 European Cup Final leading to the deaths of 39 Juventus fans. This dreadful tragedy, along with the Hillsborough tragedy of 1989 forced the hand of the authorities into creating secure and well policed stadiums in England and has since closed a dreadful chapter of fan violence in English football. Unfortunately, at times such events need to occur to attract the necessary attention in order to resolve the problem and avoid future catastrophes. A perfect illustration of this is the Taylor Report, published after the Hillsborough tragedy in England that had a profound impact on stadium safety in England.
With the absence of hooliganism and fan violence in English stadiums, football has returned to being a family sport with a harmonious atmosphere found inside the pitch and fans rallying around their team to boost morale and increase motivation. This is in stark contrast to the atmosphere in Serie A matches. Former Inter defender, Giuseppe Bergomi, once noted in an interview that this type of peaceful environment does not exist in Italy. Fans expect a lot from their teams and at times the pressure they exert is enough to stifle their team’s ability to win. A clear example of this is when after a few dismal performances by Roma and Juventus, the fans’ outrageous reaction heavily contributed to the consequential collapse in the end of their respective campaigns.
Many argue that supporting English teams is much like supporting a business. With millions of pounds in their accounts, clubs have bought scores of international football icons to the league and invested heavily in creating multi-million pound stadiums. And whilst the ambience may be friendly in these fantastic arenas, it can be said that home support for a Premier League club lacks real fervour. That is not to say that grounds across England are quiet, passionless places, but usually the best support in most Premier League grounds can be heard in the away section, where fans who travel to most games together have built up a back catalogue of chants and songs to get their team through another game. Old Trafford can be a place for great occasion and on European nights is a real cauldron of suspense, anticipation and all-round noise, but it is at the 19 other Premier League grounds that the Red Devils’ support is really heard in all it’s splendour and clarity, with the same applying to many of the other club’s supporters in that league.
Italy should follow the examples set by the English when it comes to patrolling stadiums and reducing violence and antisocial behaviour, but importantly for the Serie A sides, they must ensure that the supporters voices are not snuffed out when designated seating is introduced. Their ardour is what drove Serie A to be so tactically superior and their endless demands have ensured that their league is still in the top three. What the Italian authorities need to learn is that motivation can be generated through support even in desperate times. At times players need to feel their fans’ unconditional love for the squad to secure the results the team warrant. With their obsession of calcio coupled with the probable injection of wealth from Lega A, the Italian top flight could be on its way to reclaim its dominance of European football. Take this example below from Milan’s home game with Napoli earlier this season – no flares, no violence, the teams just warming up for the game, but the home fans in their thousands singing to the same chant, engulfing the San Siro in perfect noise”
Scots Cup final tickets allocated
Both semi-finals at Hampden were well below the 52,000 capacity
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The Scottish Football Association has revealed the allocation of tickets for the Scottish Cup final.
“Rangers will get 24,890 tickets for the Hampden showpiece on 30 May, while Falkirk are to receive 11,740 tickets with another 3,200 available if needed.SFA spokesman Rob Shorthouse told BBC Scotland last week it would be fair to both clubs and wanted to avoid unsold tickets being returned.Both semi-finals at Hampden were well below the 52,000 stadium capacity.Only 32,341 supporters watched Rangers beat St Mirren 3-0 in the first semi-final at Hampden, while 17,124 watched Falkirk’s victory over Dunfermline 24 hours later.
Falkirk had been campaigning for an equal share of tickets at the national stadium.Prior to the announcement from the SFA, managing director George Craig said: “There will be 11 men against 11 on the pitch and, to make it a level playing field, we feel there should be 25,000 fans backing each team as well.”All Falkirk season ticket holders will be guaranteed a seat for the big day at Hampden”
( BBC Sport )
Cup Final Tickets ( “Rangers Website” )
RANGERS will have the lion’s share of supporters at Hampden for the Homecoming Scottish Cup Final after the SFA announced the ticket allocation today.
“The Light Blues are getting 24,890 tickets for the May 30 meeting with Falkirk while the Bairns have been allocated 11,740.Season ticket holders who have signed up to the continuous credit card payment scheme for semi finals and finals will automatically receive a ticket for this match and payment will be taken from Tuesday 12 May. Season ticket holders on the scheme who selected family section will be allocated tickets in the family section.Remaining tickets will go on sale to season ticket holders only from Thursday 14 May from the sales channels listed below. Season ticket holders may purchase one ticket per season ticket up to a maximum of four season tickets per transaction, subject to availability.Please note that tickets are extremely limited and will be sold on a first come first served basis to season ticket holders only. In the event that Rangers is allocated additional tickets from the SFA, sales details for this additional allocation will be communicated via rangers.co.uk and where supplied and appropriate, by email.We would strongly recommend that season ticket holders arrange to have their tickets sent by Special Delivery or alternatively uplift their tickets from Rangers Ticket Centre.The deadline for season ticket holders who have not already arranged to receive tickets by Special Delivery but who would like to do so is Wednesday 20 May. Those season ticket holders wishing to uplift their tickets should also do so by this date. Please call 0871 702 1972 (option 4 then 9) to speak to one of our customer service advisors for further information on postal or uplift options.Tickets are priced at £28* for the West Stand and £35* for the North and South Stands. Family section tickets are priced at £24* for adults and £10* for kids (under 16s) in the family section.
SALES CHANNELS
Ticket hotline 0871 702 1972
-Rangers Ticket Centre
*Family section tickets cannot be purchased online and only one ticket can be purchased online per visit. Rangers number and surname required per ticket purchased.^Tickets are subject to availability and booking fees apply.