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Roma, almeno nelle intenzioni della Prefettura e di molte altre autorità,, non intende presentare il volto di una città “militarizzata” in occasione della finale di “Champions’ League” tra Man U e Barcellona. Sono attesi quasi ventimila tifosi per parte muniti di biglietto ma i maggiori timori sul fronte dell’ ordine pubblico sembrano concentrarsi sulla presenza di un numero imprecisato, stimato tra le 5mila e le 10mila unità, di fans dei “Red Devils” che viaggeranno senza tickets. Preoccupano, inoltre, i pessimi precedenti della tifoseria della squadra di Ferguson sia con gli ultras giallorossi che con le nostre forze dell’ ordine. Un’ area apposita sarà allestita non lontano dallo “Stadio Olimpico” per cercare di raggruppare il numero maggiore possibile  dei fans britannici senza il titolo d’ ingresso in una sola e ben determinata area. La polizia inglese ha annunciato, altresì, la presenza di elementi della “firm” nota come “Men in Black” e alcuni agenti in borghese arriveranno da Oltre Manica con il compito di individuare e segnalare alle autorità italiane gruppi di persone note agli investigatori per precedenti specifici. Preoccupano meno i tifosi del Barcellona, eccezione fatta per quella che sarà la presenza dei “Boixos Nois”, stimata , però, dalla polizia spagnola, la quale sarà anch’ essa presente, in poche decine. Ha fatto il giro di mezzo mondo la morte del tifoso 49enne dei Celtic ucciso a Coleraine, nell’ Irlanda del Nord, da un gruppo di una quarantina di soggetti, alcuni dei quali indossavano magliette e sciarpe dei Rangers, società che aveva appena festeggiato il 52esimo titolo  di campione di Scozia. Il “Philadelphia Daily News”confina, però, l’ episodio più alla sfera delle tensioni religiose, politiche e sociali ancora correnti nell’ Ulster che non ad un episodio strettamente collegabile al mondo del pallone.

Taking sports far too seriously . . .
Philadelphia Daily News
26 May 2009
Frank Bertucci and Tom Mahon

In another soccer-related story, Northern Ireland was the site of a horrific incident Sunday as a group of militant Protestants, who are supporters of a Scottish team, beat a Roman Catholic man to death.According to witnesses, more than 20 fans of Glasgow Rangers – many sporting the team’s blue-and-white colors – drove into the Catholic area of Coleraine after the Rangers won the Scottish Premier League championship. There, the mob attacked and killed Kevin McDaid, 49.
Police said they arrested seven men on suspicion of involvement in the attack.Violence among Catholic and Protestants has raged in Northern Ireland for years. Sadly, it spills over to sports, where a person’s religion can, and often does, determine which team they’ll support.

Italians try to calm fears of football fans violence
AFP
26 May 2009
By Barnaby Chesterman

ROME (AFP) — Italian authorities in Rome have been moving to try to calm concerns that Wednesday’s Champions League final risks being marred by fan violence.Rome has been somewhat unkindly nicknamed ‘Stab City’ by English fans and press alike due to a number of previous incidents over the years where English fans have been stabbed by AS Roma supporters when coming to the Italian capital to watch their team in the Champions League.There was even a campaign in a British newspaper earlier this year to try to get the venue changed from Rome, something which outraged the Italians.And the British Foreign Office has now sent out warnings for fans to avoid certain ‘hot spots’ such as the Ponte Duca d’Aosta where Roma’s Ultras have previously laid in wait for English fans.Rome is already mobilising for the influx of more than 50,000 fans – at conservative estimates – who will mostly start arriving on Tuesday afternoon through to Wednesday morning.The sale of alcohol throughout the city, in supermarkets as well as bars and restaurants will be banned from Tuesday to Thursday, meaning English fans in particular will have to be creative if they wish to get drunk.Even in FergieFields, a private area being set up for United fans that can hold up to 2,000 people, alcohol will be off limits.But despite the alcohol ban another worry is the lack of big screen TVs, which won’t be set up around the city for ticketless fans to watch the game.That means the thousands of expected fans coming to the city but can’t get into the ground will be crammed into bars and pubs, other potential flashpoints.

But Rome prefect Giuseppe Pecoraro insists things won’t be as bad as everyone is making out”Rome won’t be a militarised city but over these last few days we’ve been working so that this important event can take place in the calmest climate possible,” he said.One thing the city’s police have provided is two welcome areas, one each for English and Spanish supporters in two large squares, although not the more common congregational areas in the city such as Campo di Fiori, Piazza Navona and Pantheon.”We’ve left nothing to chance but we’re not excluding the possibility of individual incidents of violence which often happen at these types of events due to alcohol abuse,” said police chief Giuseppe Caruso.However, despite the obvious scaremongering about Rome, the city is actually worried about the potential it will give off a bad image and mayor Gianni Alemanno has called on citizens, businesses and fans to do their home town proud.”We all must be aware that the possibility of Rome hosting other events will depend on the success of this sporting event,” he said.

Alcohol ban in bid to keep the peace at Champions League final
The Times
26 May 2006
Tom Dart

Sir Alex Ferguson is expected to lead up his Manchester United team if they win the Champions League tomorrow night. He would become only the second manager in history, after Bob Paisley, to win the European Cup three times.Uefa has been deliberating who should lead the teams up at the trophy presentation and is thought to have decided on the managers.This would avoid the unnecessary scene of last year’s final when the European governing body invited each club to send up ambassadors to collect a medal — and Chelsea, to widespread mocking, sent up Peter Kenyon, the chief executive, to collect a loser’s medal.United chose Sir Bobby Charlton in what was an emotional occasion 50 years after the anniversary of the Munich air disaster. Charlton, modestly, put his medal in his pocket but the sight of Kenyon with a medal round his neck caused Uefa to reconsider its ceremony.This year Ferguson and Pep Guardiola, of Barcelona, are expected to collect a medal first. The winning captain would still get to lift the trophy.For either manager it promises to be an historic night. Guardiola, 38, is in his first season as a top-flight coach but could scoop an extraordinary treble. Ferguson is seeking to become the first manager to retain the trophy since Arrigo Sacchi with AC Milan in 1990.

Sacchi and Ferguson are on a list of more than a dozen managers, including Brian Clough, who have won the trophy twice. Two coaches, Ernst Happel, with Feyenoord in 1970 and Hamburg in 1983, and Ottmar Hitzfeld, with Borussia Dortmund in 1997 and Bayern Munich in 2001, have won it twice with different clubs.
But Ferguson has the chance to join Paisley at the top if he adds to triumphs of 1999 and 12 months ago. Paisley led Liverpool to successes in 1977, 1978 and 1981.Rome’s authorities will ban the sale of alcohol near the Stadio Olimpico and on public transport from tonight until Thursday in a bid to prevent hooliganism as they prepare for a huge influx of fans ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League final.About 30,000 Manchester United supporters are likely to travel to the Italian capital and city officials and Uefa are concerned about the potential for disorder since a large number of them will not have tickets.“Our biggest worry will be the fans without a ticket or with fake tickets,” Gianni Alemanno, the mayor of Rome, said. Italian police said they have already confiscated counterfeit tickets and printing apparatus.United and Barcelona were allocated 19,500 tickets each for the game, a 67,000 sell-out. Relatively few ticketless Spanish fans are likely to make the journey but between 5,000 and 10,000 are expected to travel from England in the hope of buying a ticket from touts, or just to savour the atmosphere in the host city. Supporters began arriving in numbers yesterday.One of the largest security operation of its kind in Italian history begins in earnest today as thousands of law enforcement officials patrol potential flashpoints including the area around the Stadio Olimpico, the city centre, the airports and train stations. Last week, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued advice on which parts of the city to avoid.For the match, 1,000 stewards will be deployed inside the stadium and 500 volunteers from the Civil Protection Department and 1,500 traffic police will help the regular police and Carabinieri to maintain order, assisted by contingents of British and Spanish officers, both undercover and in uniform.“All the necessary measures have been taken in order to give the best possible image of this city,” Giuseppe Pecoraro, the prefect of Rome, said. “It will not be a militarised city.”Supporters will arrive into different airports and there are two designated gathering places — Via Cipro for Barcelona’s followers and Piazzale delle Canestre for United’s. The sale of alcohol from shops near the stadium is prohibited from 5pm local time today until 6am on Thursday morning.However, the real worry is not so much the possibility that Barcelona and United fans will fight but the potential for violence if local hooligans seek out visiting supporters, as has happened on several occasions in recent years. Gangs of AS Roma “ultras” attacked Arsenal fans before and after their Champions League last 16, second leg tie in March — even close to the stadium where there was a significant police presence. Since 2001, Liverpool, United and Middlesbrough fans have been stabbed in Rome, which has earned it the nickname “Stab City”.Uefa decided not to act on past threats to move the final from Rome despite the attacks on Arsenal fans but Michel Platini, the Uefa president, admitted last week to feeling anxious about the safety of supporters. As a Juventus player, he was at the Heysel Stadium, in Belgium, for the 1985 final against Liverpool when 39 fans, mostly Italian, were killed.“This is going to be a wonderful match, and the whole world will be glued to this event, that is why it is important that everyone behaves themselves,” Platini said yesterday. “Football must show itself in the most positive light. We have done everything possible to make sure that [fans] can enjoy the atmosphere, the event and the celebration of football. We are therefore counting on the fans to have a good time and to behave.”A Uefa spokesman said: “We are fully aware there is a history of incidents in Rome caused by the rogue elements among some fans in the city, but we are not aware of any issues between Barcelona and Manchester United fans and we are expecting them to really enjoy the match in one of the world’s greatest cities.“One area that does concern us is the large number of ticketless fans moving around the city. We are asking the fans with tickets to make their way to the stadium early and to be well prepared and we are asking fans without tickets not to travel.”-Roman authorities are hopeful that the event will pass without serious problems given the scale of the security and since no Italian club is involved. “Rome’s future candidature for other international events depends on the success of this showpiece,” Alemanno said. “Because of this I appeal to all citizens to project the image of Rome as a welcoming city, which it is.”