Planet Soccer

It is a shame that many Italian matches are marred by violence. But what is absurd is the fact that nothing has ever really been done to better control these uprisings. Sure, FIFA and the Italian Football Association have many games played behind closed doors, but that is obviously not enough. Hooliganism has got to stop. Cancel the football seasons at all professional levels, punish the Catania fans by demoting their squad, and find the cowards that caused all of this.

This is truly a sad day for Italian football. What Happened on Friday was uncalled for, the FIGC has to take action on what they must do to stop this stuff from happening again.
As for Italy’s Bid to host the 2012 Euro Cup , well you can throw that out the window after what happened. Im sicilain desent and I can say im ashamed that this happened especially in the sicilan derby. Im afraid of them canceling the entire Seria A season, I follow it religiously and it would be devastating to the culture and economics in Italy.
As for Catania I think unfortunally they should be punished for what happened even if the players have no fault , they should be relegated to Seria B with a point reduction of some sort, and they should hand out criminal punishments for people who endanger other people.
As For Palermo they should be punished also maybe having them start the first 10 games without any spectators in the crowd behind closed doors. These are just ideas but like I said . this wont be resolved right away it will happen with time and enforcing a stricter penalty on any one whos dirty’s up the world most beautiful game

Soccer is decadent and dying in Europe, but it will be reborn in North America. Renewed, revitalized, and hopeful in the realm of Prince Beckham. All hail the new Messiah.

Capello is Italian isn't he? I wonder what will collapse first, the Italian Soccer Federation or the Real Madrid football organization.

I think in order to resolve this horible situation in the serie A, The FIGC has to inforce sever penalties to the teams and fans. ex, Piont reductions to any team/fans who endanger other people. Also, Italian police authorities must take full action to eliminate the "ultras" of the game. The police must have the authority to use "excessive force" when in need. The teams or owners of the stadiums have to increase the budget for security. ex, cameras, sensors, etc.

I believe everyone is missing the point. Making teams pay the price for hooliganism isn't the solution but taking action in securing the stadiums and ensuring fans do not enter stadium "perimeters" with explosive devices and other such dangerous tools is the solution. Maybe disrupting the ultra sections for a season to break their fervour. There are many simple solutions to punish the extreme fans but its up to the Italian authorities to implement them successfully. If Italy can host a World Cup and the Olympics with little disruption its hopes of hosting Euro 2012 shouldn't be called into question. Maybe Italy has to step up and implememt world class level security for a period of time, the type that is implemented at world events. The question is when will the Italy Government act to do the same with its internal league.

I'm just waiting for Nick from Montreal to write something

To ETHAN from Vancouver: I see you have big hope for soccer in North America but I can tell you have no knowledge of soccer by taking a jab at Capello.

This is a coach who doesn't care if you're name is Del Piero or Ronaldo or Backham. If you don't perform on the field you get benched. And it's the way it should be. This guy is an artist at work.

My tip to you...keep watching soccer and learn more about it before giving you're opinion.

With Italy's bid now discredited, Poland's match-fixing scandal tarnishing their bid along with the Ukraine, it's likely that the joint bid from Croatia/Hungary is now considered the frontrunner to host Euro 2012. Being a Canadian of Croatian descent I'm hoping they win the bid in April so I can start planning my vacation for the summer of 2012.

FIFA has much to do with attracting racists to the soccer stadium.

FIFA brazenly pumps up nationalism in every form possible to promote the game of soccer, to push ticket sales, to the point where soccer games have become fora for supremacists.

As for the world of Italian soccer, those in power know what needs to be done but perhaps they too have their hands in the till of the Italian multi multi million dollar cash register.

hows this for 4-years of bragging rights!!!!!

Peter what does this have to do with the National teams World cup win or Italian soccer teams in general. The players are not to blame for this. This is an administration problem. The owners have to come together to find a solution. This does not take away from the quality of players or teams in Italy. But once again someones bitterness has to get the better of it, right Peter. Anyway the Italian soccer federation and the team owners have to get together and slove this problem. England was a lot worse and they cleaned it up, maybe Italy should go them for help.

It's quite similar to what happened in England 20-30 years ago. After the Heysel and the European ban, Bradford and Hillsborough, domestic English football went into decline. Other countries, with hooligan problems felt able to carry on regardless because England became European football's pariah state.

Football authorities in England rectified the situation through greatly improved stadia, security, ticketing and policing on a scale not previously seen in Europe and co-operation between football authorities and government. The result? Some of the World's best, safest and most modern equipped stadia can be found in England, along with a commercially thriving domestic league system where family attendance is booming. There's no reason why Italian domestic football can use the recent sad events as a catalyst to rid the game of its dark side. But, it takes brave authorities and legislatures to do so. Does Italy have the stomach for it?

Zak Lamont hypes "FIFA brazenly pumps up nationalism" Really? When?
Nationalism and Racism the same? ...Take the Canadian National side for example. They look and sound to be of several, different races but from one nation. Likewise many European and African teams many tribes, races one nation.
Your correspondent stands corrected.

Bring Paolo Di Canio back!

these are criminal offences and the offenders need to be in prison. there are many suggestions of relegating teams and/or deducting points....big deal. there is a need for stricter laws and penalties for these people. remember Zidane int he world cup and what an outcry the italians had then, and then they allow this to happen in their own country. charge the people criminally and maybe exclude italy from the world cup in 2010. im sure that will get their attention.

Any overt display of racism, especially the extreme kind, exemplified by the Ultras, cannot be tolerated. Sadly, football provides the perfect setting for these nuts. Big, excited crowd and plenty of media coverage. I can hardly be said to be an Andreotti fan, but part of the solution, I think, is to take his advice and not give them any media attention. Although I would love to see them banned from games, cancelling games where they appear only punishes the hard working people who pay good money to attend. I wish I could come up with a great solution, but I can't. These guys thrive on violence and would just love to have a martyr to their cause, so any response to them has to be very well considered. I wish the Italians luck.

Zak Lamont's comment about FIFA's pumping up of nationalism is actually quite accurate. In fact, nationalism is a phenomenon that is really only two hundred years old, beginning with the French Revolution. Since then, nationalism (originally devised to make world economics more easy to manipulate and control), has produced, as a bi-product, racism. Consider that the participants in the French revolution determined that French citizenship was qualified by loyalty to the country, regardless of origin or language spoken. Now consider our modern versions of citizenship and you'll find that the requirements are much more stringent. The World Cup is nation versus nation, and is, therefore, inherently nationalistic. Canada is a country of immigration, and so one immigrant's experience can differ greatly from another's even if they've emigrated from the same country. Long story short: The World Cup, etc is a product of nationalism, and is the driving force behind what makes these contests popular. Nationalism not only breeds racism, it is the original cause of it. Football/soccer has simply become one of a number of forums to effectively express it.

BigShow..."Flabby Old" Capello, and "Bubbling Cholestorol" Calderon, along with "Petty McIdiot" their PR hack, all deserve the fate that is about to befall them. Still, their shelf life has been about average in the "Real Mess" of Madrid. They should just go to the local temp office to hire team personal, it would save them a lot of money.

Not to get too far off topic, but I think the tie in between the incident in Italy (and the partisan violence and overt racism that characterizes European soccer generally), is that many more world class talents, especially those of color and/or certain religious backgrounds might welcome the diversity of North American society.

I stand by my statement. Not only will world soccer thrive in North America in wake of David Beckham, it will someday surpass Europe. The environment is ripe for massive change.

....and once the Three Stooges of Real Madrid get the hook, it would be nice to see that overcooked, offal stuffed sheep's bladder, Alex Ferguson, sacked from Man U. That would really tie up loose ends for Beckham prior to leaving for his new digs.:)

to ethan in B.C If anything dies it will be the Vancouver Canucks,Canadian arent they.If you had a clue about soccer,or more properly,football you would know that soccer is as popular if nor more than hockey.Anyone can take a stick and hit someone with it.You should try being a sports fan

I agree that to punish the teams is the wrong answer.That has been done and has not helped at all.Make the teams spend some money from their pockets for better security.Pocketbooks are a great deterent

Waht are u babbling about jeff? Where did I mention hockey in any of my comments? I would be perfectly happy to see soccer become the dominant Canadian sport. It is much easier and cheaper to play, and less dangerous for young kids.

Speaking of Capello, the Madrid coach, I see he has a little 'splainin to do over his salute to the radical/racist Ultra Sur fanclub. The violent thug element of the fan base may be the only one that still support him, but it isn't cool to acknowledge them in these troubled times.

I really cannot understand the culture of football violence and racism in Europe, and spare me the “passion of the game” argument. Why do fans chant jungle noises to players of African decent? Why do fans bring knives or flares to the stadium? How does one enjoy a game with their family with all this ludicrous behaviour around them? I understand not all teams and unfortunately Italy has been put into the world spotlight for all to point fingers and ridicule. I hope they make drastic changes to claim the sport and stadium back from the hands of a few disfranchised youth as this is there year to shine as World Champions and it is being tarnished by those few.

I think what has happened in Catania will be a huge wake up call for the Italian Leaugue and its governments and owners to begin to create and safer and fun environment for true soccer fans in Italy and also around the world to watch. They should adopt the concept of the Premier league for the safety of stadiums. If something is not done soon, we will probably never see a Euro or World Cup tournament in Italy in the near future. Hey Big Show by the way I agree with you about Jeff that he know what he is talking about first instead of judging Capello. If there is better talent or guys that are ready to work harder than Beckham, then he should be grcious and let the man do his job. It made Del Piero a better player for that. I do hope soccer does grow bigger in North America, but Becks I do not think he is the answer, unless he brings his wife along with him at every match so we can get a glimpsy at her.

Niko Out.

RIP Filippo Raciti

The general concensus is that the teams should be punished, the league should be reprimanded and the fans should be under more scrutiny.

I myself agree with all of this, but making sure fans don't bring weapons to games is first of all difficult, second of all moot. Who's to say the person who threw the bomb into the squad car wasn't just some crazy person watching the game from home and couldn't resist a good riot.

I think Italians should take stock of what's really important and begin taking measures to ensure that current fans know this attitude will be handled with strict enforcement of the law.

Future generations should be given video seminars in class about how violence and riots are wrong and get them involved in taking steps to ensure that they don't partake in violent behaviour.

These are small steps to take, in the big picture and would make for a long term improvement for Italian soccer.

I'd like to finish by saying that punishing the teams may not seem fair because the players aren't responsible, but that's not really true. Mazzarotti fell under scrutiny for his behaviour during the World Cup and is well known for many different types of unsportsmanlike conduct. At the very least, there should be a player's ad campaign to promote a more conscious, anti-riot (anti-hate) mentality among fans.

I think it's important to remember that this is a small percentage of the soccer fans that are causing this problem. For example, even if there were 500 hooligans in a crowd of 50,000 that is only 1%! This doesn't make it a small problem by any means, however.

This hooliganism has more to do with terrorism than it does with nationalism. Loving your country doesn't necessarily equate to hating somebody else's, even though I think a lot of people do equate those two things. When an organized small group in the population are out to cause trouble and hurt people, it becomes everyone's problem. If the stadia and the areas around them need to have strict screening procedures to keep out the people causing the trouble, that is what must be done.

There is currently what I understand to be a pretty sophisticated anti-hooligan system in place by the English and some other nations. This sytems gives police the right to deny "fans" access to a stadium and even from traveling to matches in other countries. It seems as though this type of system should be used in all the areas of the world where soccer hooliganism is a problem until these 'ultra' groups realize they have no place in the soccer community - but then there is a question of where they would move onto next?

To Ethan in Vancouver.

David Beckham the Messiah? Get serious!

David Beckham will never be a soccer Messiah. Not now, tomorrow or ever.

I find it ironic that soccer will be reborn in North America. A continent in which hockey violence is glorified, promoted and condoned.

The problems in italian football is the lack of discipline.Every time a team gets punished,what happens? They whine and complain and the penalties are reduced.Tough love will restore the good name of football,by jailing the culprits for every day a game is played,this lets the real fans enjoy the game,thus restoring dignity to the beautiful game.

Now the thug who ran on the field and broke another players nose has had his penalty reduced.the other players also had their penalties reduced.The gutless administration cave in every time and they should all be fired.Where is the discipline?