CBC Sports Online's soccer expert, John Molinaro, takes you inside the world of soccer and offers his insights about the action on the pitch and in the front office.
Requiem for a soccer fan
Comments (5)
Tuesday, November 13, 2007 | 12:50 PM ET
CBCSports.ca soccer expert John F. Molinaro is on vacation in Rome.
Italy is in a national state of mourning today over the shockingly senseless death of Gabriele Sandri.
Sandri, a DJ and a Lazio fan from Rome, was killed Sunday morning after a police officer shot him while attempting to break up a scuffle between groups of fighting fans at a highway rest stop in Tuscany.
Sandri, who was on his way to Milan to watch his team play Inter Milan, died almost instantly. He was 26.
Details are sketchy as to what exactly happened. A police statement called the shooting a "tragic error," explaining that Sandri was accidentally killed when the police officer fired two warning shots to prevent the fight between the two sets of fans from escalating further.
One of the stray bullets hit Sandri, who was sitting in a parked car, in the neck, police said.
“I didn’t aim at anyone,” the unnamed policeman told Il Corriere della Sera. “I was at least 200 metres away, how could I have?
“I fired the first shot in the air and the second went off accidentally when I was running.”
Sandri's brother, Cristiano, told reporters, "they killed my brother," while a family lawyer said the shooting could be considered "first-degree murder."
There's a lot of finger pointing going on, which led the local magistrate (crown attorney) in Tuscany where the incident occurred to issue a statement that said, "once we have confirmed the responsibility, whoever it was will be rigorously prosecuted."
In the meantime, Italian league president Antonio Matarrese and his cohorts have a lot to answer for, not the least of which is why the rest of the Sunday's Serie A games went ahead as scheduled (the Lazio-Inter game was postponed) in the aftermath of Sandri's death.
Matarrese appears to have taken the position that the show must go on and that cancelling the day's entire slate of contests would have led to fan violence, a completely misguided notion if there ever was one.
In fact, the opposite happened. In Milan, approximately 400 fans threw stones at police headquarters, while outside the San Siro stadium Lazio and Inter supporters united and chanted anti-police slogans.
Riots broke out in the stands at the start of the Atalanta-AC Milan game in Bergamo and some fans in the curva (end zone section of the stadium) attempted to smash through a plexiglas wall so that they could swarm the field and stop the game from continuing. The game was called off after seven minutes.
Fans in Rome wreaked violence and havoc outside the Stadio Olimpico, storming a police station near the stadium. They also threw stones at police cars and smashed windows of the Italian Olympic Committee headquarters, also near the stadium.
The rioters also set trashcans on fire, smashed traffic lights and blocked off traffic. Not surprisingly, security officials in Rome decided to cancel Sunday evening's game between AS Roma and Cagliari.
This type of reaction is typical in Italy and has sadly become the norm. That violence was bound to erupt after Sandri's death speaks volumes about the moral bankruptcy of Italy and some, but not all, of its citizens.
That's an entirely different blog entry for another day, though.
The violent reaction of these fans should not, however, in any way disguise the fact that it was the absolute height of tastelessness that Italian soccer merrily went about its business Sunday after learning of the death of Sandri.
I had tickets for Sunday night's Roma-Cagliari game, and I can tell you that after watching news of Sandri's death on television that the last thing I wanted to do was sit in a stadium and watch a soccer game.
Those responsible for the young Lazio fan's death should be immediately brought to justice, but so should Matarrese for his lamentable lack of leadership in allowing soccer to continue Sunday as though nothing happened.
Rest in peace, Gabriele Sandri.
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About the Author
John F. Molinaro is a reporter for CBC Sport Online whose chief love is international soccer. John served as senior editor of Sports Online's Euro 2004 website, which helped him win a CBC.ca Award of Excellence, and was the driving force behind our coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He holds an honours BA in sociology from York University and a print journalism diploma from Sheridan College, and is also the author of The Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of All Time (Stewart House, 2002).
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Comments (5)
Carlo
Montreal
Matarrese made a decison he thought was best. His logic was not that flawed and had he cancelled all the games, the violence could have been far worse. The hard-core ultras look for any excuse to start trouble and the Italian police only make matters worse with their heavy handed response.
What happened to G. Sandri is a tragedy, and should not happen to a young man who is off to watch his team play on a Sunday afternoon. Those repsonsible should be indeed punished.
As an Italian and Seria A fan, it is sad to see the state of fotball in Italy. While Italy is the World Champion, the domestic game is suffering greatly. The lessons from the death of policeman Raciti have already been lost and I fear the situation will only get worse on and off the pitch. We'll see world class players refusing to sign with Italian clubs and those already in Italy will move to greener and safer pastures.
Posted November 13, 2007 04:57 PM
Sergio
Montreal
Seriously! why does everybody care about this "GUY" that got shot accidentally by a police officer in a rest area on the highway? That's the problem in Italy. A minority of violent people rule the soccer world. They decide if a game gets played or not? Why does President Lotito mention that they lost a member of the Lazio family? When I pass away will Juventus FC mourn? If an old lady gets murdered in a park and she was wearing a Roma jersey do we stop the Roma game?
Did u see the highlights of the Atalanta-Milan game? How did they get a ramming device inside the stadium?
Posted November 13, 2007 06:59 PM
Sergio
Montreal
I don't understand why games have to be cancelled 'cause some guy was murdered wearing a Lazio Jersey...who rules Italian society? These hooligans?
Posted November 14, 2007 08:40 AM
Osvaldo Brasca
Canada
I visit Italy regularly for work and vacation
i noticed the same constantly
everybody blames everyone else for the problems, far as i am concerned the entire society is to blame. Just few people respect the laws. Italy is a third world country talk a lot achieve little.
About time politician, and all of Italy takes responsibility for their action and shut up for a change Implements the laws
Just do It
Posted November 14, 2007 01:24 PM
CM
Saskatoon
... and people say cycling has issues! I don't see anyone wanting to ban soccer from the Olympics as they did for cycling.
Posted November 14, 2007 02:39 PM