Napoli Fans Banned From Away Games For The Season

By: chris | September 2nd, 2008

Suffice it to say, the opening week of the Serie A season hasn’t gone so well for Napoli fans. Yes, their team fought hard for their draw with Roma in the derby, but because of a group of, quite frankly, idiots, that’s the last away game they’ll be able to attend all year long. One out of thirty-eight? Not cool.

After taking a train hostage in Rome before the game, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has stated today that tomorrow he’ll sign a measure banning Napoli fans from attending any away games this season. Worse yet, Napoli may be forced to play some “high risk” games behind closed doors.

The incident with the train caused a huge amount of damage, but perhaps the most miserable aspect is that four workers were hurt:

A group of several hundred Napoli supporters launched firecrackers, broke windows, slashed seats open and committed 500,000 euros (C$770,000) worth of damages to a train carrying them to Rome on Sunday.

At least four railway workers were injured and more violence erupted when the train reached the capital for the AS Roma-Napoli game, which ended 1-1.

There were a number of bans last year for occasions like this involving traveling fans, this isn’t a new thing in Italy, sadly, but it obviously wasn’t enough and the government has done the right thing by laying the hammer down after the very first incident. This stuff, regardless of what club the fans represent, is stupid, asinine and childish, and really has no place in the world of sport. Will these sanctions end the violence? Highly doubtful, but steps like this are what’s needed to curb it slowly and get calcio to a civilized state. The only real unfortunate part is the good among the Napoli tifosi, of which there are many, will be the ones to truly suffer.

La Gazzetta has a gallery of pictures documenting the damage they did.



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Comments   |  Add your comment

  • matt |  September 2nd, 2008 at 5:42 pm

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    jesus christ.

    chris why is it like this in italy? is it some socio-economic thing? is it just a bunch of aimless dickheads?

    Posted from United States United States

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  • Tommy Wong |  September 2nd, 2008 at 5:44 pm

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    Italians are …….. “passionate ” ……..people Matt.

    Posted from United States United States

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  • Matt |  September 2nd, 2008 at 6:07 pm

  • Matt |  September 2nd, 2008 at 6:07 pm

    cornercorner

    make that just this address
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVczsnRuOyg&eurl

    Posted from United States United States

    cornercorner
  • mele419 |  September 2nd, 2008 at 6:28 pm

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    These stupid Ultra douches make all Italian tifosi look bad.
    Makes all of Italy and calcio look bad, and the good fans who aren’t trashing trains and rioting get punished because of these fuckheads.
    The world of football is just incredibly dissappointing now.

    Posted from United States United States

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  • Tim |  September 3rd, 2008 at 10:21 am

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    mele419 ‘The world of football is just incredibly dissappointing now’ It was not that long ago that the hooligans where doing worse in England. The government there realy cracked down and even took away the identifed hooligans passports before wold cup. I have faith that Italy will correct this problem like England did. However it will take time.

    Posted from United States United States

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  • easyjet |  September 3rd, 2008 at 2:15 pm

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    English hooliganism was also exacerbated by train travel;

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Specials

    Maybe a similar approach would work in italy.

    Posted from United States

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  • Italianfan |  September 3rd, 2008 at 2:36 pm

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    In Italy Napoli and Lazio are known for their violent fans, I had sympathy for Napoli but now remember why I did not care when they were relegated, it was one less problem the media and Italy had to deal with. Nopoli has many social problems and mafias to contend with alone, its like Gothom city. Lazio is also a let down and if both clubs get relegated together, Seria A would be a better place. Is not the Premiership thankfull Millwall is not there?

    Posted from United Kingdom United Kingdom

    cornercorner

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