Oh good, it wasn’t a night of violence after all

Despite what you might have read and what you have seen, it was not a night of violence in Rome during the Manchester United and AS Roma Champions League match Wednesday. Sure 18 fans were injured, 10 Manchester United fans were stabbed and UEFA is investigating the incident, but according to the Prefect of Rome it was all business as usual.

Achille Serra, the man in charge of public security in Rome, chalks up the fun to just a few fans.

” It did not seem to me a night of violence.

“There were incidents before and after but they were certainly not serious.

“There are stray groups of delinquents in all soccer clubs in the world and they have nothing to do with the majority of good fans,” he added.

In Britain, Sky Sports News quoted him as saying that the English like to criticize the police, with Serra adding: “the police were forced to intervene and when you go in you have to go in strong”

The fans on the losing end of the police baton might disagree with Serra’s assessment, of course. So do Manchester United who have called for a government investigation.

Look, I hate writing about this type of stuff because it makes me feel powerless and because it has all been said before. Fan violence is happening to some degree or another in places all over the world. The incident in Rome was terrible, but no more terrible than what has been going on in countries for years. Does that mean that it should be minimized and chalked up as just another night of football? I don’t think so. If the people who are in charge of protecting the fans see nothing unusual or horrible about all this then it is never going to go away. This isn’t an English problem or an Italian problem. It is a human problem and it continues to persist because it is allowed to persist.

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Category: Champions League, World Football