Albania
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Scotland
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
Wales
World
Italy
Will Anti-Italian Sentiment Ever End?
Comments(57)I’m getting incredibly tired of reading articles and having to sift through the enormous anti-Italian sentiment to find actual content. This happens all the time on British websites, and the latest culprit is WhoAteAllthePies.
In a write up on the Roma-Fulham game that took place midweek, the site commented on how Fulham deserved to win. And I was fine with that part. Arguably, Fulham played better when both teams had 11 men and the red was probably harsh. So far I had no problem with the article, even as a Roma fan.
But then we get to this gem:
“But Italian teams have a way of cheating forcing their way back into matches, and so it proved.”
This, quite frankly, is utter bullshit. I’m sick and tired of these accusations. Our reputation was tarnished in the wake of the Calciopoli scandal, and since then Italian clubs have been working hard to restore the peninsula’s status. It should be noted that Roma was one of the few big teams not involved with the scandal, and are probably amongst the poorest of the Italian clubs out there. So these accusations of cheating/paying off the refs? They’re absolutely groundless and show nothing more than an pro-English sentimentality or even worse, a biased view of Italian clubs.
The worst thing about the comment is that it was a merit-less stereotype. The game was only between Fulham and Roma, not all of Italy’s clubs. Furthermore, Roma have never once been implicated in a cheating scandal anytime in the last 50 years. How that site can get away with these slander and lies is absolute rubbish.
I’m not going to visit WhoAteAllthePies anymore. If this trash is what they throw up as fair and balanced write ups, then I want none of it. Until they can treat calcio the way they treat the Prem, or at least with decent respect, then I simply won’t read it.
Edit: Ollie from the Pies was kind enough to write a response:
Julian
I’m sorry you feel that way. If you read Pies regularly, you’ll know that I have no particular anti-Italian agenda. And the tone of the line you quoted was ironic, rather than sincere – it was more of a dig at the people who do still have that blinkered view of Italian teams, albeit veiled. I take the piss out of the English Premier League ALL the time, and my approach is usually light-hearted and balanced. I praise other clubs as much as I criticise my own (Spurs).
Anyway, apologies for any offence perceived – none intended.
So in some ways, I read too much into this and I apologize. I will be going back to Pies, and I definitely over-reacted. I’d like to offer Ollie a full apology then for calling him out when that clearly wasn’t the site’s intention.
But this post still stands because you can substitute “Pies” for a ton of other websites and see this vitriol. Accusations of cheating, whether tongue in cheek or dead serious, still perpetuate a dirty image of calcio. Now some of that is from the calciopoli scandal and obviously can never be removed. But when small clubs that have nothing to do with calciopoli- a club like Roma, with a budget so small they can barely pay thier players- it does show that this myth is still around and hurting calcio’s image.
I simply call that we all take a stand against it, no matter what club you do support, on an individual level: stop accusing Italian teams of cheating, no matter how mad you are, without any proof. Roma fans, don’t say Milan cheats if they win. Napoli fans, don’t say that about Inter. And the people who watch the Prem only and hate calcio?Fine, but at the very least don’t say that we cheat. I hope we’re past that by now.
Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 57 comments.
Read the rest of the comments
A couple of things I am happy to see:
1. Palladino’s return
2. Pazzini’s return
3. Cassani in defence
4. Maggio in defence (LONG OVER DUE)
5. NO FUCKING PEPE! 1 down people!
I have a feeling Marchionni, Candreva, Biondini, gallopa are journeymen. Rossi really shouldn’t be there, and nor should gilardino and Di Natale imo
Couple of disappointments:
1. No Cassano (obviously) I thought this would be the perfect time to have him on this team
2. I thought that giovinco would have been included with the amount of time he is playing at juventus, looks like it wont happen just yet.
3. Zambrotta – really?
5. Where is D’agostino?
6. Why not abate?
7. Foggia? He’s got to leave lazio – the guy is a game changer, and yet he isnt playing
8. Cigarini
But Inter does cheat (:
Posted from 
United States
haha true mike
If you don’t follow our league, that’s up to you but then isn’t you who is ignorant of English football?
No shit, that’s what I said.
LIPPI MUST BE FIRED:
Clearly, the man is only doing favors for his old team, Juventus and screwing Inter, Milan, and other teams out of very well-earned spots on the team. Why isn’t Santon there? Shouldn’t be he starting for la Nazionale? WHAT WILL WE DO WITHOUT GATTUSO? Look at the most recent callups- Criscito, Palladino, Cassani, Marchionni and Pazzini, obviously Lippi only favors Juventus players. I bet Biondini, Candreva, and Galloppa are hardcore Juve fans.
Santon can’t even make the bench for his club. That’s why.
Not a big follower of Calcio, huh Ale’?
Santon: called up by U21.
D’agostino: injured.
Posted from 
Canada
lol why doesnt anyone get it when Alessio is being sarcastic
Posted from 
Lebanon
cause alessio is a juventino, and no one likes that crazy breed lol, just playinn;)
Balotelli came off the bench at half-time, but Mourinho was absolutely furious with the teenager.
“Balotelli was terrible today, close to zero. He didn’t move, didn’t work and did not help the team with [Dejan] Stankovic injured and [Wesley] Sneijder incredibly tired. Mario only played 45 minutes on Wednesday, he’s 19 and could have done a lot more. I cannot do more with him. I need help. I tried everything with different strategies, to be closer to him and sweeter, more distant and aggressive. Now I must wait for his response.
“This is Mario. He steps on to the field and we never know what he can give to the team – everything or nothing. I urge the media to stay closer to my strategy and so together we can help him. He listens and talks to the Coach, but sometimes I don’t know if he is 100 per cent in agreement with me. He has improved, but with the talent he has he ought to be giving more by now.”
The English have an inflated view of themselves in all thing, football just being one of them. As such, when the reality of failure becomes too much for them, they resort to the only mechanism at their disposal to preserve their undo sense of superiority: accusations of cheating.
How clever.
Well said Dan, and I’m a Brentford supporter so you should know I’m not biased. Fulham and Hodgson have done themselves proud recently, and I was at the Fulham v Roma match at the Cottage and you were quite hard done by then too, but obviously no where near as much as the Olimpico. I’m also a Lazio fan so make of that what you will. P.S. The De Rossi ‘foul’ was never EVER a red.
To my fellow Italians, I heard a great quote once, an Italian was being barracked and hassled about Italian teams being “lucky”. You win everything by luck they said, Italy are always so lucky. He said “Well if that’s the case then that just proves that God loves us more than anyone else”
Good post. I agree that there is a huge anti-Italian sentiment all over Europe, but especially in England.
Just want to point out one error the author made though. The part about “Roma have never once been implicated in a cheating scandal anytime in the last 50 years.” There was the rolex watch scandal the year they won the scudetto in 2001. When Sensi gave rolex watches to all the referees as “Christmas gifts”.
I believe the refs and the designators eventually had to give them all back, but its just funny how no one ever mentions it. Yet, Juve somehow get relegated to Serie B because Moggi somehow psychologically influenced referees without giving them anything lol. All the refs were cleared of all charges, yet Juve are somehow still guilty. It boils my blood just thinking about it, which is why I rarely discuss farsopoli these days. Its way too frustrating talking to people who don’t know all the facts.
The original question was about anti-Italian sentiment and getting back that I would say there is this niggle when it comes to Italians. May be it is because of the world cup success or even the club success over the years, but it is there and often manifests itself in this broad brushstroke concept that Italians are cheats. This sentiment grates after a while because it is then used to justify cheating by any one else. Exactly how did Italy cheat their way to the world cup in 2006? It is just sour grapes. Does anyone remember the famous dancing run of Michael Owen against Argentina and his dramatic dive in the box to earn a penalty which when replayed showed zero contact, well apparently that was OK because it was Owen, it was first class cheating yet applauded by a whole nation that screamed cheat at others!
Alessio: No answer to my other question, then?
Pepe: Thanks for your kind words. Brentford aren’t doing too badly. I’ll be at Griffin Park tonight actually.
Posted from 
United Kingdom
What for the reserve game? I was there last night too, Fulham were very organised but I’m sure you know that that was Chelsea’s reserve reserve team, good structure from your boys though and your #9 & 10 both looked promising, was pleased to see you had an Italian in your midfield too. Sturridge was the clear best player on the pitch though, after Davies.
Posted from United Kingdom
I know I’m not gaining any popularity here with my statements but here goes. To everyone criticising the English press, have none of you ever lived in Italy, or for example read the Italian or Spanish press? In Italy we treat other leagues with the exact same disdain as they do in England, if you were to suggest to an Italian that football was better in England the laughter wouldn’t stop and if you went to Spain and suggested football might be better in Italy or England they would look at you as if you were crazy.
WE ARE ALL THE SAME.
The EPL (as you lot call it) is treated as a total joke in Italy. Full of foreigners (players, managers & owners) and the football played in England has ALWAYS been held in disdain in Italy. Does that make us totally wrong people? No, because everyone does it, just as in England they cannot accept that in Italy we play more than just defensive football in Italy they will not accept that a single brain cell is used in English football.
Nationalism. Deal with it. If you had a league worth anything more than a huge pile of elephant crap in the US you’d probably have the same attitude. Like I imagine your journalists assume that European basketball leagues are totally beneath contempt despite consistently producing good players who invariably outclass the ‘dreamteam’ at the Olympics.
Posted from United Kingdom
Edit: Ollie from the Pies was kind enough to write a response:
ollie is a class act. not like some here
Posted from United States
Pepe – very good and balanced point about nationalism. Just one small correction – the US won the Olympic Gold last summer in basketball. 
Posted from United States
I try not to listen to what other people say about Serie A or the national team. We fans have endured enough at the hands of refs (as have ALL teams) and “scandals” and “corruption” to have to read/listen to anything made up.
I say let’s let the players do the talking on the field. Good players can even make up for bad refs a goodly percentage of the time. And for those times they can’t, there’s Kleenex.
All countries and all media are guilty of biases most of the time. Let’s challenge them all to a little calcio and see what they write after they get out of the hospital.
Good points, Pepe. I think though that the general consensus of the media all around the world though is that the EPL is superior. In countries other than ones with top soccer leagues, the EPL is considered to be better and more entertaining while Serie A is full of diving cheaters.
Let’s face it, football fans are particularly hypocritical when it comes to accusations of cheating.
For example, whenever some hypocritical supporters from England accuse foreign footballers to be cheaters, it doesn’t take much by shutting them up by mentioning the likes of their own homegrown cheats like Gerrard, Rooney, Lampard, Joe Cole, Owen etc.
I think one would have to be a jingoistic fuckhead to believe their own country is ridden of cheating, really.
Posted from 
Australia
Comments are closed
MORE EUROPE BLOGS
CATEGORIES & ARCHIVES
And so here is the team:
Portieri: Buffon (Juventus), De Sanctis (Napoli), Marchetti (Cagliari).Difensori: Bocchetti (Genoa), Cannavaro (Juventus), Cassani (Palermo), Chiellini (Juventus), Criscito (Genoa), Grosso (Juventus), Legrottaglie (Juventus), Maggio (Napoli), Zambrotta (Milan). Centrocampisti:Biondini (Cagliari), Camoranesi (Juventus), Candreva (Livorno), De Rossi (Roma), Galloppa (Parma), Marchionni (Fiorentina), Palombo (Sampdoria), Pirlo (Milan) . Attaccanti:Di Natale (Udinese), Gilardino (Fiorentina), Palladino (Genoa), Pazzini (Sampdoria), Rossi (Villarreal).