Hey, At Least We’re Never Boring

The U20 team fared better, thankfully: http://www.fcinter1908.it/?action=read&idnotizia=12250

you know it's strange how these serbian fans were even allowed in the stadium, from what i gather they were causing a lot of shit outside pior to the game. and they were let in with a ridiculous amount of flares, and at least one guy with a some sorta knife.
when i went to a serie b game in Lanciano, i had to buy my tickets with my passport, show my passport with my ticket at the gate, then had my pockets and my bag checked before i was let into the curva of maybe 150 people.

so i can see how some are questioning the italian police and stewards at the game. and once those fans are in the stadium, you can't expect to do much, the mistake was letting them in. now, did they think if they let them in even after going all nuts they would calm down? maybe…but they were wrong.

also let's remember that this wasn't a HUGE disaster, yes the game got canceled, yes i bambini were exposed to the “ugly” side of the game but no one was killed or seriously injured(although can't speak for stankovic quite yet). and things could've been much much worse. it's just because it took place on the national stage it's a massive deal.

is your family from lanciano, michele?

Think you could translate the Italian? Not all of us can read it.

Here's my quick translation, I'm sure some of you more learned speakers of Italian can correct the nuances. I think I got the jist of it though.

Chiellini: “Su ieri sera meglio non commentare,dispiace che poteva essere una bella festa del calcio…Un grazie a tutti quelli che erano allo stadio.”

“About yesterday it will be better not to comment, I'm sorry that it wasn't a great sight for soccer…. A thanks to all who were at the stadium”

Marchisio: “Sono d’accordo con voi,una brutta serata per tutti!!soprattutto per tutti quei bambini che hanno visto scene che non dovrebbero mai vedere in uno stadio. Loro sono il futuro,non possono crescere e pensare che nello sport ci siano queste cose!! Ci dispiace molto per tutta la gente che è venuta ieri allo stadio e che non ha potuto assistere ad una semplice partita di calcio!”

I'm in agreement with everyone, [it was] a brutal sight for all! Most of all, for all of the kids who witnessed a scene that should never be seen in a stadium. They are the future, and they cannot grow and think that these things are in this sport! I'm very sorry for everyone who went to the stadium and could not watch a simple game of football!”

Also guys, I just went through the comments from the past few days and approved everyone who posted to the whitelist. Posting links should no longer be an issue if you've posted here before.

The Serb rioters had crowbars, wire cutters, fire works, and flares. All things that should not have been allowed in the stadium. Still, quite a few were.

From Football Italia:

“Entrance into the stadium was a critical moment for various reasons,” explained Roberto Masucci, spokesman for the government taskforce on sport-related security.

“The checks were dropped in favour of letting the Serbian fans into the stadium, therefore avoiding further damage around the city of Genoa.

I guess the officials just thought it was easier to contain them in the stadium rather than letting them run riot in the streets.

As for injuries, there are reports of a few from the rioting outside. Plus, two bombs were found on the buses chartered by the Serbian fans. The police found and dealt with them before anything happened.

Stankovic kept the team from being attacked when the Serbian rioters (I hesitate to call them fans) got on the team bus. They forced their way in and threw a couple fireworks (one of which injured Stojkovic), and were shouting about Stojkovic. The players were understandably concerned, but Stankovic came forward and basically talked the rioters down and out of the bus. By the time the police got there, he had handled it and everyone was safe. Or so says Vlado Borozan, Krasic's agent.

two bombs too!? holy shit…and who knows what would have happened if they weren't allowed in huh
and my bad, it was stojkovic who got injured. and a quick wiki tells me he's on loan right now to partizan, which might explain it.

my dad's side ya. you too?

I knew UEFA would come up with some way to diss Italia in all this. It's their {French} nature

Just give us the 3-0 win, ban Serb fans from all games in rest of group. Simple

Blatter wants to blame Italy

http://football-italia.net/oct13v.html

you would expect this kind of shit from … that cocksucking douchebag of shit Blatter trying to find some way to punish Italy for this.

his statement about if Italian stadia were like British ones then this problem wouldn't have happened; fuck you, have you ever been to any other countries and seen their stadia? you want to tell me that in countries like Greece, Albania, Serbia, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, etfuckingcetera, are better than Italian stadia? head of FIFA and he doesn't know shit. that Swiss racist, ignorant, blimp-fucking cunt does everything possible to punish Italy. and this is the same fucker who was elected president of the World Society of Friends of Suspenders (an organisation which tried to stop women replacing garterbelts with pantyhose) and he is head of FIFA? you have to be fucking kidding me.

i hope he dies a wretched an miserable death … next week.

bare minimum, God should sanction his ass.

and UEFA is considering a fine for Italy?

http://football-italia.net/oct13p.html

first of all, i do not know how fans get into arenas with flares, but it happens in every big game for all the big teams. Roma, Inter, Napoli, Juve.

second of all, wire cutters? wirecutters look like pliers. if you saw a guy with a pair of pliers in his bag, would you think that's dangerous?

the metal used to break the glass (as seen on TV) was not a crowbar but looked like something ripped out of the stadium.

they had 40+ ft. banners with them which i am sure were rolled up; do they have to unfurl these at the security check?

i do think it is possible that stadium security might have been a bit more thorough, but when i went to an American football game and had my bag looked into, they just opened my bag and looked in quickly. if i had had wire cutters in there, they would have never known. and when they patted me down, i could have easily stuck shit in the arms of my hoodie. plus, i am sure these dicks are experts at smuggling crap into arenas.

to put any significant blame on Italy is a racist act straight from racist UEFA headquarters.

What do you expect from the guy who wouldn't hand the team the World Cup trophy in 06?

i bet this will end up badly for us and continue our terrible run of bad luck. why fucking bother

Sorry Boys and gals, a bit of the blame goes to Stadium Security. Come on they were asleep.

Also, Most Italian satdiums are crap, and it about time the 21 century arrives in Italy, especially Serie A. Enough already with plexi glass and cages.

ITALIAN Football needs to GROW some Guts and bring the game to the 21 century.

I can accept the stadium problem issue in Italy. We know they need to smarted up and modernize their facilities. It is completely unacceptable that a soccer power like Italy acts second-rate like it does.

HOWEVER,

Sepp Blatter can you know what.

F-him.

Seriously.

I 100% agree. The only stadium I have watched a game in live, is the Olimpico in Rome, and while it wasnt crap, it definitely was not impressive. If we want the world to take us seriously in bids for Euro and World Cups, we need to drastically upgrade our stadia. The irony is, Marassi in Genoa is a beautiful stadium, I would say in the Top 3 of Italy.

And yes, Blatter can pound sand. The very thought of his face makes me want to punch something. Just an overpaid, and well bribed beaurocrat. Why there isnt someone that can run against him for the FIFA presidency is truly agonizing.

Could someone explain how upgrading the stadiums (aka taking down the plexi barriers) help in preventing something like this? I keep hearing that the sectioned areas are problematic but I'm not sure how. Anyone want to shed some light on that issue for me?

I read somewhere that the italian fans started chanting to the serbian hooligans “C’avete Rotto il Cazzo” pretty funny actually.

I can't believe this motherfucker. I would kill him myself if I could. He probably hired those Serbian assholes just to pin something else on Italy. He's just jealous that he's not an Italian.

Julian how did you see this you only tune in for the last half usually.

what was this game for?

actually…its ok i found out and we did shit….we came bottom!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy/Germany/Switzerland_under-20_Four_Nations_Tournament

Seriously, I surprised myself with this.

Well, if you have a bunch of people in a cage (or plexiglass box) and some of them are being unruly, it is very difficult to get them out without hurting innocent bystanders. There is also the threat of people being crushed as they try to get away from the riot police and/or hooligans.

The officials at the stadium purposefully stopped checking people entering the stadium so that they could get them inside quicker and avoid damage to the city or the stadium. There were little skirmishes before the game and it was a conscious decision on the part of the security just to get everyone inside as quickly as possible. For their part, though, they say they had no idea that such violent people were coming. I think the fact that they were tearing things up outside and had already attacked their own team bus should have given everyone a clue. Still, the fact is, the security forces were totally overwhelmed – which is the problem.

And I couldn't get into the San Siro with a cap on my water bottle. I am pretty sure they wouldn't have allowed a pair of pliers, either. I am not disagreeing with you that a person can be sneaky when they need to be, but in this case, there was a clear break down in security measures and no plan b. These people came to Italy to cause trouble. They brought bombs (or incendiary devices – the Italian press like to through the b-word around a lot), the were violent in the streets before and after the game, and it is only by sheer luck that someone wasn't more seriously injured. It doesn't matter whose fault it is, people see this and dont go to the games because they think it is too dangerous. It doesn't matter that this is an isolated incident — it goes to people's perceptions. It looked like the Italian security forces had no answer, no way to stop these hooligans or even take control of the situation. It looks bad and it perpetuates the idea that Italy cant control their grounds. And we all know Sepp Blatter is all about the appearances.

Some are blaming Italy;

ooops… here comes the big fat boy with his ugly remarks, the old fart boy of fifa missiouuuu blatter said: “You have given to the world security in the stadiums,” Blatter said in London as he was briefed on England’s 2018 World Cup bid. “You have built all your stadia. There are no fences and everyone is sitting. If this had been the case we would not have had the problems we had in Genoa yesterday at the match.

so the big fuck is blaming Italy's security, hmmm… what do u think dudes?

you could try but it's all fixed. basically it is a camouflaged autocracy … that's not so well camouflaged.

this son of bitch i swear if i say him near me i will kick him in the groin, and im going to tweet this right now

well, if they intentionally didn't run security checks on them then they should assume some responsibility, but do they deserve to be punished?

in 1972 were the Germans punished for the Israelis that were taken by the Palestinians?

besides, there was no clearcut way to know what, if and to what extent what was going on in the city had to do with the football game. Serbia and Italy are not heated rivals, this behaviour could not have been expected. every city and every stadium have different security. there are no explicit UEFA/FIFA rules which delineate how stadium security is to be conducted, so how can you hold someone to a standard when there is none.

there are more explicit UEFA rules about fan violence or even racism, game interuption, etc.

as far as the Stadia go, Italia's stadia are not good but they are not that bad. go to a country like Serbia and see what they've got. when i went to see a Serbia game in Belgrade, there was no security checks whatsoever. hate to say it, but most of Europe is worse than Italy. what is Blatter going to do about that? nothing, because none of these countries can afford it. and with this economy, who would even suggest such a thing?

so he likes that in England everyone can sit down?” of course, the fat fuck wouldn't be able to stand for a whole game if his absurd salary depended upon it.

let Blatter dictate what can and cannot be done in the stadium and the next thing you know that Nazi douchebag is going to tell us you can't smoke or you can't eat.

Police thought the skirmishes outside were just typical fighting. Happens in England all the time (GSH, anyone?) as well, but once you get the fans into a more controlled environment, usually goes away. They didn't realize they had a major plan.

I don't blame the FIGC or Italian police, they handed it well with what they were confronted with. I blame UEFA, for being idiotic and trying to play the game, but moreso the Serbian FA. They knew about the attacks on the bus, at the hotel, and didn't bother to inform the FIGC. Seems like some of the players knew this kind of thing would happen, why didn't they tell anyone? When the incidents started, riot police were shipped in immediately from Milan and Torino. Whole thing could have been averted if the police knew about the troublemakers.

It is my understanding that the players didn't know about the hooligans until their bus was attacked. When that happened, they knew it was going to be a problem. There were a couple police officers at the hotel and more were called when the trouble happened at the bus, it just took a while for them to get there and by the time they showed up, Stankovic had calmed the situation down and gotten them off the bus. I dont know why the police didn't take the threat of violence more seriously after that.

And the players did talk to the officials. From the account I read, though, the UEFA guys there really pushed to play the game anyway (which is why you have those 6 minutes).

Lookit, I am not saying that Italy is to blame for what happened or that they should be fined, but they do need to come up with a contingency plan on how to deal with unexpected violence like this other than herding everyone into a plastic cage and hoping no one gets hurt.

Not for nothing, but the Serbian fans, or at least some of them, came to the stadium with the intention of making a scene. So yes, maybe the plexiglass was holding them in and making evacuation a bit more difficult, but if not for the barriers, who is to say that the fans wouldn't have gone after each other? That flares or other items would not have been thrown at the Italian fans? That when they saw the police approaching, they wouldn't have tried to run and blend in with the Italian fans, leading to possibly even more episodes with the crowd? The plexiglass did isolate the fans, but without the plexiglass I doubt the Serbian fans would have stayed and tried to fight the police. Rather, they would have tried to run away, leading to running away by Italian fans, which could have led to an even more dangerous situation.

Quite frankly, it's bullshit to suggest (as Blatter seems to have done) that the division of the stadium would have made for a safer environment. Now, the security absolutely could have been better, especially with the pre-entry checks. If anything, I don't understand why they didn't just delay the game and with that time, escorted ALL of the Serbian fans out. In the end, everyone loses because of the “fans.”

my wife's family – both sides – are from lanciano and they still have most of their family living there. i visited the place on my honeymoon and thought it was a beautiful town.

The contingency is that the stadium checks need to be more thorough. Once inside the stadium, what can the police do? They made the right call by waiting. It must be said that this was an extraordinary event as well, not just random outbreaks of violence, but planned, deliberate chaos.

What I meant about the players is that it was clear that there was trouble and intention to disrupt the game far before everyone got to the stadium. And no one seemed to warn the Italian police.

I just like that his head is so far up his butt that he thinks those Serbian hooligans were planning on doing any sitting! If they had played in England, instead of plexiglass being busted, it would have been peoples' heads. Sure, maybe they would not have been able to bring in as many flares, and maybe some of them wouldn't have even made it in. But anger is anger, and Italy was just the unfortunate venue for it.

I read what the Serbian FA said. Quite frankly, it's a joke. In other words, “here come our animals so big careful Italy we wash our hands.” And that doucheassholemoronsonofabitch Blatter has the balls to sorta take that stand?

Unbelievable the depths this guy goes. I'm surprised no one in the Italian FA hasn't told him to suck on a pogo.

Let's put it this way. Would Italian fans go to Serbia and do that? Not likely. They just don't have that reputation and if they did I would come down hard on Italy not Serbia (assuming it was the fans who made the trouble of course).The Serbian FA would be so lucky.

Right now, if you're on the side of the Serbian FA it's likely based on strawman fallacies.

Blatter is an anti-Italian buffoon so it's not surprising he'd buy into it.

Plus, England is not in the EU so there would have been a passport check point. I suspect the worst of the Serbians would not have made it in to the country. It isn't Italy's fault that with the EU, they no longer have that check.

I guess I dont understand your point, Aaron. The police were aware of what happened at the hotel – they had the exact same information the player's had. At least that is my understanding.

My point is Juventus fans attacked the bus earlier this year, out of

frustration. Police probably thought the Serbian fans were doing that, or

annoying the Serbian keeper about his move. They didn't expect a full-scale

riot/demonstration at the stadium, that it seems the Serbian FA knew would

happen.

LIPPI should replace BLATTER

Actually the U.K is in the EU. They have chosen to opt out of certain policies, such as the adoption of the euro.

He would probably increase the age a person can become a pro footballer to 30…

so that managers dont get flak when they choose 40 yr olds

Yes, but aren't there still passport checks?

UK's not part of the Schengen Area, so yes.

so as Serbia is a Non EU country, dont they have to go through passport checks?

Actually Abete, did comment on Blatter's statement

“Da Blatter ci attendevamo prima una riflessione sulla qualità della persona che ha diretto una partita dell'Italia al mondiale 2002″

Translation;

I'm waiting on Blatter on a reflection of the quality of referee for italy's game in w.c.2002, obviously referring to Moreno who Blatter asigned to that game and of course no comment from fifa.

absolutely.

those barriers are their precisely for situation like we saw this weekend.

you want to have no separation barriers, you will wind up paying in an even worse way.

Blatter is an ignorant racist.

that's a yes to having to go through passport checks. Serbia has white visa restriction. they need passports for all EU lands.

Hey, Julian can you “white list” me or whatever so I can post links? I have come across something valuable.

I miss-wrote. I should have said there was no passport check at Italy's borders. Yes, Serbia has passport checks into the EU, but, as Serbia does not share a border with Italy, the check would be at the border of, say, Hungary or Slovenia… unless they took a ferry, I suppose. If they came overland, Italy would have no way to stop them coming in from either of those countries.

i once went to a malta-croatia match and the croats rioted, not on the serbian scale but they basically ripped off all the seats and started playing frisbee with them, and yeah if there wasn't a metal fence between us and them i'm sure there would have been some fighting, people from both sides ended up trying to scale the fence lol. it's much better to keep the fences and just work harder to keep the scum away from the stadiums imo

Thanks Tony.

Yeah, right. Blatter side with Italy. You'll have a better chance cleaning up Naples or converting Obama into a capitalist.

Just did. Sorry, the whitelisting under Disqus is a bit of a pain in the butt. I have to do it on a case-by-case basis, but on the other hand it does help out a ton with spam and the racist comments we used to get.

Shame both for the Serbian “protesters” and the city of Genova. The Serbs should have used another platform/forum to air differences (especially in another country), and the city should have sent, IMMEDIATELY, riot police as soon as the demonstrations took place outside the stadium. These idiotic protesters should have been arrested, booked, names placed in a nationwide/Europe-wide database, and then kicked the hell out of Italy. Extreme force/measures seems to be the only thing those idiots understand!!!

NO PEPE NO PARTY

if they flew in, and there are cheap flights, they would need to go through Italian passport checks. rail is a long trip (you can't go through Croatia easily) and it costs more than some flight tickets.

Serbia is landlocked, though i think you need no passport to go to Montenegro. again, a ferry could be close to a cheap flight in price.

Croatia is not yet EU, so unless they went through Slovenia they would have had to present passports in Italy.

the very strange thing is that no matter however they arrived, the Serbian economy sucks, most people do not have the money to travel to Italy and spend a weekend in Roma, so this must have been financed by a much larger organisation of individuals.

Well, according to what I saw, the group in question came overland in chartered buses to Genoa. All I know is that the Italian authorities said there was no passport check when this group came into Italy which is why they could not have been kept out.

Yes,Blatter is a stupid racist prick,he takes every chance to talk shit about Italy,that motherfucker,he didn't even want to award our team in 2006. And he's the head of FIFA. Disgusting…