Italy get tough on stadiums

[BAGGIO 15]

Clubs whose stadiums do not meet the required safety standards will be forced to play games behind closed doors, it has been confirmed.

Italy’s Interior Minister Giuliano Amato underlined that point this evening after crunch talks between government and football officials at Palazzo Chigi on Monday.

“We’ll only re-open stadiums which respond to the necessary safety guarantees,â€￾ he stated. “Those that don’t will remain closed.

"We will not allow fans to go into a stadium that does not respect the current safety norms," added Amato.

"In stadiums like that of Catania [where policeman Filippo Raciti died] I will not admit anyone, I am firm on this. That game shouldn't have been played.

"Our current norms are efficient if followed."

At present, only five Serie A arenas meet current safety regulations. However, as many as 10 would be given the green light to stage games if no away fans were permitted entry.

All Italian football was suspended until further notice on Friday after a policeman was killed by rioting Catania fans as they entertained Palermo in a fierce Sicilian derby.

As a result, Amato and a number of key officials met in Rome this evening to introduce new legislation in a bid to eradicate violence from the Italian game.

A number of other measures, which will be discussed in more detail at a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday, were also pondered today.

Amato added that rules would be put into place to stop the block sale of tickets to away fans for games.

Police may also be given the powers to carry out an arrest relating to footballing misdemeanours, without a warrant, 48 hours after the event.

Football stadium banning orders for individuals found guilty of violence at games would also be handed to Under-18s.

Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri, who was also present at the meeting, has revealed that laws may be put in place to rule out any relationship between football clubs and Ultra fan groups.

Italian Football Federation commissioner Luca Pancalli has yet to reveal when the season will resume, but did suggest that the championship could restart as early as Sunday.

“I’ll make a decision on Wednesday after the meeting, but there are the technical conditions in place to play at the end of this week,â€￾ he stated.

"I'm optimistic that everyone involved in football will have the maturity to accept the new regulations and will collaborate to redraw the future of Italian football.

"I believe that today we can open a new chapter."

[CR7]

thats nearly every stadium

[BAGGIO 15]

Yep, it effected the English clubs ability to spend for a period and the same must happen in Italy. Get rid of the terraces and all stadiums to become all seater.

[Juventino]

The only stadiums ready to host games are the Renzo Barbera in Palermo, San Siro in Milan, the Olimpico in Turin and the other escape my memory right now.

[delfino_1936]

Pescara's stadium isnt to bad cause only one fight has happened which was vs Napoli the rivals....hardly any away fans come anyway

anything to get the clubs playing again however....italy needs it football

[Juventino]

My mistake, as it is the San Siro cannot host matches. The Artemio Franchi in Siena is fine, as is the Renzo Barbera, the Olimpico in Turin and the Olimpico in Rome.

[delfino_1936]

My mistake, as it is the San Siro cannot host matches. The Artemio Franchi in Siena is fine, as is the Renzo Barbera, the Olimpico in Turin and the Olimpico in Rome.

whos ground's that??

[manU4life]

My mistake, as it is the San Siro cannot host matches. The Artemio Franchi in Siena is fine, as is the Renzo Barbera, the Olimpico in Turin and the Olimpico in Rome.

whos ground's that??

palermos?

[delfino_1936]

My mistake, as it is the San Siro cannot host matches. The Artemio Franchi in Siena is fine, as is the Renzo Barbera, the Olimpico in Turin and the Olimpico in Rome.

whos ground's that??

palermos?

gd guess???? cause its correct

[manU4life]

My mistake, as it is the San Siro cannot host matches. The Artemio Franchi in Siena is fine, as is the Renzo Barbera, the Olimpico in Turin and the Olimpico in Rome.

whos ground's that??

palermos?

gd guess???? cause its correct

go the pink shirts...did they win the fights against catania??

[delfino_1936]

My mistake, as it is the San Siro cannot host matches. The Artemio Franchi in Siena is fine, as is the Renzo Barbera, the Olimpico in Turin and the Olimpico in Rome.

whos ground's that??

palermos?

gd guess???? cause its correct

go the pink shirts...did they win the fights against catania??

the cops said they weren't really involved with the death so i dunno man

[aussie_ascoli]

Pescara's stadium isnt to bad cause only one fight has happened which was vs Napoli the rivals....hardly any away fans come anyway

anything to get the clubs playing again however....italy needs it football

Mate, im not sure if you know the effects of small clubs like ascoli and Pescara if football is re-comenced. Right now big clubs need football, but the small clubs massively lose out.
Re-commencing right now, may see many clubs go broke.

[aussie_ascoli]

Pescara's stadium isnt to bad cause only one fight has happened which was vs Napoli the rivals....hardly any away fans come anyway

anything to get the clubs playing again however....italy needs it football

Mate, im not sure if you know the effects of small clubs like ascoli and Pescara if football is re-comenced. Right now big clubs need football, but the small clubs massively lose out.
Re-commencing right now, may see many clubs go broke.

here's what i've posted on other forums

The government is quick to say follow pisanu law, and the clubs are at fault, but what about giving the clubs some financial assistance, instead of saying you must do this and that. Its to easy to say, they are breaking the law, but its not easy for the clubs to find funds to implement what they want.


Season behind closed doors, is an unfair advantage to lots of teams. Also ensuring Pisanu's law without assistance will be far too expensive for majority of clubs.
If effect this could possibly kill off teams in italy, or at least put the clubs in a finacial unstable position to compete in Serie A, or B.

i'm furious with the government and the authorities, as they are playing the blame game, when they should at the very least try to help football out of this mess. I would hate to see Serie A stopped for a long period of time. But i'm very very concerned about government help Vs the Clubs. If this issue isn't resolved we may see clubs like Ascoli, Atalanta, etc (down to serie B), battling it out in Serie C2, Serie D, Eccelenza, etc. Where the hell is Ascoli going to find the money to uphold the laws created by Pisanu.

I would rather see this season lost, rather than the loss of many great clubs. Re-start it in August, if the governmnet is going to play games like this, F*ck them.

Also the big clubs want to play matches, cause they've got the big tv deals. This is going to turn into Ultras V Authorities, Ultras V Clubs, Authorities V Clubs, Big V Little.

We need another Costantino Rozzi

Ruggeri is 100% correct. Why should the clubs pay for everything when 1. They don't own the stadiums, 2. Small clubs have no money.
The polititians and authorities say, we put laws here, and there, but the clubs are not following it. Why blame the clubs when they get no support????

I'll use this example, it may not be the right one but you should get my point - Its like saying, we need to stop speeding drivers, and that the police need to catch more people. One step that the government implement a law that is that every police officer must carry a speed gun (i assume they don't), and other devices, however no funding will be given by the government. Then if this problem continually occurs, the government comes out and blames the police for not implementing more speed guns and the other devices.

We must look on who benefits from contiuning the competetion now.
1. Small clubs lose their 12th man effect.
2. If small clubs play infront of no-one, they get no revenue.
3. Big clubs don't lose money from TV rights, however small clubs literally gets nothing from TV rights.
4. Small clubs cannot afford to fix their stadiums, and if they are forced to pay for stadium, it may send clubs broke.
Big clubs don't lose much out of this, however small clubs get a massive nail driven into their coffin.

The already MASSIVE gap is getting bigger and bigger.

Honestly, i believe null this season then re-start the comp next season is the best option for everyone. I don't want to see great small clubs playing in C2, D, Eccelenza, etc, Cause their sent broke by this

[Juventino]

I agree that there needs to be financial assistance to smaller clubs.

[The one and only]

at least this might fix something over there

the question is will it stop the ultras

[Pinturicchio]

honestly didnt think about the small clubs suffering that would be a huge loss and could cause more problems then fix them... im sure the teams replacing the smaller clubs would be even smaller with even worse stadiums..

[Juventino]

Stadiums: How they rate…

Only four Serie A stadiums currently satisfy the safety regulations that would allow them to reopen to fans.

Footballing activities are expected to resume this weekend after the tragic events in Catania, but several clubs could be forced to play behind closed doors until their arenas are renovated to comply with the norms.

Former Home Office Minister Giuseppe Pisanu had introduced new rules last year which were meant to increase safety inside the stadiums.

However, only Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, the Stadio Renzo Barbera in Palermo and the Stadio Olimpico in Turin comply. Siena would also receive the green light.

Up to standards –
Rome, Turin, Siena and Palermo

Almost up to standards –
Cagliari: The pre-filtering area has yet to be completed, there are turnstiles although they are not used.

Empoli: Turnstiles will be installed shortly, but there is no pre-filtering area.

Messina: CCTV cameras and turnstiles have been installed, but there is no video surveillance.

Parma: The turnstiles are old and the pre-filtering system is incomplete.

Reggio Calabria: Video surveillance available, but no pre-filtering area.

Genoa: Everything has been installed, but there is still no dedicated Police station.

Renovations in progress –
Florence: Turnstiles installed only in the Curva Fiesole, no video surveillance and no pre-filtering area.

Milan: There are no turnstiles and no pre-filtering area.

Livorno: There is no electronic ticket system. There are turnstiles and a pre-filtering area.

Not up to standards –
Ascoli: There are no turnstiles and no pre-filtering area.

Bergamo: There are no turnstiles and no video surveillance.

Catania: There are no turnstiles and no electronic ticket system.

Verona: There are no turnstiles and no electronic ticket system.

Udine: There are no turnstiles and no video surveillance.

[aussie_ascoli]

[P. Diddy]

The aim for all stadiums should be 100% seated and all barrier fences to come down (as per England). The use of CCTV should be able to prevent known trouble makers from entering the ground and violent behaviour by fans should cop life bans.

[delfino_1936]

Pescara's stadium isnt to bad cause only one fight has happened which was vs Napoli the rivals....hardly any away fans come anyway

anything to get the clubs playing again however....italy needs it football

Mate, im not sure if you know the effects of small clubs like ascoli and Pescara if football is re-comenced. Right now big clubs need football, but the small clubs massively lose out.
Re-commencing right now, may see many clubs go broke.

don't worry i know man......this is really bad....we need as much money from crowds as possible

[Fred Goldstone]

Ten years too late!

The Italian goverment has done the same as the British did and just raked in the money from football and ignored the societal problems that were affecting the game.

It is now going to take some very hard decisions and a heap of money to fix things.

It deoesn't help that the Italian football authorities have also been neglectful and complicit in the demise of the game.

[El Pibe D'Oro]

This is a social issue, probably even more than a football problem.

[getborn]

This is a social issue, probably even more than a football problem.

agreed.

there is no problem with the football.

[Anonymous]

Why is it that it's only the wogs who get all worked up over a bloody football game?

[sepultura]

where are the 60,000+ serie B crowd which witnessed yet another 1-1 draw at the sao paolo between the greatest club on earth NAPLES vs Genoa gonna tune in to their home game this weekend.

played behind closed doors yet again, the vesuvians are getin accustomed to this and THIS TIME we didnt do anything. we played almost half a season at benevento which cost us promotion and already played a game behind closed doors this year.

FACT: NAPOLI HAVE NOT LOST A HOME GAME AT THE SAO PAOLO FOR ALMOST 40 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LAST LOSS AT HOME - 31 / 10 / 2004 VS CHIETI - 1-2.

STATISTICS LAST YEAR IN SERIE C. EVERY CLUB POSTED THEIR HIGHEST HOME GAME ATTENDANCE WHEN NAPOLI WERE THE VISITORS.

[BAGGIO 15]

where are the 60,000+ serie B crowd which witnessed yet another 1-1 draw at the sao paolo between the greatest club on earth NAPLES vs Genoa gonna tune in to their home game this weekend.

played behind closed doors yet again, the vesuvians are getin accustomed to this and THIS TIME we didnt do anything. we played almost half a season at benevento which cost us promotion and already played a game behind closed doors this year.

FACT: NAPOLI HAVE NOT LOST A HOME GAME AT THE SAO PAOLO FOR ALMOST 40 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LAST LOSS AT HOME - 31 / 10 / 2004 VS CHIETI - 1-2.

STATISTICS LAST YEAR IN SERIE C. EVERY CLUB POSTED THEIR HIGHEST HOME GAME ATTENDANCE WHEN NAPOLI WERE THE VISITORS.

This year it's when Juve are in town.

[sepultura]

i'll be the judge of that maureen.

[BAGGIO 15]

i'll be the judge of that maureen.

Yes Capitano