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HOW BIG ARE YOUR BALLS MR PLATINI? 11-4-07
Peter Holmes
What happened in Rome last Wednesday evening was akin to scenes of public thuggery during the darker days of Europe in the 1930's, when fascist regimes darkly demanded. Not what the watching world expected at a prestige game of European Champions league football.
For not the first time in that locale we all witnessed a disgraceful misuse of authority and the power of law. Déjà vu as Boro fans are well aware, when Smoggy blood was spilled during a less publicised gutless bullying session which took place last year in the same city in and around the same stadium.
After Manchester United club officials wisely published travel advice prior to the away game with AS Roma, as they always do, warning fans to be on their guard and to avoid certain sections and elements of historic Rome.
The childish verbal retaliation and inciting gibberish from the Mayor of Rome only poured petrol on red hot coals. Telling comments of concern, made to the English press, by notable scribes from other Euro nations along the lines that it was obvious from as early as Tuesday morning that the fascist Carabineri were itching to get stuck into the travelling faithful of Manchester United.
Everybody is appalled. But, is anybody really surprised?
Italian football has many problems and so has Italian society. But, until they actually admit there is a problem on the terraces and get over their constant denial they will never address the core issues. Instead they will continue to gloss over the problem and continue blaming something else. Anything but the bare facts and the real reasons.
Within the complex power structure of Italian football sit the Ultras. A hard core supposedly fan based group of individuals who show allegiance to their team by pledging their life and soul to the colours.
They have far too much power with ultimate control of their turf, so much so that in many Italian stadia whole sections of the ground are no-go-zones and the Ultras have the ultimate say in who is allowed entry to their domain.
The most powerful of these idiots, as you would expect, congregate on the curvas at the big clubs of Serie A. AS Roma's notorious thugs are considered the most organised and politically astute. Read as sinister, violent and all powerful.
Infiltrated by nationalistic politically motivated and shady characters, implied threat is the tool of power of these bully-boys. They wield an influence that pervades beyond the curve nord and allegedly onto the sacred domain of the pitch.
Two of the Roma Ultra Generals were seen in full view of RAI TV cameras beckoning over Roma's Totti, to grill the captain prior to a derby blockbuster with Lazio and offer advice or maybe orders. So don't forget to bring your bullet proof vest, flack jacket and crash helmet on your next Roman holiday.
These fascist thugs are so powerful they have held crisis talks with club hierarchies and with key players. Allegedly they have had matches called off and count among their accepted perks season tickets, away game air travel and even a percentage of the gate receipts. All because of lily-livered weak-kneed administrators within Government and the Italian game, along with police who have failed to act for too long.
The implied and calculated threat of civil violence inside and outside the stadium is their control medium. The Curva they populate is their property and the police avoid doing their jobs in that area allowing for a virtual lawless mini society governing itself within the stadium.
The conscripted military police who attend games in Italy often fear to tread where they have not been invited, and let's face it have allegiance, sympathy and admiration for the Ultras. Given the heavy handed militaristic and corrupt reputation of the police in Italy, it is pretty obvious that they go out of their way to avoid any form of confrontation with the Ultras and always conveniently position themselves on the other side of the Perspex barrier, in the away portion of the stadium.
When they do clash with the Carabinieri, the usual outcome is a stage managed fiasco of smoke and mirrors and severe flagellation with Dolce Gabana handbags.
That is, until the death of one of their own in Palermo.
The festering boil came to a head earlier this season when a policeman was killed during the riots and street battles that occurred in the aftermath of the Sicilian derby between Catania and Palermo.
Stringent public order measures were put in place by the Italian government to stem the growing tide of civil unrest. A ban was also imposed forbidding contact between Ultras and clubs, with limitations being placed on large groups of travelling fans. In addition, some Serie A clubs were banned from playing at their stadiums until safety work was carried out and guarantees could be given.
However, despite these new measures, the scenes at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday night show that a far-reaching and viable solution to the problem is still a long way off. As is usual in Italy the more things change the more they stay the same.
So yet again we have the putrid stain of Italy marking the multi-coloured shirt of mainland Europe and, it will take more than a few sachets of stain-remover to put things right this time.
Italian Football appears to lurch from one crisis to another and again appears to be leniently dealt with by the leaders of the game, namely UEFA with FIFA culpable too. What a good excuse to make an example of somebody as this time when one of those dastardly English teams is involved.
Some of the scenes I witnessed on news reports on BBC World and Foxsports were quite appalling in a sense that most of what I saw was massively over zealous and unjustified violence from the batons of neo-fascists parading as the supposed denizens of law and order.
Italian society which has a rich dense history, a reputation for culture and of cultural uniqueness, and paradoxically just as rich a history of corruption, violence and Mafia really need to look within their collective souls and say enough is enough. UEFA need to do the same and to look at the their boot shaped country and use the shape as a metaphor and give the Italian arm of UEFA a few seasons in reflective navel gazing by banning then from all European competition.
If it is good enough for the English, well..
The so called English disease funnily enough festered more often on the soil of foreign lands where pugnacious heritage and lager soaked minorities planted the flag of St. George on enemy soil and set about the locals in a mini war of obnoxious boofheaded stupidity.
Catalyst for change occurred with the deaths at Hysel and English teams were banned from all UEFA competition for eight seasons. The English national team hung on by the skin of it's teeth, walking a constant tightrope of threats from FIFA and UEFA.
Trouble at football games is very rare in the UK now and we have not got fences, moats, nets, water-canons or any of the other paraphernalia of fascism. We actually treat the fans as human beings and sadly the catalyst for that quantum change was the horrendous heart wrenching Hillsborough disaster.
The biggest change engendered by the Taylor report was all seater stadiums and a quantum leap in humanity, with the average football fan finally being treated like an air breather not a mouth breather. That's after years of being treated like a combination of sheep, pigs and battery hens.
Italy has had a huge social and civil problem for decades and sadly football as the sport of the populace has been the avenue for the showing of allegiance not only of the club but of the region. A corrupt and sneering police force and in general a society that is ruled by Mafia influence and power hungry plutocrats, a society that has been effectively engaged in a clandestine civil war for hundreds of years.
Social engineering is by all accounts a science for the highbrow and the privileged and maybe therein lies the real problem because when you are structuring changes that markedly effect the lives of real people and you don't understand what makes those people tick well it's a recipe for utter disaster and social division. Common sense is not a given even in the most intelligent of beings. Maybe Lord Taylor's blueprint needs to be studied by the Italians.
So once again football is accepted as the simplistic reason behind what happened in Sicily and again in Rome but we all know it's a bit more complex than that. It's not football's fault but it's a convenient enough scapegoat to blame to save the backsides of ineffective politicians who have stood by and allowed the problems to fester for far too long without intervention.
In typical diplomatic etiquette 'The Home Office' is considering a formal complaint to UEFA over policing at matches as it prepares a report on the violence in Rome last Wednesday. I hope that report includes words like responsibility, disgraceful, and blight with the word ban write large in red capitals.
Hopefully pressure will be applied from all levels of Government because football in Italy cannot and will not cure itself. What's the answer you may ask?
Well talk now abounds about a Pan-European police force for CL games! Bloody great - a bunch of garlic munching overpaid Clouseaus in funny uniforms and daft hats doing silly walks while getting to watch the highest standard of football on earth. FREE!
Michel Platini, one of the greatest footballers ever to grace the game and a very intelligent bloke to boot, has recently been anointed as the new UEFA president which I see as a positive for the game. In his first week in the job the mess of Sicily occurred which resulted in the usual false dawn from Italian authorities with a few weeks of bans and safety purges followed by the status quo.
Platini is now well ensconced in his powerful position and only last month, he wrote to each of Europe's member associations warning them that violence was threatening to "poison" the beautiful game. No doubt prompted by the happenings in Sicily.
Time for the bullshit to stop.
Time for UEFA's new overlord to put a marker down, to show that his vision of European football doesn't include the disgraced member of the family Italia. Maybe then will the duplicitous souls of Italian politics be forced to look hard and to offer solutions to their malaise. But don't hold your breath.
So how big are your balls Mr.Platini?
Enough said,
ErimusRed.
BACK TO PETER HOLMES' LETTER FROM AUSTRALIA INDEX
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