Hooligans

15 April 2005



Champions' League Gets Ugly

With all the trouble surrounding Chelsea soccer club's manager Jose Mourinho, it was shocking that the quarter finals of the Champions' League were filled with violence -- that had nothing to do with Chelsea. Then again, the miserable spectator behavior in the two ugly encounters in Italy earlier this week was entirely predictable. The culprits are not soccer fans; they are enemies of the game.

The first match was between Inter Milan and AC Milan had all the usual high spirits of a local derby. It doesn't matter where one is; anytime there are two or more sporting franchises in a city, rivalries are intense. What happened in Milan, though, went far beyond the Mets versus the Yankees or Army versus Navy. It resembled France versus Germany, in 1870, 1914 and 1939. Having lost the first match to AC 3-0, Inter needed to win by four goals to advance in the tournament. Inter hasn't got the team to do that, and the spectators knew it. Flares on the field were the least of it; cars were burned outside the stadium. UEFA, the governing European soccer body, called the match off, and will award the victory to AC Milan.

The next night, Liverpool took on Juventus, a rematch of the game at Heysel Stadium in Belgium 20 years ago, where dozens died in the stands. While there was an effort by both clubs to move beyond that unpleasantness, there was a banner in the stands with the Italian flag attached that read, in English "We haven't forgotten, we haven't forgiven." The scoreless draw let Liverpool through (they had won in the previous game in Liverpool), and it forced the police to keep all the Liverpool fans in their segregated seats until long after the match had ended. The Juventus crowd were dispersed as quickly as possible before the English visitors could leave.

It is said that soccer is a gentleman's game played by hooligans while rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentlemen. Maybe so. In life, cheering for one's side is important for self-identity. When it reaches the point, though, where the game can't even go on, or where the two sides can't share a train home, that part the the self really ought to stay at home. While soccer in the US is being sold as a safe alternative to American football, it is sad that the American football fan is safer tailgating than many European soccer spectators are in the stands.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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