Italian Hooligans Get Two Weeks of Soccer Cancelled

Hooliganism in soccer is a global problem and has been for years. The latest offense against the beautiful game was the killing of Filippo Raciti, a 38-year-old Italian police officer, at a Catania-Palermo match. Ironically, violence at Italian soccer fields has been in decline over the last three seasons. Of course, the only acceptable level of violence is none at all. In pursuit of that goal, the Italian game will shut down for a couple of weeks, and not everyone is happy about it.

As is so often the case, the widow is the one who lights the way. Marisa Raciti said that the “stupid and senseless violence” had to come to an end. She pleaded from the pulpit for those engaged in soccer violence to recall “that policemen are human beings” and that “real maturity is not being violent but showing respect for others.” And is so often the case, her voice seemed alone in the wilderness.

Richard Owen, who reports on sports for The Times, wrote from Catania, “Even as Mr. Raciti’s coffin was carried out past a guard of honour to a poignant trumpet solo, far-right hooligans — known as ‘ultras’ — brushed aside Mrs. Raciti’s appeal. ‘The cops had better watch out,’ one defiant youth said at a bar in Catania used by ultras. ‘If stadiums are closed and matches are played behind closed doors, we will simply gather outside instead’.”

One would like to put that down as the angry rant of an over-grown child, but Antonio Matarrese, the head of La Liga (the Italian soccer league), said, “Deaths, unfortunately, form part of this huge movement that is football and which the forces of order are not always able to control. We are pained, but the show must go on.” If the fans aren’t safe, they aren’t coming. And that hits the bottom line.

Of course, the bottom line concerns Mr. Matarrese a great deal. Soccer generates €6 billion in annual estimated revenue, which is 0.44 per cent of Italy’s GDP. The government generates €3.1 million weekly in tax revenue from betting on games. Moreover, Roma, Lazio and Juventus are publicly traded firms valued at a total of €340 million. He’s taking the short-term view that a fortnight without soccer will cost millions. How much was Mr. Raciti’s life worth?

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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