Yesterday afternoon, there were disgusting scenes of violence in the Italian capital at a big European Champions League soccer quarterfinal between A.S. Roma and Manchester United. Despite the fact that the two groups of fans were segregated, they were throwing objects ('missiles' in the lingo) at each other. Police reportedly charged the English fans with batons. (Note: Though I'm a Roma fan, I didn't see the game, but I was listening to the Manchester United audio commentary) Ten United fans were stabbed outside Rome's Stadio Olimpico.
If I wanted to go with the mob mentality, I would blame it all on Roma. Italian soccer is now notorious for fan violence in much the same way English soccer was 20 years ago. In fact, the whole Italian league was shut down for a week earlier this year because of crowd violence and at least one club still plays home games at an empty stadium because of it. Like most other big Italian clubs, Roma has a group of ultras, a bunch of hard-core hooligans there to act like maniacs, not to watch soccer. Lazio is the more infamous club in the Italian capital but Roma is not immune to this scourge. If I wanted to be chic, I would condemn only Roma based on reputation. But I won't do that. Fairness means judging each situation individually and not engaging in guilt by association.
Even the Manchester United radio commentators I was listening to observed that the missile-throwing was going both ways; the announcers, up until that point, had effusively praised the atmosphere in the stadium ("More moving than Liverpool's 'You'll Never Walk Alone'" they said of the Roma fans' pre-match hymn).
Of course, if I wanted to, I could put in my blinders and blame it all on Manchester United. There was crowd trouble at United's Champions League match earlier this year against Lille in northern France. But I won't condemn them alone based on history either.
In reality, crowd trouble like this is almost never the sole fault of just one party.
According to press accounts (admittedly of English fans), Italian police attacked the English fans in the stadium with a shocking level of brutality. Sadly, since Italian fans can be brutal, it's hardly surprising that the police are as well.
There's no point in beating around the bush. There's a crisis in soccer. Particularly European and South American soccer. A crisis of fan violence.
As I said, I'm careful of guilt by association. Certainly not all clubs in Europe or South America have this problem. But fans and officials for too long have buried their head in the sand about this madness. Just because not every club is guilty doesn't mean there aren't trends that club should be worried about.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
To their credit, the English model should be the way forward. For most of the 70s and 80s, English officials tried the ostrich approach to crowd security. But after the great tragedies of Hillsborough (which was caused by overcrowding) and Heysel (hooliganism) in which a combined 135 people died at two soccer matches*, English officials were forced into taking serious action. Now, crowd security at English club matches is generally seen as a model for the rest of Europe.
(*-The Bradford City fire, in which 56 died and 256 were injured, also played a role, highlighting the dilapidated state of English stadia)
And much of the rest of Europe needs it. And South America too.
Consider these events
-One Paris St-Germain hooligan was shot dead and another injured as they were part of a racist mob attacking a black police officer.
-Soccer in Italy was suspended for a week when Palermo supporters rioted after they couldn't gain admission to the already full stadium of their rivals. They attacked and beat a policeman, who later died.
-Cameroonian star Samuel E'too, who plays for Barcelona, said he refuses to allow his children to attend his matches because of all the racist abuse hurled at Spanish stadia.
-Ivory Coast defender Marc Zoro, who plays for the Italian club Messina, walked off the field after being subjected to relentless racist abuse by Inter Milan fans. (E'too once tried to do the same thing in a Spanish league match)
-The Greek government recently suspended all professional soccer in the country for two weeks after a fan was stabbed to death at a brawl between two hooligan groups.
-As Franklin Foer explains in the first chapter of his book How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization, there are strong links between soccer clubs and organized crime syndicates in many parts of Eastern Europe. (By many accounts, fan violence is even worse in Eastern Europe, but Western European soccer has a much higher international media profile.)
-Rival groups nominally supporting the same club, Buenos Aires' giants River Plate, fought against EACH OTHER before a match in February.
-The same day, fan fighting at another Argentine league match led to the death of a 15-year old both while 12 others were injured.
-There have also been serious problems at stadia in Uruguay, Colombia and Chile.
All of these are events that have happened within the last year and a half, most within the last few months.
Explaining who soccer is more than just a sport in many parts of the world would take another essay. In fact, Foer's excellent book does a great job in exploring this in great depth.
In many parts of the world, a soccer club is not simply another entertainment option. It can symbol of your culture, of your religion, of nationalism and/or of politics. There are "Catholic" and "Protestant" clubs. There are "Basque" and "Catalan" clubs. There are "left-wing" and "right-wing" clubs. There are "fascist" and "anti-fascist" clubs. There are "upper class" and "lower class" clubs. No wonder that the emotions run a bit stronger than the mostly geographic rivalries in North American sports.
(This is also why I believe in the absolute separation of sport and politics. It's why I think the Olympics should be de-nationalized, at least in individual sports)
There is absolutely no doubt that these passions run deep. It would be easy to write this all off to passions, shrug your shoulders and declare fan violence something inevitable. It would be easy to write this off to me being an American who "doesn't get it."
Garbage!
I've lived to Africa. African fans are generally just as passionate as the Europeans and South Americans. But you don't see widespread fan violence inside African grounds. Or outside them either. You don't see rioting. You don't see fans shooting or stabbing other fans. Of course there have been a few exceptions. But they are just that, exceptions. Exceptions that prove the rule.
In 1997, I went to African Nations Cup qualifer between Guinea and Tunisia. It was a big match. Guinea were at the top of the qualifying group and Tunisia had been finalists at the most recent Nations Cup. There was a group of Tunisian fans sitting next to the section (of Guinean fans) I was in. There was no segregation. There was no police presence. There was no one to protect the Tunisian fans from the Guineans.
How come all hell didn't break loose?
Because the Tunisian fans DIDN'T NEED PROTECTION from the Guinean fans, or vice versa. It was a festive atmosphere, not a menacing one. Exactly the way soccer is supposed to be. Somehow, opposing fans were able sit near each other and GOD FORBID INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER without beating the crap out of each other, without stabbing each other, without running rampage like a bunch of wild animals. Somehow, this is possible in the heart "savage" Africa but not in "civilized" Europe.
No Virginia, fan violence is NOT inevitable.
I've never forget something I read about a decade ago. In 1997, there was violence at a match between the England and Italy national teams. In the aftermath, English officials blamed the Italian authorities for not sufficiently segregating the two sets of fans. I remember reading this and being gobsmacked. Individuals supporting different teams at a sporting event can't interact in a way befitting civilized human beings and it's not their fault but the police's.
I think this illustrates the fundamental flaw in the mentality of soccer administrators. It's not the police that have to change, it's the fans.
Several years ago, I went to a New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox baseball game in the Bronx. With the possible exception of NHL Toronto-Montreal, this is the most intense rivalry in North American sports. My family and I were all decked out in Red Sox gear and were sitting right in the middle of all Yankee fans. There was a lot of back and forth. A bit more vulgarity than my mom appreciated. But for the most, it was just good natured ribbing between the Yankee fans and mostly my brother. We weren't attacked, stabbed or shot. We didn't even have beer cups thrown at us. When New York City fans are well-behaved by comparison, you know how deep the soccer problem runs..
In soccer lingo, fans (short for fanatics) are usually referred to as supporters. This may seem like an insignificant linguistic point, but it's symbolic. It's ironic that fans (fanatics) at North American sporting events generally act in a much more sane way than supporters at European and South American soccer matches.
This symbolic linguistic point nicely illustrates what needs to change. For too many European and South American "supporters," actually SUPPORTING their team is the last thing on their minds when they enter the stadium.
I used to hate writing essays like this. I used to fear that the generally anti-soccer sports media establishment in this country would seize on stuff like this to bash soccer. But then I realized that the active soccer-hating nuts in this country (not to be confused with those who simply don't care) will find any excuse to bash the sport. The reality, that there has been to my knowledge zero violence in the 11-year history of America's top soccer league, doesn't matter to them. So why worry about the loudmouthed ignoramuses? The more soccer grows in popularity, the more they bash it.
I used to rationalize that violence soccer fans were a small minority. And it's true. They are. But just as a small minority of lunatics can ruin a country, they can also ruin a sport. And that's exactly what's happening right now.
I understand the defense mechanism against ill-informed cheap shots many American soccer fans have. But soccer fans need to learn from the neo-cons' failings in the political realm. We need to recognize problems, not be paralyzed to them because of a closed-minded, knee-jerk, hyperdefensive reflex. It's time for all soccer fans around the world to face reality. It's no longer acceptable to say that because it's a small minority, it's not a big deal. It's a huge deal. It's a huge deal in most of the world's biggest, richest and most high-profile leagues. It's a huge deal in the places that are the global face of the sport.
With the possible exception of the human trafficking of young soccer players from Africa to Europe, fan violence is the biggest crisis facing professional soccer.
Roma vs Manchester Utd was a great soccer match. People should be talking about Roma's scintillating attacking play or Wayne Rooney's great goal. Instead, the Beautiful Game was tarnished yet again by its most hideous side. Rather than apportioning blame to one side or another, it's time for a complete cleaning of the soccer house.
To say that fan violence is a crisis that threatens the future worldwide popularity of the sport would not be an overstatement. It would be the truth.
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