Serie A game suspended after Racism

Lovely Bloke

Milan v Roma was suspended yesterday after Balotelli was sibjected to racist chants.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/may/12/roma-racism-milan-mario-balotelli

Milan's coach Massimiliano Allegri condemned Italian football culture as backward on Sunday after his team's match at home against AS Roma was interrupted by racist chanting from fans.

The game was stopped early in the second half after Roma fans jeered the Milan striker Mario Balotelli. A warning was announced over the public address system and play resumed.

Milan, needing a win to clinch a Champions League play-off place, had Sulley Muntari sent off in the first half of a 0-0 home draw with Roma in a match interrupted by racist chanting by visiting fans. The Roma captain, Francesco Totti, was later dismissed in stoppage time for elbowing.

Muntari was booked and then sent off in the 41st minute of an unsavoury match for grabbing the referee's arm as Milan players surrounded the official to protest against the original decision.

Allegri criticised the interruption for racism, during which warnings were broadcast to the fans over the public address system, as an unsuccessful compromise and said that Balotelli was being increasingly taunted by abuse.

"People should go to the stadium to see two teams battling each other on the pitch, not this sort of thing, it's a place for the uncivilised," he told Milan's website

"Above all, the culture in Italy is backward – tonight we had racism, laser beams flashed in the eyes of players and an interrupted match."

He added: "Stopping the game doesn't work, it's a happy medium and like all happy mediums, it doesn't do anybody any good.

"Balotelli was defeated this evening, he gave everything, but he is 22 and subjected more and more to racist chants and that doesn't do him any good."

Milan still need to win at Siena in their last game to clinch third place and the Champions League playoff spot.

I really think it's time to start properly punishing teams when things like this happen. Abandon the match and award the game to the opposition.

Ban these animals from games.

Behind closed doors matches.

Enough is enough.

Seaneh

Abandoning games, giving a 3-0 win to the other team and a heavy fine for the offending team and force them to play a home game or two behind closed doors, stuff like that is the way it should be done, if teams have multiple instances, ban their fans from away games for the season, dock points, multiple games with empty stands. It's no good giving a ****ty 30k fine and a slap on the wrist.

Jelle1880

The rules are already in place for this.

The ref did the right thing, if it had happened after the PA announcement he would have abandoned the game.

Seaneh

Jelle1880 wrote: »

The rules are already in place for this.

The ref did the right thing, if it had happened after the PA announcement he would have abandoned the game.

It did happen after the announcement, it only stopped for about 5 minutes.

Jelle1880

Seaneh wrote: »

It did happen after the announcement, it only stopped for about 5 minutes.

Honestly, I didn't notice anything after the announcement...

Some chants aimed at Milan in general yes, but hardly racist.

I could be wrong though

LuckyLloyd

Milan should have walked off.

Lovely Bloke

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Milan should have walked off.

and forfeitted the game themselves?

Behave yourself.

Seaneh

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Milan should have walked off.

Massive risk at the minute of not qualifying for for the CL next year, I doubt it was ever an option, I reckon it they were already qualified and a few points safe, they might have considered it.

LuckyLloyd

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

and forfeitted the game themselves?

Behave yourself.

Yes. That's what it is going to take to force UEFA / FIFA into taking proper action against fanbases engaging in such chants. Milan would have forfeited the game under the rules, and then the rules would have been hammered to high hell by the regular media in Italy and Europe.

Instead, the rules and sanctions as they are will be defended following yesterday's events (evidence of that in this thread already).

Lovely Bloke

All well and good, but they likely would have just lost the points anyway, then missed out on CL football.

Not very sensible.

It's not up to the clubs to damage themselves in this way.

But you already know this.

LuckyLloyd

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

All well and good, but they likely would have just lost the points anyway, then missed out on CL football.

Not very sensible.

It's not up to the clubs to damage themselves in this way.

But you already know this.

For a real change to be made on this matter, some club is going to have to walk off the pitch during a top level competitive match. Until that happens, nothing will change.

Seaneh

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

For a real change to be made on this matter, some club is going to have to walk off the pitch during a top level competitive match. Until that happens, nothing will change.

That could be true, but Milan were warned earlier in the season after KPB walked off during a friendly that if they did it in an official game they would forfeit the game and face sanctions, and that warning came directly from FIFA. It would be madness to challenge that right now with so much at stake in the league.

LuckyLloyd

Seaneh wrote: »

That could be true, but Milan were warned earlier in the season after KPB walked off during a friendly that if they did it in an official game they would forfeit the game and face sanctions, and that warning came directly from FIFA. It would be madness to challenge that right now with so much at stake in the league.

Don't get me wrong, I understand why Milan played on. Absolutely in their best interest.

But if a club of their size and stature had walked off last night and FIFA / UEFA had tried to stick the boot in - the general wrath and fury directed at the governing bodies would have made real change possible.

Put it this way, I would have loved it Milan had taken a stand last night and I'd imagine they would have had the backing of most of the football world in doing so.

Jelle1880

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

For a real change to be made on this matter, some club is going to have to walk off the pitch during a top level competitive match. Until that happens, nothing will change.

Milan have done this once, Boateng walked off and the rest of his team followed.

It was a friendly though, so perhaps it's easier to make that decision then.

LuckyLloyd

Jelle1880 wrote: »

Milan have done this once, Boateng walked off and the rest of his team followed.

It was a friendly though, so perhaps it's easier to make that decision then.

Absolutely - the first time it happens in a competitive game infront of a huge TV audience (like last night) will be the first time UEFA / FIFA are forced to act. They know this too - hence their heavy handed language when Milan walked off last summer in the friendly.

Neil3030

Never mind FIFA/UEFA, if one of the twelve million police forces in Italy could prise itself up from its arse and do some actual police work, this would be solved very quickly.

- Video the crowd
- Identify the chanters
- Arrest them + lifetime ban
- Problem goes away

Jelle1880

Neil3030 wrote: »

Never mind FIFA/UEFA, if one of the twelve million police forces in Italy could prise itself up from its arse and do some actual police work, this would be solved very quickly.

- Video the crowd
- Identify the chanters
- Arrest them + lifetime ban
- Problem goes away

Police hardly (if ever) approach the Ultras (which are probably the ones doing these chants), for fear of escalating the situation.

CSF

The real risk in enforcing points deductions and the like is the risk of sabotage.

jmayo

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Don't get me wrong, I understand why Milan played on. Absolutely in their best interest.

But if a club of their size and stature had walked off last night and FIFA / UEFA had tried to stick the boot in - the general wrath and fury directed at the governing bodies would have made real change possible.

You appear to believe that UEFA/FIFA actually give a rats ass what people think or what people want.
If they did then the likes of blatter, walker, etc would never have gotten to the positions they did.

The only thing they would do is end up having another fair play campaign, messages put up on TV display about people being nice to each other and probably another offical added to listen to the crowd and supposedly make recommendations to the ref.

How long has it taken for goal line technology to come in ?

Jelle1880 wrote: »

Police hardly (if ever) approach the Ultras (which are probably the ones doing these chants), for fear of escalating the situation.

The ultras are almost untouchable and even have some clubs by the balls.
Remember the ultras of one club threatening the club that if they not get cheap tickets for a European match that they would make their own way there and riot to get the club sanctioned.
Remember the ultras in Genoa demanding the jerseys off the players because they reckoned they weren't fit to ware them ?

Ferris_Bueller

Never understood why the fines for racism were so little, 30k is nothing to a football club like Roma I'm sure. Larger fines and playing behind closed doors should be the first punishment, then if it happens again points deductions should be given. If the punishments are severe enough, the clubs themselves will make sure that these fans are banned from the ground.

Neil3030

Jelle1880 wrote: »

Police hardly (if ever) approach the Ultras (which are probably the ones doing these chants), for fear of escalating the situation.

I know, yeah, but I don't mean confront them head on during a game - that's not just an Italian thing, that's just common sense. Identify these people and arrest them individually, in their homes, in the middle of the night.

Of course this won't be done, and anyone who has ever lived here will know the various reasons why. But don't let that detract from there potentially being a very simple, effective solution to this.

dfx-

CSF wrote: »

The real risk in enforcing points deductions and the like is the risk of sabotage.

If Milan had gone 1-0 up after the stoppage and the Roma Ultras started up again, what to do then. Mind you the game was so poor in the second half, there was no fear of this.

Easy way for Roma fans to get the game called off..