What comes next for soccer in Italy? That is the question on the minds of football fans across the country -- and the topic of senior-level government discussions in Rome on Monday. Interior Minister Giuliano Amato, Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri, Italian Olympic Committee President Gianni Petrucci and soccer federation head Luca Pancalli are set to meet to discuss how to prevent further violence in Italian football stadiums after a Friday riot led to the death of a police officer in Sicily.
Soccer stadiums across the country were quiet on the weekend as all Serie A matches scheduled for Saturday and Sunday were cancelled, as was a national-team match between Italy and Romania scheduled for Wednesday. But despite the security concerns, it is unclear whether the ban will continue through next week as originally planned. Soccer is one of Italy's biggest businesses, with the country's four leading clubs -- AC Milan, Juventus, Inter Milan and AS Roma -- earning more than €770 million ($1 billion) during the 2004 to 2005 season, according to the AP. A further suspension of the season could result in losses of tens of millions of euros.
"This is among Italy's most important industries, and it needs to continue," the president of Serie A, Antonio Matarresa, told La Repubblica. "We are saddened, but the show must go on." He added: "Unfortunately, deaths … are part of this huge movement, which law enforcement officials still can't control."
The match suspensions come at a difficult time for Italian soccer. Despite having won the World Cup in Germany in July, league soccer in Italy has been rocked by a number of scandals recently. In addition to repeated incidents of racist behavior by fans in Rome and elsewhere, a huge match-fixing scandal in spring and summer of 2006 and involving some of the country's top teams uncovered a network of corruption including team managers and referees.
Twenty-nine people were arrested on Friday in Catania, Sicily as the home team took on Palermo. Hundreds of fans began rioting outside the stadium during the first half and the game had to be temporarily suspended when tear gas wafted into the stadium. The melee continued after the match and hundreds of fans were not allowed to leave the stadium. The scene on the streets outside resembled a war zone with Italian commentators comparing it to Baghdad or Vietnam -- some 100 people were injured in the fighting. Thirty-eight year old officer Filippo Raciti was killed when an explosive device was thrown into his vehicle before detonating. His funeral is scheduled for Monday.
The rest of the matches scheduled for the weekend were cancelled on Friday evening. "We cannot continue like this, said soccer commissioner Pancalli. "What we're witnessing has nothing to do with soccer, therefore Italian soccer is stopping."
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi promised "drastic" measures. "People must understand that there must be a turning point. We can't keep risking the lives of law enforcement officers."
It was the second soccer-related death in Italy in two weeks. On Jan. 27 a lower division manager was killed when he tried to break up a fight during a game.
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