Fans’ chants force Milan to play in empty San Siro
Print Edition
Italy’s football authorities have ordered AC Milan to play its next game behind closed doors and fined the club 50,000 euros (US$67,900) following abusive chants by fans during a match against southern club Napoli.
During last Sunday’s match against Juventus in Turin, hundreds of Milan supporters shouted “We are not Neapolitans”, a chant the Naples daily Il Mattino said reflected long-standing contempt for the south by northern clubs.
In the fiercely territorial world of Italian football, abusive rivalry between supporters of clubs in the rich north and those in the poorer south is not uncommon and Milan officials reacted with shock to the verdict by Serie A sporting judges.
“To say I’m furious would be putting it mildly,” Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani told reporters. “I understand that racism is a big problem, a problem everywhere in the world but ... here in Italy we have invented territorial discrimination for ourselves.
“I called (Italian football) president (Giancarlo) Abete to ask whether he thinks that this rule is just. What I ask is that it is abolished.”
A football federation spokesman said the rules were being applied in line with UEFA guidelines. “It’s not as though the rules are imposed on any club. It’s down to a judge to decide on the punishment, and they can make their case against any decision,” he said.
The sentence means that Milan, in 12th place in Serie A after a 2-3 loss to Juventus on Sunday, will play its next home game on October 19 against Udinese behind closed doors.
The ruling has enraged hardcore “ultra” fans, who are fed up with having sections of stadiums or entire grounds closed for what they see as the harmless expression of sporting rivalry.
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