Ethics Newsline®

ROME
Saying urgent action was needed after a week of violence by soccer fans, Italian authorities last week quickly adopted a series of measures designed to punish soccer teams for their fans’ misbehavior.

The new rules were adopted after a series of particularly violent outbursts resulted in the cancellation of several matches, multiple arrests, criminal charges against more than 250 fans, and injury to 89 police officers.

At least five games witnessed violent acts, including the hurling of bottles and flares at players on the field, the chanting of racist and fascist slogans in the stands, the beating of an opposing fan with a baseball bat, and the torching of police vehicles by rioting fans.

“It’s an ugly and sad night for football,” Umberto Gandini, spokesman for the team AC Milan, said after his goalkeeper was hit in the shoulder with a flare fired by opposing fans, causing officials to cut short the match with Inter Milan.

Inter Milan was slapped with a fine of nearly $250,000 and will be forced to play at least four of its next six home matches in an empty stadium, depriving fans of their entertainment and the club of revenues, reported the Reuters news agency.

The spate of violence prompted the country’s Interior Ministry to adopt new measures that call for the immediate cancellation of games when objects are thrown from the stands, when offensive banners and signs are displayed by fans, and when there is any violence either inside or outside the stadium

Following last week’s mayhem, German police announced that they too will be cracking down on violence ahead of next year’s World Cup in Germany, reported the Associated Press.

Police plan to ban roughly 6,000 Germans classified and registered as prior troublemakers from the championship games, requiring them to report to police stations during the matches.

“The latest events have shown us again how dangerous it can get,” a German interior minister told the AP. “We are alarmed.”