I think here in Italy the form of violence that involves lots of ordinary people is the one related to soccer, which is our national sport. Italian society is still unable to prevent death on the way to the stadiums and the whole country is close to the abyss of anarchy because of a sport(!).
Recent serious events concerning soccer violence have led officials to think whether social issues are the real cause of the problem rather than traditional soccer rivalries between groups of supporters. Corruption probes involving soccer officials (especially match-fixing investigations) happen more often in Italy than in other European leagues and have alienated most of the normal and rational fans.
This caused the whole soccer thing to fall into the hands of wild hordes of fanatics who have nothing to do with sport and whose real intention is just creating trouble. Every Sunday it’s like civil war here: these gangs of hooligans give vent to their anger by attacking anybody they can get hold of, including authorities, government institutions, the police, regular fans just longing to watch the match with their families, and the people who are not interested in soccer at all, but unluckily happen to find themselves near the stadium at the wrong time. As for me, I belong to this latter category, considering that I’ve always liked (and played) basketball the most. Unfortunately, the shortest way to the basketball stadium runs straight through the area surrounding the soccer stadium, and the matches usually start at the same time. So all the basketball fans like me are forced to take a less direct route to get to the basketball arena without running into the danger caused by the soccer riots.
As a matter of fact, when violence breaks out, like in Rome last November when a police barracks was trashed after an officer shot a fan dead (which police said had been accidental), or when an officer was killed in riots in Catania in February 2007, it often happens away from stadiums. Fortunately (but I think this is not the most appropriate word), only the police carry firearms in Italy, otherwise every Sunday there would be dozens of casualties lying on the way to the soccer stadiums. According to the situation I’ve just described, I agree with the author of the article on the point that here “the average person is much more likely to experience or witness violence at first hand”.
However, I think it’s really important to point out that soccer is not the real enemy in Italy. I mean it doesn’t carry all the responsibility because the dramatic events I reported are actually the mirror of a social problem. Regional tensions also play a significant role in soccer trouble, with fans from Italy’s more flourishing north and much poorer south often fighting over social status as much as soccer. Offensive chants aimed at southerners are often heard at stadiums. Immigrants in Italy are not as common on the streets as they are in other European countries, and comments made by some Italians can really sound xenophobic to some people in Europe.
Many of the groups of hooligans just use soccer as an excuse for imposing their fanatical beliefs. As a matter of fact, they are loosely attached to soccer teams but have a strong political leaning, with the greater part definitely on the far right wing

. Violent banners are often seen at matches, supporting a level of intolerance which would probably shock fans in Germany or even England, where soccer officials have worked hard to wipe out racism.
Italy holds the World Cup but the whole country is still seething with the most poisonous soccer related virus anywhere (as far as I know). I’m afraid that the fabric of a society deeply relying on strong family values (I’m not talking about Mafia here

) has been torn by now, with violent elements getting sucked into soccer as an outlet.
Probably some of us, if not all, must be re-educated that other people are sacred. Today my country seems to have lost the sense of limit and has gone too far; the social tension has reached danger point. Fortunately, most Italians still have a conscience and have clearly realized the country hooligan problem reflects social issues in Italian cities which have little to do with soccer. After all the presence of fanatics and organized groups doesn’t represent what the ordinary fan feels about soccer. Unfortunately, it also stands to reason that whatever problems exist at a social level will continue to find their natural way to the stadium, as long as soccer maintains a central place in the life of the country. This is the reason I firmly believe that soccer urgently needs to be taken off the agenda for a couple of years at least, in order to teach the extremists that death is intolerable. But as you all may expect, this topic seems to hold very little interest for most of my fellow-citizens.
Regards
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