Officials may opt to extend match ban

Stadiums which fail to adopt tough anti-hooliganism measures could be banned from staging games next season, Italy's top sporting body said yesterday following the death of a policeman in post-match riots.

At an emergency meeting after all soccer in Italy was suspended indefinitely, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) also urged clubs to break off all relations with violent fans.

Stunned by the bloodshed at Friday's top-flight derby match between Catania and Palermo in Sicily, officials will hold off on deciding how long the suspension will last until after a meeting with the government today.

Italian newspapers said the government is pondering keeping the suspension in place for at least two weeks and holding matches behind closed doors thereafter.

"If the attack was extraordinary, the response has to be extraordinary as well," Interior Minister Giuliano Amato told La Repubblica. "The fans are risking the possibility of never seeing soccer again - of being without soccer forever, with stadiums empty and barred."

Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who has promised radical measures, will meet ministers today to formulate new measures and Amato will address parliament tomorrow.

Football stadiums across soccer-mad Italy were silent for the second day in a row with all matches - from children's leagues to the national team's friendly against Romania on Wednesday - cancelled.

Yesterday's meeting by CONI, which was less conclusive than some commentators had wanted, followed national outrage over the death of policeman Filippo Raciti on Friday.

Although brawls at stadiums are common, images of hundreds of hooded fans chasing police and hurling flares shocked a nation still basking in the glow of last year's World Cup victory after the indignation of a domestic match-fixing scandal.

A firecracker exploded in Raciti's face, which was initially considered the cause of death, though a prosecutor yesterday said an autopsy showed it was due to a blow from a blunt object. More than 70 people were injured.

CONI also discussed setting up a fund for the family of the officer who was killed. Raciti (38), was married with two children.

CONI president Gianni Petrucci told a news conference that clubs whose stadiums do not adopt measures like greater ticket controls, ticket-readable turnstiles and more closed circuit cameras would not be able to host games.

The changes, which were pending under a previous decree but had yet to be applied, must be put in place by the start of the next season, Petrucci said.

Luca Pancalli, commissioner of the Italian soccer federation, said there would be no further decisions until today as a sign of respect for Raciti, whose funeral is scheduled for today day in Sicily.

"I will not budge from my decision to suspend the championship until tomorrow after I have discussed important matters with the government," he said. "Any decision will in any case be delayed until after the funeral."

In a sign of mourning, city-wide festivities for the feast of Catania's patron Saint Agatha were scaled down. Many residents had called for the whole feast to be scrapped.

The shock went far beyond Sicily. A day after the riots, anti-police graffiti was scrawled on walls in Rome and the northern town of Livorno - widely attributed to radical football supporters called "ultras", who have resisted any measures to control their behaviour.

One called for the deaths of more policemen and another used the English acronym ACAB, meaning "All Cops Are Bastards".

Raciti was the 13th person to be killed in or around Italy's football stadiums since 1962.

The last fatality at a top-flight match was in 1995 when a Genoa fan was stabbed to death before a game against AC Milan. The championship was suspended for day at the time.