GROUP C:THE VIOLENCE which forced the abandonment of Tuesday night's Italy v Serbia Euro 2012 qualifier in Genoa seems destined to become a bitter political row.
Even as Italian opposition forces criticised Italy’s interior minister Roberto Maroni for the inadequate handling of the game, Serbia’s interior minister Ivica Dacic argued that the Italian police could and should have intervened much more forcefully.
Tuesday night’s game was abandoned after just six minutes of play when Scottish referee Craig Thomson ruled conditions were not safe enough to continue. A small number of the 1,600 Serbian fans at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa had both delayed the start of the match by 40 minutes and then subsequently disrupted the short-lived game by throwing fireworks, smoke flares and other incendiary devices onto the pitch. Following a series of post-match skirmishes with police, 16 people were injured and 17 arrested.
European soccer’s ruling body, Uefa, yesterday confirmed it will be carrying out a “full and thorough disciplinary investigation into the incidents of serious disorder” in Genoa.
When Uefa’s control and disciplinary board examine the case on Thursday, October 28th, however, it will face some difficult questions. For a start, how come the Italian police force appear to have been caught largely unprepared for the arrival of a small number of violent, extreme right, ultra nationalist Serbian fans. Many of Tuesday morning’s media match previews had warned of the threat of violent incidents, coming from many of the same Red Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade fans who caused mayhem in Belgrade last Sunday during a Gay Pride march. Furthermore, many of these same fans are linked to political factions keen to provoke maximum instability back home.
Both the Italian Football Federation and Italian police authorities claim they were not fully informed by their Serbian counterparts of the arrival of potentially violent fans. However, Rome daily, La Repubblica, yesterday claimed Serbian police had in fact sent an urgent communication to the Italian police on Monday afternoon, warning of the dangers.
If this was the case, how come the Serbian fans were allowed to take fireworks, smoke flares, metal poles, garden secateurs and much else into the Ferraris ground? Likewise, if the Serbian police were aware of the dangers posed by these fans, why did they not try to stop them travelling to Italy? Or, if this was impossible, why did no Serbian police officers travel with them?
One of the most intriguing questions confronting Uefa concerns the Serbian players. As they waited on the pitch for the delayed match to begin, Serbia captain Dejan Stankovic led his players over to the Serbian fans in an apparent attempt to calm a difficult situation.
Not only did the Serbian players applaud their “fans” but they also made the three finger sign of the “Trinity”, a symbol of Serbian unity or nationalism. What is all the more astonishing is that, just hours previously, many of these same fans had attacked the Serbian team bus on its way to the Ferraris ground.
Furthermore, earlier in the day some of the Serbian fans had threatened goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic, considered to be a “traitor” because he opted to play for Partizan Belgrade despite having previously played for their bitter city rivals, Red Star. The hapless Stojkovic, who was also under fire following Serbia’s 3-1 home defeat to Estonia last Friday, was apparently so shaken by his ordeal that when he arrived at the ground on Tuesday night, he sought refuge in the Italian dressingroom and refused to line out for Serbia.
Italian opposition figure Massimo Donadi, of the Italy of Values (IDV) party, said Italy must bear some responsibility for Tuesday night’s events, saying: “After a night of urban guerrilla warfare and devastation in Genoa, the minister should resign.
“All of Europe knows how dangerous the Serbian fans can be, we know they are organised along paramilitary lines and we know too the terrible things many of them did during the Balkan wars. Despite this, they were allowed enter Italy with the intention of devastating a city.”
Donadi’s reference to the Balkan wars is a reminder that many of Serbia’s most violent fans were intimately linked to the “Arkan Tigers”, the paramilitary group led by assassinated Balkan war criminal Zeljko Raznatovic (“Arkan”) who is believed to have been responsible for many ethnic killings.
As for the football, Uefa will probably award victory and three points to Italy, whilst the Serbian Federation could risk a heavy sanction, including a ban on future home games.
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