Too_Many_Tools
2013-03-22 01:51:19 UTC
For Italy's 'ultras,' nothing black and white about football and
racism
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/21/sport/football/italian-football-
racism-milan/
(CNN) -- Hardcore Italian football "ultra" Federico is a Lazio
supporter who happily admits directing monkey chants at black
players.
It is "a means to distract opposition players" says Federico, a
member of the Irriducibili ("The Unbeatables") group which
follows the Rome-based team.
"I am against anyone who calls me a Nazi," Federico told
academic Alberto Testa, who spent time "embedded" with Lazio and
Roma ultras for the book "Football, Fascism and Fandom: The
UltraS of Italian Football," co-authored by Gary Armstrong.
"What I do not like is people who come to my country and commit
crimes; Albanians and Romanians are destroying Rome with their
camps," Federico adds.
"But I'm not a racist. One day, I was waiting in my car at the
traffic lights and, as usual, there was a young female gypsy who
was trying to clean the car windscreen and was asking for money.
"Suddenly municipal police officers started to mistreat the
girl. I jumped out of my car and almost kicked his arse. I hate
injustice."
There is nothing black and white about Italian football.
Days after his return to Serie A, following his move from
Manchester City to AC Milan, Italy-born Mario Balotelli was
referred to by his new club's vice president Paulo Berlusconi --
the younger brother of the team's owner and the former Italian
prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi -- as "the family's little
black boy."
That remark came after, in what appeared to be an innocuous
friendly match against fourth tier Italian side Pro Patria last
month, Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng picked up the ball
and kicked it into the stands before tearing off his black-and-
red striped shirt and walking off in protest at the persistent
monkey chanting to which he and three of his black teammates had
been subjected.
In the aftermath of Boateng's walkout, Italian interior minister
Annamaria Cancellieri told Radio 24 that if only a small group
of fans were involved in racist chanting, games should not be
suspended, but if "a significant part of the fans take part" the
game should be stopped "by those responsible for public order."
As Italy grapples with how best to confront racism, it is worth
remembering it's not the only country working out a solution as
to how to deal with the problem.
Neo-Nazis and neo-Fascists
This season, matches across Europe have been punctuated by
repeated racist outbursts, which have led to calls for world
governing body FIFA and European counterpart UEFA to show
greater leadership and impose harsher sanctions.
Amid the monkey chants and racial stereotyping, there are no
easy answers to the question of just how prevalent is the
incidence of racist abuse in Italian football.
According to the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), there have
been 50 incidents in Italy of racist abuse over the last six
years. Of those 50 cases, 48 relate to racist chanting, with two
relating to abusive banners.
"And the total of violent episodes diminished from 209 to 60 and
the majority of them happened outside the football venues," FIGC
spokesman Diego Antenozio told CNN.
"The introduction of stewarding has also reduced the need of
intervention by police officers inside the venues significantly."
However, talk to the head of Italy's Observatory on Racism and
Anti-racism in Football, Mauro Valeri, who has been monitoring
racism in Italian football for over a decade, and a different
picture emerges.
His organization estimates there have been over 660 racial
incidents since 2000 and puts the number since 2007 at 282,
nearly six times as much as the FIGC figure. In all, fines of $5
million have been handed out as punishment in those 660-plus
cases, equating to a fine of $7,500 per incident.
"The numbers I record relate to the decision that the judge
takes in the sports court and lays down fines and any
disqualifications. The FIGC figures concern the criminal law,"
said Valeri.
"So in the Boateng case the sports court ruled that Pro Patria
had to play the game ... 'behind closed doors' and were fined
$6,689.
"But the ordinary court -- the criminal law -- has instead
decided that those songs were not racist. For me it's racism,
for the Ministry of the Interior, no."
Valeri added: "In Italy, no club has a real anti-racist
strategy, because it believes the fight against racism is not a
priority.
Read: Blatter insists FIFA will hit racists hard
"Since the early 1990s, many curves of the stadium have been
occupied by neo-Nazi and neo-Fascist groups, but this problem
has been addressed only as a problem of public order."
That is a view that is supported by Italian football writer
Charles Ducksbury, a fan of Verona, who added: "The ultra still,
and always will hold all the power at clubs. They choose what is
sung, what everyone does and how they do it.
"Stewards and police hardly ever enter the curve as they would
most likely get beaten up. Ultras say if the authorities stay
out the curve, there won't be any problems. Almost all trouble
happens outside the ground anyway, so that's where police tend
to hang around."
Time warp
While Boateng walked off, former Netherlands international Edgar
Davids, who played for both AC Milan and Inter Milan as well as
Juventus, said he felt it was important to show that racist
abuse did not affect him as a player during the many years of
his career he spent in Italy.
"You would have a problem in certain areas," Davids told CNN.
"But you are a professional, you have an obligation to your
team. My opinion was I'm a professional and the smartest way is
to play so good that you make them even angrier.
"It is also about ignorance, a fear of the unknown. If you are
interested in different cultures, it's normal.
"If you're not, you don't understand that concept. It is not
only in Italy and it is not the whole of Italy. It was only
certain teams you played, but 80-90% I didn't have a problem in
Italy," added Davids, though Valeri's analysis suggests the
problem is much more widespread.
Yadda yadda yadda. Liberal whining and bullshit.
Remember during the course of all this, the niggers are calling
each other nigger, but don't any of the rest of you call them
nigger. That's racist.
Tell you what Italy, we'll trade you our nigger problem for
yours. You take Obama, we'll take your nigger loving liberals
who are crying racism. We got plenty of building construction
where they'll never be found.
racism
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/21/sport/football/italian-football-
racism-milan/
(CNN) -- Hardcore Italian football "ultra" Federico is a Lazio
supporter who happily admits directing monkey chants at black
players.
It is "a means to distract opposition players" says Federico, a
member of the Irriducibili ("The Unbeatables") group which
follows the Rome-based team.
"I am against anyone who calls me a Nazi," Federico told
academic Alberto Testa, who spent time "embedded" with Lazio and
Roma ultras for the book "Football, Fascism and Fandom: The
UltraS of Italian Football," co-authored by Gary Armstrong.
"What I do not like is people who come to my country and commit
crimes; Albanians and Romanians are destroying Rome with their
camps," Federico adds.
"But I'm not a racist. One day, I was waiting in my car at the
traffic lights and, as usual, there was a young female gypsy who
was trying to clean the car windscreen and was asking for money.
"Suddenly municipal police officers started to mistreat the
girl. I jumped out of my car and almost kicked his arse. I hate
injustice."
There is nothing black and white about Italian football.
Days after his return to Serie A, following his move from
Manchester City to AC Milan, Italy-born Mario Balotelli was
referred to by his new club's vice president Paulo Berlusconi --
the younger brother of the team's owner and the former Italian
prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi -- as "the family's little
black boy."
That remark came after, in what appeared to be an innocuous
friendly match against fourth tier Italian side Pro Patria last
month, Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng picked up the ball
and kicked it into the stands before tearing off his black-and-
red striped shirt and walking off in protest at the persistent
monkey chanting to which he and three of his black teammates had
been subjected.
In the aftermath of Boateng's walkout, Italian interior minister
Annamaria Cancellieri told Radio 24 that if only a small group
of fans were involved in racist chanting, games should not be
suspended, but if "a significant part of the fans take part" the
game should be stopped "by those responsible for public order."
As Italy grapples with how best to confront racism, it is worth
remembering it's not the only country working out a solution as
to how to deal with the problem.
Neo-Nazis and neo-Fascists
This season, matches across Europe have been punctuated by
repeated racist outbursts, which have led to calls for world
governing body FIFA and European counterpart UEFA to show
greater leadership and impose harsher sanctions.
Amid the monkey chants and racial stereotyping, there are no
easy answers to the question of just how prevalent is the
incidence of racist abuse in Italian football.
According to the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), there have
been 50 incidents in Italy of racist abuse over the last six
years. Of those 50 cases, 48 relate to racist chanting, with two
relating to abusive banners.
"And the total of violent episodes diminished from 209 to 60 and
the majority of them happened outside the football venues," FIGC
spokesman Diego Antenozio told CNN.
"The introduction of stewarding has also reduced the need of
intervention by police officers inside the venues significantly."
However, talk to the head of Italy's Observatory on Racism and
Anti-racism in Football, Mauro Valeri, who has been monitoring
racism in Italian football for over a decade, and a different
picture emerges.
His organization estimates there have been over 660 racial
incidents since 2000 and puts the number since 2007 at 282,
nearly six times as much as the FIGC figure. In all, fines of $5
million have been handed out as punishment in those 660-plus
cases, equating to a fine of $7,500 per incident.
"The numbers I record relate to the decision that the judge
takes in the sports court and lays down fines and any
disqualifications. The FIGC figures concern the criminal law,"
said Valeri.
"So in the Boateng case the sports court ruled that Pro Patria
had to play the game ... 'behind closed doors' and were fined
$6,689.
"But the ordinary court -- the criminal law -- has instead
decided that those songs were not racist. For me it's racism,
for the Ministry of the Interior, no."
Valeri added: "In Italy, no club has a real anti-racist
strategy, because it believes the fight against racism is not a
priority.
Read: Blatter insists FIFA will hit racists hard
"Since the early 1990s, many curves of the stadium have been
occupied by neo-Nazi and neo-Fascist groups, but this problem
has been addressed only as a problem of public order."
That is a view that is supported by Italian football writer
Charles Ducksbury, a fan of Verona, who added: "The ultra still,
and always will hold all the power at clubs. They choose what is
sung, what everyone does and how they do it.
"Stewards and police hardly ever enter the curve as they would
most likely get beaten up. Ultras say if the authorities stay
out the curve, there won't be any problems. Almost all trouble
happens outside the ground anyway, so that's where police tend
to hang around."
Time warp
While Boateng walked off, former Netherlands international Edgar
Davids, who played for both AC Milan and Inter Milan as well as
Juventus, said he felt it was important to show that racist
abuse did not affect him as a player during the many years of
his career he spent in Italy.
"You would have a problem in certain areas," Davids told CNN.
"But you are a professional, you have an obligation to your
team. My opinion was I'm a professional and the smartest way is
to play so good that you make them even angrier.
"It is also about ignorance, a fear of the unknown. If you are
interested in different cultures, it's normal.
"If you're not, you don't understand that concept. It is not
only in Italy and it is not the whole of Italy. It was only
certain teams you played, but 80-90% I didn't have a problem in
Italy," added Davids, though Valeri's analysis suggests the
problem is much more widespread.
Yadda yadda yadda. Liberal whining and bullshit.
Remember during the course of all this, the niggers are calling
each other nigger, but don't any of the rest of you call them
nigger. That's racist.
Tell you what Italy, we'll trade you our nigger problem for
yours. You take Obama, we'll take your nigger loving liberals
who are crying racism. We got plenty of building construction
where they'll never be found.