I'm confused... when is the match? Today or tomorrow?

I'd love it if we owned San Siro, a stadium originally built for Milan to play in!


...


Kick the losers out!

The game was on Friday, that's when everything happened. No more games were played and calcio is set to resume this coming weekend or even the one after that!

True .. But I think the San Siro is owned by the state and is a public entity. Still I do agree with u Milan should buy the stadium, at least for it's heritage.

In all truth .. Though it is old and suffers problems in the winter .. It still remains one of the most exotic stadiums in the world

Here's how it all started:


As long as the Merda stay out of it, there won't be any problems!

Thanx ...

Yeah .. but I doubt the merda will stay out of it .. It's owned by the council now .. So it's a public property; unless Silvio intervenes .. We will still share it with them I'm afraid

The games will probably start by next week and only the clubs that play in stadiums that aren't up to code will have their fans banned for a certain ammount of games.

This is what coming out now from the media.

I hope this turns out to be the case

Which ever way it turns out .. Calcio must commence; there r multimillions on the line, if the Calcio postpones any further. Huge losses will follow and that wont help Galliani balance his book

I predict by next weekend .. (Damn I miss Milan sooooooo much )

yeah this is very bad some one died just cuz of football oooh now come on that is just not cool

and the poor guy has a family *~*

I saw in the news right now, that now only particular fans are allowed to go into the stadiums...
but they didn't say when the matches will start

Big articles all over the Italian media in the last few minutes. Games could resume this coming weekend (depends on the results of a Wednesday meeting), but it sounds like stadiums that don't meet safety standards per the Pisanu Decree will remain closed (ie, teams that play there play to empty stadiums). [note: the San Siro does not fully comply with the Pisanu Decree measures]. Also included in discussion: banning the selling of blocks of tickets to away fans.

Hopefully Portugal or someone whose Italian is better than mine can clarify the translations.

Here's a link:

Gazzetta Article

I thought the San Siro met all the criteria?????

Anyway, from the BBC:


Italian fans face stadium lockout

Palermo supporters standing in glare of burning flare
Increasingly, some fans are said to be attending to fight not watch
Italy's football stadiums will not re-open to fans until safety standards are met and security improved, Interior Minister Giuliano Amato has said.

Speaking after emergency talks, Mr Amato said tougher sentences for hooligans would also be introduced and legal cases processed much faster.

The planned measures will be discussed by Italy's cabinet on Wednesday.

All football matches in Italy were suspended indefinitely on Friday after a policeman was killed by rioting fans.

"Only those stadia that meet the security norms will re-open to the fans. The other stadia will be used to play in but without fans until they meet guidelines," Mr Amato said after his emergency meeting with Italian football federation officials.


In stadia like that of Catania I will not admit anyone, I am firm on this
Interior Minister Giuliano Amato
"In stadia like that of Catania [where the policeman was killed] I will not admit anyone, I am firm on this."

According to Luigi Scotti, undersecretary at the justice ministry, only five stadiums currently meet the necessary safety regulations.

The five are reported to be Rome's Stadio Olimpico, Sienna's Artemio Franchi, the Stadio Olimpico in Turin, Renzo Barbera in Palermo and Bologna's Renato Dall'Ara.

The head of Italy's football federation, Luca Pancalli, has said that no decision on when matches should resume will be made before Wednesday's cabinet meeting.

'Unacceptable' comments

Earlier on Monday, thousands of people gathered at Catania cathedral in Sicily for the funeral of slain police officer Filippo Raciti.

Crowds watch as policemen carry the coffin of the policeman Filippo Raciti
Crowds clapped as Mr Raciti's coffin was carried to the cathedral
Mr Raciti was killed outside the city's Massimino stadium following a match against a nearby rival team from Palermo.

Although he was initially believed to have died when a homemade bomb was hurled into his vehicle, a post-mortem revealed that a blow from a blunt object caused the injuries which killed him.

A senior Italian football official has said deaths are part of football, a comment condemned as "madness" by Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

In an interview with La Repubblica newspaper on Monday, Antonio Matarrese, the president of Italy's Professional Football League Clubs association, said matches should be allowed to start again.

"Deaths unfortunately form part of this huge movement which is football and which the forces of order are not always able to control," Mr Matarrese was quoted as saying.

"Football should never be stopped. It's the number one rule: football is the industry... do you think there's an industry that would close its factories and not know when they're going to reopen?"


The situation is totally out of control and there are too many and they are too organised
Football fan Gianna d'Avanzo
But Mr Prodi, speaking to reporters on a trip to Luxembourg, said that such a view was "unacceptable".

"I read the unacceptable comments this morning about what happened as if it were something that is inevitable. It's madness," he said.

"It is unacceptable that this incident be considered normal. The Italian government will take all the necessary measures."

The BBC's Christian Fraser in Rome says violence in Italian football has until now been ignored by the government and allowed to fester.

But after Friday's events, our correspondent says, many people are calling for the authorities to look to how British clubs have tackled football hooliganism through the creation of fully seated stadiums, greater use of surveillance cameras and intelligence sharing and strict punishments for anyone involved in violence.

Gianna d'Avanzo, a supporter of Inter Milan football club, told the BBC that the Italian game was falling foul of groups of hooligans who attended matches simply to fight.

"In the stadiums we have young fighters going there, not to see the football matches, but just to start a fight. So the problem is not with all the supporters but with just a part of it, quite violent people, they're just fanatics and mainly young fascists, willing to fight," he said.

He said finance for some supporters' clubs needed to be cut to help curb their activities:

"The situation is totally out of control and there are too many and they are too organised. The only thing would be creating a law that could stop the stream of money going from the club to some supporters so they could stop being so organised and so strong basically."

BBC.co.uk

BBC's article is more or less a translation of the one I was reading. According to Gazzetta, the San Siro doesn't have all the turnstiles installed (that's the only thing missing from the required safety measures. I think. My Italian is NOT fluent).

Ok, thanks

possible resumption of games this weekend. decision to be made on wednesday after the italian f.a. and the government have met.
I hope after this totally disgraceful incident not just milan fans but all fans of calcio can move on to a violence and scandal free remainder of the season, and this summer all fans will be talking about transfers and such things rather than scandals,point deductions
and demotion!
I don't know about others here but i'm sick and tired of all this and just want to get back to the old days when the main topic of conversation was football

I thought the San Siro was ok??

Italy get tough on stadiums

Clubs whose stadiums do not meet the required safety standards will be forced to play games behind closed doors, it has been confirmed.

Italy’s Interior Minister Giuliano Amato underlined that point this evening after crunch talks between government and football officials at Palazzo Chigi on Monday.

“We’ll only re-open stadiums which respond to the necessary safety guarantees,” he stated. “Those that don’t will remain closed.

"We will not allow fans to go into a stadium that does not respect the current safety norms," added Amato.

"In stadiums like that of Catania [where policeman Filippo Raciti died] I will not admit anyone, I am firm on this. That game shouldn't have been played.

"Our current norms are efficient if followed."

At present, only five Serie A arenas meet current safety regulations. However, as many as 10 would be given the green light to stage games if no away fans were permitted entry.

All Italian football was suspended until further notice on Friday after a policeman was killed by rioting Catania fans as they entertained Palermo in a fierce Sicilian derby.

As a result, Amato and a number of key officials met in Rome this evening to introduce new legislation in a bid to eradicate violence from the Italian game.

A number of other measures, which will be discussed in more detail at a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday, were also pondered today.

Amato added that rules would be put into place to stop the block sale of tickets to away fans for games.

Police may also be given the powers to carry out an arrest relating to footballing misdemeanours, without a warrant, 48 hours after the event.

Football stadium banning orders for individuals found guilty of violence at games would also be handed to Under-18s.

Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri, who was also present at the meeting, has revealed that laws may be put in place to rule out any relationship between football clubs and Ultra fan groups.

Italian Football Federation commissioner Luca Pancalli has yet to reveal when the season will resume, but did suggest that the championship could restart as early as Sunday.

“I’ll make a decision on Wednesday after the meeting, but there are the technical conditions in place to play at the end of this week,” he stated.

"I'm optimistic that everyone involved in football will have the maturity to accept the new regulations and will collaborate to redraw the future of Italian football.

"I believe that today we can open a new chapter."

Unfortunately I've never had the priviledge of attending a football match in Italy or in any real footballing nation for that matter. That said, I can tell from just watching on t.v. how essential the fans are to the environment. That is I think the ultras offer some of the appeal to live football matches. Their passion is largely unmatched and having them there seems to me essential. A fear I have is that the penalties will be so severe that they'll sap all the life out of italian football and the banners, chants, (and even the flares), and everything that makes attending a live match that much more exciting and enjoyable will be strangled out.

I'm only speaking as an outside observer who's never been but who's dying to go to a Milan game. This desire isn't based only on my love for the team but also on my fascination with the environment.
Penalties that are too severe will for me, kill a large part of what attending a football match is all about.

opinions?

The flares should definately not be allowed into the stadiums, we've seen first hand the damage they could do. I hav eno problems with the flags and banners because they are part of what make the atmosphere so great.

But we can't play the games behind closed doors!!! Italy have been ignoring the state of their stadiums for god knows how long. Waiting a few more months until summer won't hurt anybody. Besides the problems they have are more social rather then anything else.

Spot on, your Italian is better than you think!

Also read that Milan-Livorno could possibly go ahead at the weekend but behind closed doors. Not official though.

Well said mate, totally agree