© EuroFootball.com
The "Serie A" and "Serie B" championships in Italy have been stopped and at least this weekend they will most likely not take place. This decision was made by the country's football officials after the events of Friday evening in the Sicilian city of Catania, where during a local derby between "Catania" and "Palermo" riots broke out and a police officer died outside the stadium.
"We will soon form a commission to discuss the sports and political situation that has arisen. It is impossible to continue under such circumstances. If football is like this, then I stop everything," said Luca Pancalli, the president of the Italian Football Federation.
The 22nd round match of "Serie A", which was [link="http://www.eurofootball.com/index.php?page=news&id=8648"]won 2-1 by "Palermo" as the away team[/link], was interrupted in the 57th minute due to incidents in the stadium and tear gas spreading onto the field. After a half-hour delay, the tense match was resumed, but after it ended, the situation worsened even further at the entrances of the "Massimino" stadium.
A large group of "Catania" fans clashed with the police and one officer, 38-year-old Filippo Raciti, was killed when he was hit in the face by a homemade explosive. After the riots, more than a hundred people ended up in the local Garibaldi hospital, although reports say that none of them are in life-threatening condition.
The host of the match, President of "Catania" club Antonio Pulvirenti blamed "Palermo" fans for the riots. It is believed that they arrived late for the second half due to problems with their bus, and then the two groups of fans began to throw various objects at each other.
"They were well organized and came here to cause trouble. We feel unfairly punished and we will appeal the result, we will try to have it annulled. We have been punished before for less serious things, and now we demand the same treatment. I was on the field and if you look closely, you can see that the tear gas came from the tribune where only "Palermo" fans were. The officers saw what happened and will take action," said A. Pulvirenti.
Meanwhile, "Catania" director Pietro Lo Monaco, who reported the death of the police officer, was shocked: "Law enforcement officials informed us from the hospital that a policeman died due to the riots. I have loved football my whole life and now I can no longer see myself in this sport. After this news, I will leave football, it's not for me anymore. This is not football, it's not football, it's not football."
The rival club's director and "Palermo" coach Francesco Guidolinas agreed: "We won the match on the field, although maybe we should say two matches, because there was a 30-minute break, but we cannot rejoice in this victory. This cannot continue in football. There will be no joy, there is no meaning."
"I don't know who started everything, but we saw everything already when we arrived in Catania. On the way to the hotel and back we were escorted by 50 police officers, as if in a war zone. I was on the team bus, which was pelted with eggs, vegetables, and stones. In the 21st century, there simply cannot be such uncivilized behavior," added the coach.
Tragic events in Italy repeat just a week after the end of the fourth "Serie D" division match, where the director of the amateur club "Sanmartinese" from Calabria, Ermanno Licursi, was killed in clashes with players from "Cancellese". At that time, only the amateur league matches were suspended, but now a similar scenario forced the Italian Football Federation to do the same with "Serie A," "Serie B," "Serie C," and youth championships.
