Posted on 12th March 2009
This is a story from the FSF archive – the FSF and SD merged to become the FSA in 2019.
Arsenal’s Champions League victory in Rome last night was marred by reports from Italy that a number of away fans had been attacked by the home team’s support. The story follows depressingly similar lines to previous ones on English fans in Italy. In recent years Manchester United and Middlesbrough fans have been attacked while two Chelsea supporters were reportedly stabbed in Turin on Tuesday.
Early evidence suggests two Arsenal supporters were injured before yesterday’s game when their coach was attacked by Roma fans, one of the travelling supporters was stabbed in the leg. The coach came under fire from stones and flares and Roma supporters managed to force themselves onto the vehicle.
In addition Arsenal and the Metropolitan Police, who sent officers to Rome, revealed that two more fans sustained head injuries in the incident which will do little to allay English fans’ fears of trips to the Stadio Olimpico and Italy in general.
“This is not the first time incidents like these have happened in Rome or Italy and it’s extremely worrying. We’ve heard reports from yesterday of fans being stabbed, the stadium being over capacity in certain sections as well as overtly aggressive policing and stewarding,” said Steve Powell, Arsenal supporter, and director of campaigns and policy at the FSF.
“We call on Uefa to take urgent action in order to protect travelling fans in Italy, and particularly in Rome, a city it looks increasingly likely at least one English team will have to visit for the Champions League final.”
Mark Longden, FSF National Council and IMUSA member, said: “There have been too many incidents to recount in Italy over the past decade, it’s disgraceful.
“You have to ask, what would the authorities response be if these incidents were turned on their head? In recent years English clubs have had to give constant safety warnings to travelling fans. Imagine the outcry if Italian clubs had to do the same for their fans visiting England?”
The FSF is currently pulling together a dossier of Arsenal and Chelsea fans’ experiences in both Rome and Turin to take to the authorities and would encourage travelling supporters to email the FSF with their experiences.
England make the trip to Naples next week for their Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy (Thursday 23th March, 7.45pm GMT). As ever, our Free Lions team have been busy pulling together all available information for matchday supporters ahead of the trip – Free Lions 180 is out now.
The FA, Premier League, EFL, FA Women’s Super League, FA Women’s Championship, PFA, LMA, PGMOL, Kick It Out, Women in Football and the Football Supporters’ Association will unite for a social media boycott from 3pm on Friday 30th April to 11.59pm on Monday 3rd May, in response to the ongoing and sustained discriminatory abuse received online by players and many others connected to football.
The Government took another step towards fixing football governance by committing to create a new independent regulator for English football in today’s Queen’s Speech.
The FA, Premier League and EFL are together introducing new measures and stronger sanctions across the game to tackle the increased anti-social and criminal behaviours recently seen within football grounds and underline the importance of a safe matchday environment.
