Un appello ai signori dell’UEFA
Is Italy ready to host the European Football Championships in 2012?
Italian football has been making headlines on national and international newspapers for years now. But not for what happens on the field.
Among the most known scandals of the last few years… passports forged to disguise foreign players as European, bankruptcies of several top tier teams, players betting on their own matches (twenty years later, again). Finally, in 2006, “Calciopoli”, the scandal of scandals, involving many top teams – among which Milan, Juventus and Lazio – and bringing Juventus to relegation and a penalty of 17 points (promptly reduced to 9 after a few months). In the meantime, Juventus had already been involved in the use of illegal drugs for doping – there was no punishment only because the time allowed for trial had expired.
And then, rankings and relegations decided in tribunals rather than by playing, the scandal of phone calls by team managers to direct referees, the scandal of the GEA, a company of player agents owned by sons of politicians, bankers and football managers, that controlled the careers of hundreds of Serie A players.
Was the World Cup won in Germany enough to clean up the conscience of Italian football from its failures and sins? It seems so, given that Italy is now up for being awarded the Euro 2012 Championships.
In Italy, however, many citizens are disgusted by this. After “Calciopoli”, the attempt to change the trend of corruption and scandals has clearly failed; all seems to change on the surface not to change anything in practice. And the Italian Federation and League shamelessly reappointed their old managers.
Even among fans, there is often no true culture of fair play. Juventus supporters, when the scandal erupted, exposed a banner saying “Il fine giustifica i mezzi” (“The purpose justifies any means”); Palermo supporters once showed banners against laws that hardened the prison regime for Mafia bosses.
In this rotten situation, violence erupts continuously, with frequent riots among fans of different clubs and with the police, with several seriously injured fans per week. Sometimes, it leaves dead people on the ground; the last, a police officer killed on the 3rd of February 2007 in Catania, during the match against Palermo.
Italy is a place where violence is contrasted only after someone dies, and only by laws and practices that are theoretically very hard – even unconstitutional – but have no practical effect. Only a few days ago, the supporters of Manchester United experimented in Rome how violent and ineffective is the Italian police in keeping stadiums peaceful. Italy is a place where there is no prevention, but just useless and random repression.
By awarding to Italy the European Championships, the idle and corrupt policies of the Italian government and football leaders would be supported; not awarding them would finally make everyone in Italy aware that this country does not lack repression, but a true sporting culture.
Moreover, the European Championships in Italy would give way to further corruption in the building of new stadiums and in the other necessary activities, as it already happened for the 1990 World Cup. For example, in Torino strong quarrels have already arisen over the town council’s decision to request public financial assistance to Juventus for the rebuilding of the Delle Alpi stadium. The money for Euro 2012 would surreptitiously fund a few Italian teams, thwarting once again competition among teams in Italy and in Europe.
For all these reasons, we – a group of Italian supporters and citizens that are ashamed of the situation of football in our country – plead your kind support to our request: please, do not award Euro 2012 or any other competition to Italy, as long as there is not a real change of culture and leaders in the Italian football.
Thank you.
