Police fail football as 7 Manchester United fans are stabbed in Rome
Once again Rome was burning and once again the Manchester United fans were enveloped in it. Although the security alert in the Italian city was heightened to Category A, considered as a high risk level, the police forces still failed to control the fighting that broke out between Man United and AS Roma supporters just before the two sides’ UEFA Champions League fixture in the Stadio Olimpico.
The trouble commenced outside the stadium about an hour before the match was supposed to begin when around 50 Roma and Man United supporters stared throwing tables and bottles at each other. Although it is still not clear which set of fans kindled the trouble (and indeed in such matters the instigators are often shielded somehow), no one doubts which club’s fans were affected the most.
7 Manchester United fans were stabbed and all have been taken to hospital. Their conditions, although not life-threatening, are critical as they have lost quite a lot blood from the backside, the portion where the Roma supporters stabbed them. One Roma fan too has been stabbed as some reports state.
This is what the British embassy officially stated about the gruesome incident:
Seven Manchester United supporters were taken to hospital after fighting broke out on the bridge, which fans cross over the river to get to the stadium. Five are receiving treatment for stab wounds while two others, one whom was a 16-year-old boy, were understood to be drunk.
Last season too a similar incident occurred in Rome ahead of the two sides’ clash in the Champions League quarter-final first leg tie in the same venue when 11 Manchester United supporters were hospitalized. This time though with heightened police forces and deployment of more vigilant guards, things were expected to be under control but Wednesday night’s appalling incident has proved once more that there is a lot to be done.
Violence in Italian football is not uncommon and the Italian football federation has somehow been crippled in tackling the issue. UEFA too has tried its best to clampdown on violence in Italian football but it too has failed to stern the situation. Wednesday night’s incident is another stark reminder that Italian football is still trapped in a mess and more needs to be done to save it from worsening.
7 Manchester United fans hospitalised.
Last time round, 11 Manchester United fans were hospitalised.
Even before that, 1 Middlesbrough fan was killed.
When will UEFA do something about it? I feel the time has maybe come to ban European football in Italy – if fans are being wounded or worse in this volume of games, surely its safer to play the match behind closed doors at a neutral venue?
Or throw Italian teams out of the competition. Its disgraceful that UEFA have done absolutely nothing about any of this.
It’s a shame that a few psychopathic people can ruin it for the rest, but it’s my feeling that something will have to be done. We’re talking about the lives of these fans, and at some point more will be lost.
It’s obvious that police in Rome cannot control these Ultras, even though they are very much on alert. But if they can’t be controlled, they shouldn’t be allowed near the venue. The only way to avoid that is to play the game in a different country with no people on the stands. My suggestion is: move Roma’s games to somewhere in Scandinavia.
the bitterness of the roma fans clearly shines through. the entire game i tried to figure out if man u was just playing very well or is roma just utter shit.
i’m sorry 4 the fans n their families. saf repeatedly tells them not 2 go there, though…
Hardly fair to blame the police, they themselves have lost colleagues to football violence in the last couple of years and can hardly be expected to control the large number of ultras that attend every game.
The Italian Government, the Italian FA and the clubs themselves all need to put a scheme in place to limit the number of ultras that are in and around the stadium on match day. It will certainly not be easy and will most likely take a few years to be truly effective, but something does have to be done about it, sooner rather than later.
I don’t blame the police, I blame the Ultras. All I’m saying is that the police in Rome are unable to control these people, which is obvious, since it happens over and over again. And until something is done about it, AS Roma should either be thrown out of European competitions or play their home games at a neutral field.
Typical Roma fans…retards!
We, AC, and Juventus if they qualify next season may suffer from these idiotic actions. I know we fucked it up a few seasons ago but we haven’t since, and have learned.
An appropriate punishment would be to kick Roma out of the CL.
Ban Roma from taking part in any Footballing competitions untill they learn how to behave. That includes Serie A. They wanted revenge over the 7-1 loss and this is what the fans are doing. Pathetic. They seriously need to grow up. Their does not know how to fight on the field by getting good results so the fans take it into their own hands. What a bunch of uneducated animals who are such pussies they cannot even fight with thier fists so they use knives haha! No respect for people like them and for a team whos captain Totti spits on other players.