ITALIAN sports minister Giovanna Melandri has called for club football to be halted for several weeks in order to crack down on violence in the sport.
Melandri spoke after a meeting with Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) president Gianni Petrucci and Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Giancarlo Abete in Rome on Monday.
She said: "A decision has to be taken to make a significant gesture.
"I expect the football world to make the right decision, such as halting play for several weeks."
Italian football is in turmoil after 26-year-old disc jockey Gabriele Sandri was shot dead by police trying to deal with fan violence on Sunday at a motorway service station near Arezzo.
“I didn’t look at anything, I didn’t point my gun at anyone. I was at least 200 metres away, how could I have done that?” the unnamed officer told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
“The first shot I fired was in the air and the second was fired when I was running, it was an accident. I know now, this is the end for me.
“I have destroyed two families, that of the man and mine.”
Calls for Italian football suspension
November 12, 2007
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Imagine if these riots would have accured here, UEFA would suspend English clubs straight away. This violence has been going on for years in Italy but UEFA just ignore it like the bribery scandal there. They should now say enough is enough and Ban Italian teams from International comps for 2 years to sort out these problems, if it is still not sorted give them another 2 years. But in reality they will do nothing and say it is a domestic problem, like the Roma Utd police brutality incident.
help - This incident didn't happen during the European Cup, it happened during a Serie A week-end, but yes, it is annoying that our clubs were suspended in the eighties yet Italy, despite it's corruption and hooliganism problems doesn't.
You have to remember that the English clubs were banned in a time when the European Cup wasn't sooooooo popular all over the world and the T.V. deals that U.E.F.A. received were nowhere near as lucrative as they are today.
If they ban all Italian clubs then U.E.F.A. may well lose a fair bit of T.V. revenue from Italian networks, like RAI International.
Also, it may well cause more riots and trouble from the fans, but maybe it has to be done to send the strongest possible message to Italian fuzball.
What happened at the weekend was obviously a tragedy but you can't ban football in a country that provides the current world champions, current ECL holders and where the majority of the worlds greatest players play(and before you start yes I am aware cristiano plays over here and there's messi and a few others in la liga). As a punishment my suggestion would be to demote one of the smaller teams that nobody cares about. And also fine liverpool for the sake of it.