ITALY: SOCCER/FOOTBALL - Cabinet approves a tough anti-hooligan plan to combat soccer violence

Italy's cabinet on Wednesday (February 7) brushed aside resistance by football clubs to approve a tough set of measures to tackle hooliganism at football stadiums. Under the measures, which follow the death of a policeman during rioting at a soccer match last week, stadiums which are not in line with security regulations will remain closed to fans. "In the decree (...) it is explicitly said that matches in stadiums which are not in line with regulations will be played behind closed doors" said deputy Interior Minister Marco Minniti at the news conference held after the cabinet meeting. Other measures include a ban of the block sale of tickets to away fans, a beefing-up of stadium bans for those involved in violence at football grounds to include under 18s, and a prohibition of financial or working relationships between clubs and fan associations. "Today we have decided security comes before everything else," said Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri. ".....we want security for the families, for our citizens, for the fans and also for the police who are called on every Saturday and Sunday to allow people to watch in peace these soccer matches." The presidents of clubs in the top two divisions Serie A and Serie B will meet to discuss the anti-hooligan plan at a meeting of the Italian Football League on Thursday (February 8). Only four grounds in Serie A -- Rome's Olympic Stadium, Palermo's Barbera stadium, Turin's Olympic Stadium and the Artemio Franchi stadium in Siena -- meet the regulations. The rest, including Milan's San Siro stadium -- home to AC Milan and Inter Milan -- require varying degrees of work to bring them up to scratch.

ITN Source | February 9, 2007

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