ITALY: SOCCER/FOOTBALL - San Siro stadium fails to meet safety regulations

Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo could make his debut on Sunday (February 11) in a stadium with no fans as A.C. Milan play Livorno in a stadium deemed by the government not to meet the safety regulations issued in a decree last week to combat soccer hooliganism. The San Siro stadium, home ground for both A.C. Milan and Inter Milan, need to fit more turnstiles, closed-circuit TV and crowd pre-filtering areas before it can open its doors to the public. Frantic work has been underway at the site for the last few days but at best only season-ticket holders would be allowed in the ground, which can contain 87,500 spectators, on Sunday. The Italian government cracked down on safety regulations after a policeman was killed during soccer-related violence in Sicily on February Fans gathered outside the arena on Saturday afternoon (February 10) in the hope of hearing they would soon be allowed in. 'There are extremist fans, normal fans, families and children it is correct that everyone gets to see the match from the extremist fan to these families' said A.C. Milan fan Roberto Manetti. The government has accused clubs of dragging their feet on the restructuring of venues since most of the new safety regulations were introduced in 2005.

ITN Source | February 11, 2007

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