The derby between AS Roma and
Lazio should be played at noon on Sunday from now on to avert
the kind of trouble that marred Monday's 2-1 win by Roma, the
interior ministry said Tuesday.
Two Roma fans were stabbed and there were violent
incidents before and after the match, which Roma won 2-1 to seal
second place in Serie A and direct entry to the group stage of
next season's Champions League.
"If this is what has to be for security reasons, then
that's what will happen," said Maurizio Beretta, the president
of the Serie A League.
"The institutions will decide. Obviously, it would be a
defeat for the whole system, a defeat that we have to learn from
and work to change the conditions".
Monday's trouble was just the latest in a long string of
shameful incidents to overshadow the derby.
These include the 1979 death of Lazio fan Vincenzo
Paparelli, after he was hit by a flare fired by a Roma fan, and
a match in 2004 that was abandoned due to fan threats of a riot
over mistaken reports that a boy had been killed by police.
Games played earlier in the day are considered easier to
police and holding a game on Sunday limits the disruption caused
to Rome, given that security measures mean that certain parts of
the city need to be closed off to traffic.
The authorities are also worried about an "international
escalation of violent fandom" after Polish, Bulgarian, Greek and
English groups of fans twinned with far-right Lazio supporters
attended Monday's match.
The English were supporters of London club West Ham
United, who have been repeatedly linked to hooliganism in the
past.
Six members of Polish club Wisla Krakow's Sharks group,
considered among the most dangerous in Europe, were found with
arms on the night before and sent home and around 50 more stood
with Lazio supporters during the derby.
Some were photographed making Fascist salutes.
The Bulgarian and Greek authorities alerted Rome to the
presence of their hooligans too.
"This phenomenon has been taking place for years,"
interior ministry sources said.
"Italians go abroad too and it happens on a smaller scale
between Italian cities.
"It's been on the rise of late".
National Police Chief Alessandro Pansa argued the
authorities were not getting full cooperation from the clubs.
Sources said the interior ministry had picked up on the
fact that somehow around 400 Roma fans had tickets for a part of
the ground allocated to Lazio fans, and their presence led to
scuffles.
Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi directing his middle
fingers at Lazio fans at the end of the game was also seen as a
potentially inflammatory gesture.
"The clubs all cooperate when it comes to statements, but
they don't all when it comes to actions," Pansa said.
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