Euroscene/Paddy Agnew: Not for the first time this year, grizzly off-the-field events stole the Italian limelight last weekend. The death yesterday of 19-year-old Napoli fan Sergio Ercolano following violence at a second division derby game between Avellino and Napoli on Saturday night, has again pointed a finger at the organisational and managerial shortcomings of Italian football's ruling elite.
The trouble at this Campana derby began at about 8 p.m. on Saturday when nine or 10 bus loads of Napoli fans arrived outside Avellino's stadium. Within minutes, it seems, street warfare had broken out as the newly-arrived, ticketless fans attempted to break through police lines in order to gain access to the stadium's Curva Nord or North End.
According to Avellino police chief, Enzo Papa, the police on duty outside the Curva Nord found themselves attacked from front and rear with the newly arrived Napoli fans being helped by their "brethren" inside the ground: "From inside the ground fans started throwing bits of tubing and taps ripped out of the toilets to make it easier for the guys outside without tickets to get in," Papa later told reporters.
One group of ticketless fans managed to scale the stadium wall. Once on top of the wall, they jumped 10 feet onto a plastic roof and from there slid down into the stadium proper.
Sergio Ercolano was the unlucky one among them. When he jumped from the arena wall, the plexiglass roof gave way below him and he fell a further 30 feet to a corridor below, suffering fatal injuries. An ambulance was summoned. However, in the confusion, police and paramedics found it difficult to identify where Ercolano had fallen. He had ended up in a corridor leading to a public gym, used on non-match days but always closed and locked on match days.
Furious at the delayed arrival of the ambulance, a small section of the Napoli fans burst onto the pitch. Having taken advantage that a gate had been opened to allow the ambulance enter, they rampaged across the pitch driving the outnumbered police ahead of them. The police were forced to scamper down the tunnel leading to the underground dressing-rooms, pulling the overhead door shut.
All of this latter rampage was picked up by the TV cameras and subsequently reviewed many times on national television. In particular, it was noted how many of the fans were armed with bars and pipes and were also wearing balaclavas. More than one commentator also highlighted how the "fans" surrounded one portly policeman, beating him with bars. In the end, 34 policemen had to be treated for injuries.
While the Ercolano family mourns the death of a son, Italian football is again left with more questions than answers. How come bus loads of Napoli fans were allowed to travel to the game without tickets? Given they were on an organised outing, why were they not stopped by police before leaving Naples?
Was the decision to sell some match tickets at Avellino on the night a contributory factor to the violence? What sort of "fan" goes to a football match with bars and a balaclava? Is the deputy Mayor of Avellino, Antonio Gengaro, correct when he accuses the Avellino club of having sold more than the allowed quota of tickets, putting 35,000 tickets up for sale in a stadium with a safety capacity of 26,500? Is this latest incident linked to a systematic attempt by right-wing extremist groups to infiltrate Italian fan clubs, a phenomenon recently denounced by Italian Secret Services?
These are some of the questions to which there are, as yet, no answers. The match was suspended. Not that everyone present in the ground knew of the suspension, given the "fans" had destroyed the stadium's public address system.
