The death of a Parma fan yesterday was not the result of violence between rival supporters, the club's president has insisted.

Matteo Bagnaresi was accidentally knocked down and killed by a bus, forcing Parma's match at Juventus to be postponed.

Police said Parma and Juve fans were trading insults at a service station on the way to Turin where the accident happened. Coach driver Siro Spolti, who was transporting Juve fans, did not see Bagnaresi when he set off again to avoid trouble.

Police sources said there was no fighting and Parma President Tommaso Ghirardi was adamant his supporters were not violent.

"There are not fragments of bottles, there is nothing on the ground. I know the Parma lads well, our supporters are correct," he told Gazzetta Dello Sport. "It is not because of fights. I passed the area 20 minutes before and I saw nothing."

Media reports today quoted Spolti and Juve supporters as saying the Parma fans at the service station had threatened them, with some saying bottles were thrown.

The driver is now under investigation.

Media reports said Bagnaresi was a member of an ultra group and had only just been allowed to enter stadiums again after a three-year ban for a previous incident with Juventus fans.

Italy, which has a serious hooligan problem, is again in shock at the death of a football fan.

In November, before the reverse set of fixtures to Sunday's, Lazio fan Gabriele Sandri was shot and killed by a policeman following scuffles with Juve fans at another service station.

The incident, which followed the death a policeman outside a Catania match in February 2007, caused riots and the suspension of the league for a week.

Sunday's death has led to calls for all away travel in Italy to be banned.

Tough restrictions are already in place on visiting supporters following November's trouble and teams are often prevented from not taking fans to high-risk games.

A decision on when the Juve-Parma game will be rearranged is set to be taken later on Monday with April 16th a possible date.