The Archive

In the light of recent events, Italy will introduce a stewarding system. Matthew Barker reports on how a new approach to stadium management, imposed from above, will impact on the game

The day after Manchester United’s Champions League quarter-final first leg in Rome, a series of crowd-control measures were announced by the Italian government. Central to these new laws, drawn up in the wake of the riots in Catania and the death of police officer Filippo Raciti, is the introduction of a stewarding system, modelled on the British matchday experience.

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Hooliganism in the city that is hosting the Champions League final is getting worse. Unfortunately, as Paul Pomonis reports, government action seems sure to be ineffective

Speaking in the aftermath of the police death in Sicily in February, Giorgios Orfanos, Greece’s minister for sport, unfavourably compared the measures the Italian government had just announced with his own anti-hooligan policies. “Our decisions have been much more radical than a league shutdown. As a result, football-related violence in Greece cannot even compare with what is going on in Italy,” he said, adding: “For the last three years the number of sport-related violent incidents has been dropping… We have an ongoing problem and we’re dealing with it aggressively.”

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Tottenham fans seemed to be enjoying their trip to Andalusia when the policing suddenly turned nasty. Steve Davies was there and tries to understand why the situation took a turn for the worse

“Why are the police hitting people who haven’t done anything?” asked my seven-year-old son, who I had taken to Seville to see Spurs.

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Five years ago a brand new stadium arrived in Darlington, even if Faustino Asprilla didn’t. This visit of play-off contenders to play-off hopefuls reveals a lot about life in League Division Two. Ian Plenderleith was there too

South Korea and Portugal built a number of stadiums for major international football tournaments that now sit underused and half-empty on match days, but at least they had their World Cup and Euro days in the sun. In Darlington, the 25,000-seat 96.6 TFM Arena has never been full to capacity and it probably never will be. It’s destined to spend its days under the eternal grey clouds of ­England’s fourth division.

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Football in Mexico has recently enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with another great national passion. This is now under severe threat. Martin del Palacio Langer explains

When, in March, the International Board – FIFA’s rule making body – banned players from wearing masks during matches, the footballing world barely batted an eyelid. After all, only a couple of players had ever done it in international matches, notably Ecuadorian Iván Kaviedes at the 2006 World Cup.

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