Search: ' Catania'

Despite the big-name signings, native players have always been the majority in Serie A, thanks in part to a highly developed youth structure. Matthew Barker reports on how “chicks” grow into “cadets”

The recent press panic that foreign players “as young as 16” were joining Premier League squads and enjoying the benefits of youth-team set-ups at the expense of home-grown talent was a little misleading. Certainly compared with their English counterparts, the average Italian 16-year-old will have been part of a centralised, dedicated training programme for at least four or five years, and many will already be fairly attuned to the notion of being a professional footballer. Foreign imports, particularly South American, may still feature prominently in the upper echelons of the Italian game, but last season 73 per cent of players in Serie A were home-grown, nearly twice the number in the Premier League.

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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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Chris Taylor went to listen to a player with radical views on Italian football culture

A lecture called “Money, Politics and Violence: does Italian football have a future?” doesn’t sound a barrel of laughs. As one of the speakers, John Foot, author of Calcio, A History of Italian Football, once wrote: “Calcio is a stinking corpse riddled with maggots.” Foot now admits his outlook, written following the death of a policeman in Catania, was a little pessimistic. Now he compares the game to American televised wrestling – “violent, over-the-top, hysterical and fake” – but he still feels that it has a bright future.

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Friday 2 All league football in Italy is suspended after the death of a policeman in a riot outside Catania’s stadium during their match with Palermo. “What we’re witnessing has nothing to do with football, so Italian football is stopping,” says Federation boss Luca Pancalli.

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As well as being involved in violence, Italian fan groups have been about flags, flares and noise. Pete Green looks at attempts to improve the atmosphere at UK grounds by importing the best of ultra culture

“It’s not about copying the nutters in Italy,” insisted one supporter as a Leicester message board recently heated up over the formation of a local ultras group. Those involved may be quick to dissociate themselves from the nastier extremes of their counterparts on the European mainland, but with Italian authority figures calling for a more English approach to crowd control after the recent death of police officer Filippo Raciti at the Catania v Palermo derby, it is difficult to miss the irony of UK fans seeking to co-opt a notorious aspect of Italian football culture.

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