Bologna

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Your mate is right. That is a big fixture and harder, if not impossible, to secure a ticket on matchday.

The reason you're not allowed lighters or any other "worthless" objects is to prevent you from throwing them. Put your lighter in your shoe. Don't carry anything you don't want confiscated cos it might happen when entering the ground. Yoy can buy tickets in Milan here (from their offical site). New sales point: Box office, Feltrinelli Books and Music, Piazza Piemonte 2, Milan. Box office open 11:00-14:30; 15:30-19:00 from Monday to Saturday. Just to confirm that Napoli fans are banned from this fixture so you will have absolutely no problem getting a ticket on the day of the match even. However I suggest you go to the address above, before matchday though, to ensure hassle-free queueing and ticket purchase. Forza Bologna

You will need ID as each ticket has to be matched to a person i.e. 4 tickets means 4 different passports. You also have to have the ID that you use to buy the ticket with you at the match. I would imagine you'll be able to get tickets no problem. The game is on the 6th (Saturday) if you didn't know. Link: http://www.lega-calcio.it/ita/atim_calendario.shtml

It's been the English Premier League for a couple of seasons now. Why? Becasue The Premiership is a crap name for a footy tournament and is also the position held by the Prime Minister.

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That is very true. All Italian fans that have also watched their team away from home hate the police. Why? Becasue the police always exclusively wade in with the visiting fans. Kev's description of "thugs in uniform" is used by many over here. When the copper was killed in Catania one of the striking things was that the authorities can't, or perhaps don't want to, undertstand why the police come in for such vitriol and physical violence from the tifosi.

From what people have said here about Rome in 1984, it would seem so yes. I've only been living here since 1994.

The stadium improvements are required by legislation from 2 years ago. They love making laws here which are either inapplicable or just don't get applied for whatever reason. This is mainly due to the fact that most things in Italian society involve style over substance. Need some new legislation? Let's have a load of demagogery and posturing, pass some laws but not implement them because it's not practical to do so. A good example is the new drugs laws that came in at the end of Berlusconi's govt. If you now possess more than half a gram of grass/hash you are considered a dealer. I mean how ridiculous. Not only because it's a complete waste of time and money to prosecute people for possession but also because who on earth buys half a gram of smoke? It's like about 4 joints. Given that the improvements required by the new footy laws were not implemented, the local police chiefs used to grant an ad hoc safety certificate for each match thus the ground improvements didn't have to be made. After the Catania incident the aurthorities suddenly stood up and took notice and forced through the improvements by closing stadia until the work was/is complete. I find it disturbing that until it was only fans that were dying no-one cared but as soon as a copper died all hell broke loose. The issue of not applying the legislation originally arose becasue the grounds are not owned by the clubs so there was squabbling over who was going to pay. I'm using the term improvements but essentially all that's happened is that electronic turnstiles have been installed. Stadia are "all-seater" but all this means is a crappy bit of plastic on a concrete terrace which remains to all intents and purposes a terrace. The ground are as decrepit as ever. Tickets are now "personal" and have your name on. You are supposed to sit in the seat on your ticket but in the curves no-one does. Why? Because there's no-one making people do so. Again they make laws which are inapplicable or not applied. As for the police, well as I said earlier in the thread, what they did last night was par for the course. Curve areas for the home fans are essentially no-go areas for the police, although of course nobody ever admits this. The away section, regardless of whatever fixed barriers exist, is always bordered by police in riot gear who stand on the away side af any barriers. The police nearly always wade in exclusively amongst the away fans whatever their degree of reposnsibility for any aggro. The frightening aspect is that these police tactics aren't even questioned in the media, parliament, etc. It's seen as normal; do nothing or wade in. I was speaking with a sociology professor from Bologna Uni at a seminar a couple of years back and I asked why the bellicose approach from the police? His reply was that these tactics were adopted to police English fans at Italia 90, viewed as a success and therefore implemented across the board. Another aspect is the Roma fans themselves. I hate to generalise but the Romans have an arrogance about them born of their time controlling the known world. !0,000 of them regularly turn up at an away game when their allocation is only, say 4000. The police would rather have them inside the ground than roaming the streets so they let them in. Thus they get way with it and repeat their actions at a later date. This is another aspct of Italian society; impunity. So many people go unpunished for various misdemeanours. I'm convinced it's a catholic thing. Been a naughty boy? Say a few hail mary's and they'll let you off. The last away game I went to in Italy was us against Roma in the 2001 UEFA Cup. It's 99.9% certain that was my last ever game at an away ground in the bel paese. Hope this helps.

I live there. Nil. There's a Brescia fan who's been in a coma for 18 months having been on the receiving end of *robust* policing. There hasn't even been an internal police enquiry.

Absoulutely spot on. Fans of all clubs in Italy sing a nice little ditty describing this very scenario which goes like this: Lo sbirro è l'animale più feroce che c'è Quando indossa la divisa un leone è Ma nella vita sai che uomo è? Di merda! Rough translation: Cops are the most vicious animals In their unifoms they act like lions But do you know what they are in normal life? s***

Exactly. Another way of looking at it is that the forces of law and order in Italy are weak with the powerful and powerful with the weak. Translated to a footy scenario this means that they'd rather deal in an OTT manner with the away fans than give the home fans a taste of what they deserve to avoid the risk of sparking a city-wide riot i.e. it's easier to control 4000 away fans than 60000 home ones

I was in Rome when we played them in the UEFA cup in 2001. I got chatting with a bar owner and he said it's like this (stabbings, general mayhem) every time a European match takes place. Althougn I get the impression they save their *best* for the English cos our reputation (however inaccurate that may have become now) precedes us.

I'd go one further and say a fair proportion of Italian cops are failed delinquents itching for a ruck like last night. The Italian police do not have the skills or training to control large crowds. They only have two levels in their modus operandi: A - do nothing B - wade in with all guns blazing Last night was like a script, I've seen it happen so many times in Italy. 1 - home fans goad away fans 2 - away fans respond 3 - police attack away fans

The 2 sports bars I mentioned are Locos por el Futbol and World Sports Cafe. They are both in Recoleta near the famous cemetery where Eva Peron is buried. The former is on a sort of square which borders the cemetery. The latter is on a side street, also bordering the cemetery, at 1 end of the square. I don't know if you've been to BA before but 2 pieces of advice: 1) Don't get in a taxi unless you've had a large drink beforehand. The driving makes Naples seem like a country village. 2) BBQ beef is the main fodder but watch out because side dishes e.g. chips and salad must be ordered separately and cost as much as the meat.

I was there in Novemeber 2001. There are a couple of sports bars in Recoleta but I can't remember their names. The Barcelona games were on TV cos my mate who lives there rang me the day after the return leg to tell me he'd seen the match. If you're in a decent hotel you may well have the sports channels there.

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