Something you will never see in big time US sports

[wilheim]

Italian team ordered to play without fans



[size=-1]By Associated Press, 12/10/2004 15:58 [/size]

<WIRE_BODY>NYON, Switzerland (AP) The Italian team Lazio was ordered Friday to play its next European game without fans as punishment for a game last month marked by racial taunts from the stands.

This is the third time Lazio has been punished for racial misconduct, European soccer's governing body said.

Lazio already has been eliminated from the UEFA Cup. The ban will apply when the club next qualifies for a European competition, UEFA said.

In last month's game against Partizan Belgrade, fans taunted Partizan's Pierre Boya, a striker from Cameroon who scored twice in the 2-2 tie. The fans clashed with police, ignited flares and threw objects during the Nov. 25 UEFA Cup game in Rome.

Partizan Belgrade was fined nearly $7,000 for the conduct of its fans, who also threw flares during the game.

UEFA also fined Real Madrid nearly $13,000 for racial taunts by its fans during the Spanish club's Nov. 23 Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen. Real's fans taunted the German team's black players and some were seen on camera making Nazi salutes.

</WIRE_BODY>wil.

 

[winbet]

Give it time, you are way behind.

 

[charleslanger]

Similar punishment was just meted out to Roma during the Champions League-- the umpire was hit with a coin thrown from the crowd-- all the rest of their home games in the tourney were mandated to be played in an empty stadium.

 

[WildBill]

This is nothing new, has been happening for years around the world in soccer. Fans in other country think nothing of physically harming other players and referees. Throwing batteries seems to be a favorite. Rest of the world makes Raider Nation seem very tame I think.

 

[wilheim]

My point is that regardless what happens between fans and players no big time US team will never stage on purpose a real league game (that counts) in an empty stadium.



wil.

 

[BaseballGuy]

My point is that regardless what happens between fans and players no big time US team will never stage on purpose a real league game (that counts) in an empty stadium.



wil.

Why would they?

Fans are the reason the games happen in the first place. In these soccer games do they not pay the players for that particular game?

 

[wilheim]

It's about ownership sacrificing a box office to do the right thing for once. Who suffers when no tickets are sold? The fans get way out of hand, the next game is played in an empty stadium the players still get paid. Can anyone ever see this happening in the NBA, NHL or MLB?



wil.

 

[charleslanger]

Do our fans get so far out of hand that we need to consider this? As WildBill says, that incident was very tame.

South of our border they're gross & murderous: fans fill plastic bags & balloons with urine-- everybody gets slimed. Umpires, opposing players & fans get killed, their houses torched...

 

[winbet]

Wilhiem,

You probably know already but the soccer problem has been going for donkey's years. The ruling body could not eleviate the situation so they put the onus on the individual clubs to clean up the problem, which to a degree they have. Because of the success of this, anytime something crops up, they go back to it. The US authorities would have no problem going down the same road.

 

[winbet]

If you are thinking violence in English soccer is a fad, check this.

http://www.nominated.homestead.com/MAIN.html

 

[winkyduck]

when i was a teen (was i really a teen?) - mom and dad took me and my bro/sis (3 years younger) to england - but told us NO WAY would they take us to a soccer game because of the violence in the stands.

the people at soccer games in england are almost as ugly as Teddy KGB!

 

[Teddykgb]

pay backs a bithch PAL!!!!

 

[winbet]

new game, Soccer-Polo

 

[WildBill]

Playing in front of an empty stadium often is a forced financial penalty on the team's owners as well as fans. The players are always paid for the game, but the owners have to deal with the financial consequences as an incentive to get better security. That is why I think the best penalty in the messy Pistons-Pacers situation would have been to penalize the Pistons by forcing them to leave some area empty as a penalty for horrible security. Wil is right in the current situation the leagues would never do that to a team for financial reasons, but if the situation was as bad as it is internationally I wouldn't be surprised if the leagues did it as a last resort.