Ultra Awful

February 5 - 2007

I find it difficult to meaningfully process what happened in Italy this weekend mostly because I don’t care for Serie A soccer. The low-pressure defense, the athletic tracks circling the field, the Bermuda grass, the lycra uniforms, the corruption: any of these are deal-breakers, but taken together…well…let’s just say there’s not a league without women playing that holds my interest less.

I will, however, offer this: headlines that advertise “Soccer Violence in Italy!” do the problem a disservice by underselling it. Like what happened in Paris last fall, violence in sport is more often than not a symptom of larger national issues. The relationship between clubs and their supporters is surely fundamental, but to neglect the Italian attitudes towards paternalism, policing, and the general rule of law is to neglect a key component of the problem. Their football is a circus because their country allows it to be a circus.

And until they decide to take significant (read: brutally restricting) measures to solve the problem, they will continue to deal with chaos. And I will continue to ignore it.