Roma
will have to shut down part of their stadium for one game next season after the
club's supporters repeated racist chants about Mario Balotelli.
The
Serie A side reacted by vowing to ban anyone identified with the songs.
Roma
were fined £42,400 after the game against Balotelli's AC Milan was halted and
restarted on 12 May.
After
the striker was the target of more racial abuse in Sunday's game with Napoli,
the south stand of Roma's ground will be temporarily closed.
"What
occurred Sunday night is appalling and unacceptable. AS Roma does not want
those individuals [who are] responsible as fans," the club said in a
statement.
"The
actions of this small group are hateful and also hurt our club and our loyal
law-abiding supporters.
"We
have not yet received a detailed report from the league or federation but will
continue to work with them and law enforcement to ensure that everything
possible is done to identify and ban those involved from football stadia."
As
well as having to shut the Curva Sud section for one game at the start of next
season, Roma have been issued with another 50,000 euros (£42,400) fine.
That
8,486-capacity Curva Sud part of Stadio Olimpico houses the club's most
hardcore fans - called 'Ultras'.
Roma's
partial stadium closure does not apply to Sunday's Coppa Italia derby at the
ground with neighbours Lazio.
Balotelli's
former club Inter Milan was also punished with a 50,000 euros fine - but no stadium ban - after their fans
abused him in their 5-2 defeat at Udinese on Sunday.
In
February, Inter were fined the same amount
for singing offensive songs about the Italy international during the
Milan derby.
Balotelli
was one of three black players the Italian football authorities declared had
been victimised after play in the 0-0 draw between Milan and Roma was stopped
for about two minutes.
Despite
both Roma and Napoli players wearing anti-racism T-shirts while warming up
before last weekend's 2-1 win for the hosts, the chants reoccurred after news
filtered through to the Olimpico crowd that Balotelli had scored a late penalty
in Milan's 2-1 victory at Siena which helped secure the club's Champions League
qualifying place.
Last
week, Balotelli - who has scored 12 goals in 13 appearances since joining from Manchester City in January
- threatened to walk off the pitch if he is ever again subjected to racist
abuse from fans.
"If
it happens one more time, I'm going to leave the pitch, because it's so
stupid," the Italy international told CNN.
"I
always said if it happens in the stadium, I would just behave as if nobody had
done anything and that I don't care, but now I think I've changed my mind a
bit."
There
have been a number of other incidents this season involving racial abuse of AC
Milan's players.
A
January friendly between Milan and Pro Patria was suspended because of racist
chants aimed at Kevin-Prince Boateng.
And
in April, champions Juventus were fined 30,000 euros (£25,000) after their
supporters racially abused AC Milan players.
No comments:
Post a Comment