Promises to come down hard on the soccer hooligans have so far fallen short, but how many more people need to die before Italy finally deals with a sickness that is killing its favourite sport?
 
On Friday, all professional and amateur soccer championships were suspended until further notice following the death of a policeman after the highly-charged Serie A match between Sicilian rivals Catania and Palermo.

Filippo Raciti died after a home-made bomb was thrown into his car as police officers came under attack from Catania fans outside the Massimino stadium.

Raciti's death follows the murder last Saturday of Ermanno Licursi, a director of Calabria-based amateur team Sammartinese who suffered a brain haemorrhage after being kicked in the face by a fan of rival team Cancellese.

Italy, the home of the World Cup champions, is struggling to contain the violence.

But Italian soccer federation president Luca Pancalli, who was brought in to clean up the sport's image following the Serie A match-fixing scandal, is promising swift and decisive action.

"The suspension will remain in place until sufficient measures have been taken to restore calm," Pancalli said.

"I stand by my decision to call a halt to football. My conscience left me with no other choice.

"Football needs to pull together and make sure incidents like this never happen again."

Italy coach Roberto Donadoni believes hooliganism should have been properly dealt with years ago.

"We don't practice what we preach," said Donadoni whose team's friendly against Romania next Wednesday was also called off.

"We've been talking about these incidents for years and they still keep on happening. Too often we talk too much and now concrete steps must be taken."

Italy's Olympic Committee (CONI), which oversees the activities of all sports federations, are holding an emergency meeting on Sunday while Pancalli will meet Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Monday.

Legislation to try and clamp down on the violence was introduced over a year ago, including named tickets, more CCTV cameras, extra stewards and stringent body searches.

But many clubs have failed to meet the criteria set by the government and the trouble has continued up and down the country every week.

In Italy, many stadiums are owned by the local council and rented out to the clubs, so the clubs are reluctant to spend money on improving security.

Despite being banned, flares, bottles and offensive banners are seen regularly at matches, clear evidence that searches are not being properly carried out.

Some of the security measures have simply moved the trouble outside the stadiums and onto the streets.

Italian soccer has been plagued by violence in recent years.

In March 2004 the Rome derby between Lazio and Roma was abandoned at half-time because of crowd trouble inside and outside the Olympic stadium.

The unrest erupted after a rumour, which later proved to be false, went around that a young Roma fan had been run over and killed by a police car outside the ground.

Later that year Roma fans were once again in the spotlight.

The Champions League match between Roma and Dynamo Kiev was abandoned at half time after Swedish referee Anders Frisk was hit by an object thrown from the crowd.

In April 2005 the Champions League quarterfinal, second leg between Inter and AC Milan was abandoned in the 73rd minute after Inter fans threw dozens of flares onto the San Siro pitch.

One of them struck and injured Milan goalkeeper, Nelson Dida.

Soccer-related violence in Italy has claimed the lives of 12 people since 1962.

Meanwhile, the president of Catania as well as one of his leading officials said Saturday they will quit their posts in the light of the violence.

"I didn't sleep last night (because of the violence) and I decided that I'm going to resign," said president Antonio Pulvirenti who will step down along with director Pietro Lo Monaco.

(China Daily via AFP February 5, 2007)