Ultras in Italy fight against the new fan-card

Ultras across the country are fighting against the fan card; the majority of supporters don't agree with it either and several lawyers question some of its terms and conditions: "The fan card has not been welcomed by people attending Italian stadiums. Live football should be a joy, but in a police regime, it's disregarded as a welcome opportunity to gain information, marketing opportunities, etc - it's frustrating for all."

Fan card: what is it?

The fan card will be a plastic card the size of a credit card. Apart from the club's logo and its colours it will have the owner's name and photo on it plus a bar code to store data.

The card will have to be made available by all professional football clubs in Serie A (20 clubs), Serie B (22) and Lega Pro (90), but only to supporters who request it and whose names have been cleared by the local police.

Supporters who have or had been sentenced to stadium bans at any sports event (DASPO) - not just football related will not be able to receive a fan card. The aim is for football clubs to develop "virtuous relationships" with "good supporters" and, in the future, to create fan departments at clubs similar to the Fanabteilungen existent at several German clubs.

From January 2010, season and away tickets can only be bought with the fan card. The system is supposed to facilitate both the purchase of tickets and access to the stadium. Fan card owners won't be affected by imposed attendance limitations based on security issues. (E.g. games supposed to be plaid behind closed doors would be open to fan-card holders).

But the fan card is not just aimed to reduce violence in the stadium but also presented as a marketing tool; able capture supporters data, promote marketing initiatives, develop partnerships (e.g. with national and local rail companies, club sponsors etc). At the same time the card will have a top-up function and could be used for several kinds of payments (e.g. Lega Pro has an agreement with the Telecom). 

However, in order to calm down the negative reaction by supporters to the card, the institutions speak of the fan card as a tool to promote loyalty and a community feeling to fans - "a sense of belonging". But still the fact remains that it is compulsory and people must have it if they want to continue to watch their team play.

National team supporters will also need to apply for a fan card. The President of the Italian Football Association (FIGC) promised the system to be ready for the Italy vs Bulgaria, on the 6^th September, but compliance with this date turned out to be unmanageable.

The story of the fan card and its rules

The fan card is not a very new idea. The project was presented by the National Observatory on Sporting Events. The body responsible for ensuring security at sporting events and assessing the risk of individual games managed by the Home Minister and the football authorities.

Supporters didn't react well to the idea of the fan card, but since the first discussions started two years ago it always seemed that the concept would eventually never become reality. Initially, the card was supposed to be introduced for the 2009/10 season - the initial deadline being 23^rd August, the opening day for all professional leagues. But except the two Milan clubs and some clubs in Lega Pro, the clubs weren't ready. They didn't care since the supporters and especially the Ultras were against it and because of the costs associated with the cards and its administration.

So just a few days ago (on the 14^th of August) the Home Minister, Roberto Maroni, decided to rapidly speed-up the process and signed a directive and a decree containing rules and dates for the introduction of the fan card.

By the 31^st of December, stadiums that can hold more than 7.500 spectators must have specific "lanes", reserved to fan-card owners and their families. There will to be electronic system in place making access to the stadium easy, comfortable and safe.

Starting from the 1^st of January, tickets for away sector fans and seasonal tickets will be sold only to people that own the fan card.

The Minister is ready to prohibit attendance in stadiums where the clubs don't comply with the fan-card rules. "These corrective measures", as the Minister said, have the aim to "overcome the unjustified resistance showed by most clubs today."

It's worth saying that supporters weren't consulted during the preparation of the decree, partly due to the fact that there is no representative national fans organization that could have been consulted. However, the football authorities, the police and club representatives have been involved in the process.

Ultras and supporters' opinion

As already mentioned, the Italian Ultras movement is fighting against the card. In June this year a meeting in Latina was attended by hundreds of Ultras from most professional teams from all over the country, and by a group of lawyers with specific competence in supporters' issues, who are advising Ultras. The final decision was not to accept the fan card but to strongly fight it in a coordinated and nationwide protest.

Once the new deadline for the fan card had been made public, Ultras announced a march in Rome for the 5^th of September, where Ultras from every part of Italy will protest against the fan card. There could be a nationwide supporters strike very soon. In many towns and stadiums "No alla tessera del tifoso" ("No to fan card") has been written on banners and walls. Countless internet pages appeared protesting against the fan card.

The Italian Ultras movement is often weakened by internal differences and political issues, but as soon as all the groups decide to stand together for a greater common goal they can be very strong. The fan card issue seems to have unified the movement: capturing personal data of people and banning "brothers" from the ground are the topics Ultras are most sensitive about.

Supporters that are not part of Ultra groups don't agree with the fan card either opposing the fact that the card would be used to capture personal data, alienating live spectators and encouraging TV spectators. Their position however is not seen as definite and they might accept the fan card in the near future.

The general mood has been worsened by the recent court verdict on the Sandri trial. The policeman who killed Lazio's supporter Gabriele Sandri on his way to an away match was sentenced to only six years imprisonment and the homicide was treated as culpable and not as willful, sparking-off angry reactions in the Ultras movement but also in the public opinion.

Lawyers' opinion

The point about the fan card is that it's not just opposed by Ultras and supporters in general. There are serious issues about rights of freedom (human and citizen rights) pointed out by lawyers with expertise in football supporters related trials, in particular by Lorenzo Contucci, the most famous Italian fans lawyer.

The new rules have to be read in the context of the infamous Amato decree (2007), an emergency regulation introduced after the policeman Raciti's death that forbids any official relationship between football clubs and supporters including Ultra groups that have a violent background. Furthermore, the decree prohibits all choreographic elements such as flags with a certain dimension, banners, megaphones and drums.

The decree also prohibits access to stadia for people sentenced on stadium crimes, which seems understandable if DASPOs and other convictions are still in action. But even for those who have served their sentence (whatever the crime) or those who were cleared of the allegations won't be able to purchase a fan card. In other words, the fan card imposes a lifelong ban on those who have been associated with a sports crime, whether guilty or innocent.  

Furthermore, supporters wanting to apply for the fan card would have to fill in a form (addressed to the local police) in which they have to specify that they're clear of any present convictions, while the new regulations cleary goes much further by also excluding people with previous convictions, which according to Contucci, implicates violations of the law. He points out another violation of the law since it wasn't the parliament which enacted the law but the minister himself.

Contucci suggests two amendments to the new fan-card regulations.

• The judge should be able to decide whether to add a sentence to the DASPO or not.
•  Discharged stadium bans should not affect the possibility to get a fan card.

There's enough to be worried and outraged about, not only for Ultras or supporters, but for all Italian people.

A club owner's opinion

Maurizio Zamparini, owner of the Serie A club Palermo and known mostly for his volcanic temper, is against the fan card. "I'm ashamed I live in this country" he said "Capturing the data of millions of supporters in order to identify 100 troublemakers is absurd and kills our personal freedom. Instead we would need quick trials and real punishment for people that commit crimes inside stadiums, like in the Thatcher period in England." He also said that thanks to the fact that Sicily is a special law region; his club Palermo will have a police free stadium (only private security) and specific severe punishments for troublemakers.

For more information about the "no alla tessera de tifoso" campaign including images and banners go to http://www.asromaultras.it/tesseradeltifoso.html.

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