Hated and Proud- Ultras Contra Modernity

by Mark Dyal

  Likewise, the Ultras take an oppositional stance to immigration. Clandestine Africans arriving in Lampedusa are the most visible examples in the Italian media. More locally, it is the Roma that have become the symbol of anti-immigrant feeling. However, as I demonstrated above, it is less the xenophobic aversion to the Roma that drives Ultra opposition but a sense of helplessness in the face of systemic obstacles to removing the Roma from Rome.

  This chapter is a critique of anthropologists who assume that prejudice, xenophobia, and resource competition fully explain the interaction between locals and immigrants. Moralistic assumptions about the local benefits of immigrants are, I suggest, often connected to an unquestioned belief in the neoliberal economic model that promotes flexible cheap labor and hyper-consumption. In place of these assumptions, I allowed the Ultras to speak for themselves, using the terms that are coherent in their local context.

  Chapter Eight

  Circo Massimo and the Ultra War Against Calcio Moderno

  In the third and fourth chapters I described responses by the State and the Ultras to the deaths of Fillipo Raciti and Gabriele Sandri. The government, riding a wave of popular outrage at the violent outbursts of the Ultras, implemented policing measures that seem more suited to ending the Ultra phenomenon than the violence associated with soccer. The Ultras, for their part, acted to protect themselves, their movement, soccer, and the honor of their cohort from the repression of the State and from incursions of Calcio Moderno.

  This chapter continues the discussion of Chapter Three, as well as those in-between, acting as a crescendo of the various aspects of the Ultras, from mentalità to their political commitments and actions. The chapter focuses on the Circo Massimo protest of December 2, 2007, which was a protest not only against the killing of Gabriele Sandri but also the highly-moralized war against the Ultras that had been escalating since the killing of Raciti in February 2007. It then discusses the changes to the game and to fandom that have occurred in Italy and other European countries as a result of the explosion of the televising and marketing of soccer.

  Il Perchè di Una Protesta (Why We Protest)

  Lorenzo Contucci’s AS Roma Ultras website announced a sciopero (strike) by Curva Sud’s Ultras on the morning of November 29, 2007. Instead of attending the upcoming game against Udinese Calcio, the Ultras would gather at Rome’s fabled Circo Massimo. The notice reflected their dedication to a form of life at odds with the bourgeois ideals of the Italian State which, as the protest unfolded, came to be talked about as an ‘avvento vuota della vita Italiana’ (a coming emptiness of modern Italian life). In it we see how the Ultras understand the interstices between justice (and injustice), the media, and the new interests in soccer that are moving the game away from its attachments to local populations and cultural forms.

  Fan of AS Roma, Ultras of Curva Sud, simple customer of this industry of calcio, or deluded and romantic supporter of an ideal (and style) of life, to you we write this notice in order to explain why next Sunday, when AS Roma hosts Udinese, Curva Sud will remain empty of people and passion. The death of Gabriele Sandri is already being forgotten, exceeded by and buried under a system which safeguards its own interests and disregards those of others. All that happens will be distorted, destroyed, or reconstructed with the objective of being made instruments for the powerful. This is what is happening, now as always.

  In a country where “the law is equal for all,” but all are not equal before the law, we are once again spectators of a new injustice. We see ourselves for the umpteenth time the targets of a public opinion manipulated by the press, the mass media, and the instruments of power. The Ultras are being destroyed because the curve are oases of free thinking and spaces counter to the increasing homogeneity of a lobotomized society devoid of values. They are lands not yet standardized and directed by the usual binaries of the interested — lands not made comfortable with those in control.

  Once upon a time, there were choreographies, colors, flags, and banners. These are characteristics of how the curve had always been. But because of today’s repression they will become only faded memories.

  At this moment, in light of our reflections and above all our consciences, we must leave and remain outside the Curva but also this state of affairs. We ask each of you to reflect, to remember, and to begin to behave more justly, in these decidedly delicate times.

  You will not find us outside the gates of Curva Sud this Sunday because then others would be able to say that it is only our bullying that has kept the Curva empty. The only possibility we have of saving our dignity and rights is that each of us, as both accomplices and victims of this situation, chooses to leave behind that which is designed to ensure our extinction.

  The appointment is for Sunday [December 2, 2007] at 14:00 in the Circo Massimo. Come with scarves and flags united with the thoughts, passions, and ideals of being Ultras della nostra Roma.

  The spectacle has begun, but without us.317

  The Groups of Curva Sud

  The document was signed in deference to the spectacle that would take place on the field, referring to the feeling of sacrifice being made by those who would choose to attend the protest instead of supporting their team. Indeed, the proprietorship of soccer was the main issue of the protest. Was it to be the soccer of the fans and locales where it was played or the soccer of television and global capitalism?

  In the days between Sandri’s death and the decision by the Curva to protest, the Ultras had learned that they were banned until further notice from travel to away games. The Observatory (National Observatory of Sporting Events) would announce each week which games would be available for guests. Given the media’s incessant speculation on the matter, there was no surprise. On the radio and television, journalists and private individuals directed rhetorical questions at the Observatory. There seemed to be a campaign against allowing the Ultras to continue to be a part of the game. Unsurprisingly, the Ultras wondered aloud at the rationale of the decision.

  At the Boys Roma office as the group decided on participating in the protest, I was surrounded not only by Ultras of varying ages, members of the leadership of Boys and Ultras Romani, members of Fiamma Tricolore, but also the widow and son of Paolo Zappavigna. Conversations were focused on how exactly the Ultras could defend themselves against the press and the police. What purpose did banning away-travel serve? How were away games related to the actual killing of Sandri? ‘Do the police blame us to the point that they cannot help themselves killing us if we travel to see a game?’ Simone, an animated and outspoken Boys Ultra asked. Fabio answered, ‘The riots were not because of away games — they were because the State killed an innocent person and then did nothing to honor the victim.’ ‘Therefore, why not close rest-stop restaurants or keep the police from having guns?’ Flaminio of Ultras Romani added. They decided that banning away-travel was irrelevant — unless the real crime was that Gabriele was where he was when the bullet was fired because he was an Ultra.

  Fabrizio, a well-respected Boys Ultra — and, at thirty-eight, the oldest Ultra in the room — who had once proudly shown me his Fiamma Tricolore membership card, stressed that they analyze how the media was operating to bend public opinion. ‘On the same day that we learned of the elevated charges we also learned that the group of SS Lazio Ultras were armed and that away games were banned,’ he said. He was referring to the news of November 15, 2007, on which it was announced that the charge against Luigi Spaccatorella (police officer who shot and killed Gabriele Sandri) had been elevated to voluntary manslaughter, and that knives were found in the possession of the SS Lazio Ultras amongst whom ‘Gabbo’ was traveling.

  ‘The media want so desperately to blame Gabriele’s death on Gabriele and the Ultras,’ Fabrizio explained, ‘that they shamed themselves in front of the entire nation with the claim [on November 17, 2007] that Sandri was found with rocks in his pocket.’ Sandri’s brother held a press conference to say that the accusation was ‘insane’ and tha
t what was found was the type of limestone pebbles and residue used for aging denim. Fabrizio finished with a copy of Il Romanista in his hand. ‘The media,’ he announced while rifling through the pages, ‘had even succeeded in making martyrs of themselves and the ‘civil mass of true fans who are the true victims of the actions of the Ultras’.’318

  As the leaders decided what action to take regarding the proposed protest, many reiterated Fabrizio’s idea that the media were making criminals of the victims, and martyrs of the criminals. Even as there is incredible distance between the Ultras and those beyond the realm of their narrow altruistic bonds, it did not take a zealot to understand that words like rabbia (rage), compassione (compassion), impegno (commitment), and onore (honor), that play such a large role in how the Ultras explain the world, have less value for the general public. ‘In getting the games stopped and attacking the police, we and the Atalanta Ultras acted with [these things], while the teams and the league acted only to benefit SKY and its advertisers,’ Fabio said.

  After the meeting, a few Ultras walked to a bar for a beer. Among them were Fabio of Boys and Adriano of Ultras Romani, both of whom I knew were present near the Olympic Stadium the night of Sandri’s death. Both were model Ultras — always present away from Rome, always ready to confront any opponent, always generous to fellow AS Roma Ultras. In other words, they acted in accord with the mentalità, were therefore widely respected, and could speak for their groups (and really the entire Curva Sud) without fear of reprisal.

  As I have already demonstrated, the Ultras are serious about, and protective of, their mentalità, the various components of which have been outlined above. Most of these can be summed up in a short statement that graced the shirt of an unknown AS Roma Ultra at a game in Empoli. ‘Our mentalità knows only hatred and rivalry,’ it said. Another aspect of the mentalità, especially applicable to the point I was making about Fabio and Adriano, is summarized in a piece of Monteverde graffiti: ‘Our mentalità is called silence. Death to spies.’ One acts with hatred and rivalry, and then keeps quiet about it so as to keep the State from obtaining evidence. A short explanation of ‘acting in accord with the mentalità,’ is somewhere between these two sentiments.

  I asked Fabio and Adriano — given the State’s argument that Gabriele was killed without his identity as an Ultra being known, and that, therefore, it was an incident unrelated to soccer (which, moreover, did not warrant the cancelling of the day’s games) — whether there was any action the league or State could have taken that would have prevented the uprising in Rome. ‘Nothing,’ Adriano said. Certainly, I added, those making the decisions knew how the Ultras would react. ‘They know us because they are experts on the Ultras,’ Adriano said sarcastically. ‘They know us as criminals, vandals, or mindless Fascists made so by the infiltration and goading of political extremists. One would think that having us together, physically and emotionally, all over the country, would be the last thing they wanted.’ Was he suggesting that the State wanted a violent reaction from the Ultras? ‘The State should have cancelled all games immediately and pleaded hat in hand for peace.’

  I asked about the targets of the Ultras during the fighting. ‘To attack police stations and the offices of CONI [the Italian Olympic Committee, a standing body which has authority over all organized sport in Italy] showed that they knew what they were doing. They were not hooligans,’ answered Fabio, slyly distancing himself from the perpetrators. Finally, I asked, half in jest, if the Ultras were terrorists. An unnamed Roman prosecutor had been quoted by ANSA saying that the Ultras, by ‘attacking three police stations, were trying to wrest control from the State.’ ‘We cannot even buy tickets, travel to and stay in a different city, or go in a stadium to sing for ninety minutes, yet the world is at our command?’ Fabio bellowed. ‘Now the Atalanta Ultras are banned from their own stadium for four months, only for protesting the ‘vergogna dello stato,’ [shame of the State] and we are attempting to take over? No! We are not terrorists but neither do we feel shame for our honorable actions.’ He continued talking about the Ultras in Bergamo. ‘Because there is one thing for certain: the only people in Bergamo who acted with dignity, honor, compassion, respect, and anything else the opposite of shame were the Ultras who got the game stopped. The players and the Lega [Calcio] acted with absolute shame, and the country now follows their lead, blaming this whole affair on us.’

  December 2, 2007: Circo Massimo Roma

  The idea behind the protest was to give the authorities what they wanted: soccer without the Ultras. Organizers thought that if they showed the country what ‘modern soccer,’ without the passion and pageantry of the Ultras, looked like, Italians would be more cautious in demanding their removal from the game. Because the Ultras live in a world dominated by other Ultras and all things Ultra, it struck me on numerous occasions that they were at once incredibly aware, and also unaware of the distance between themselves and other people and fans. In this case, their intended audience was the mass who have chosen to watch games on television rather than at stadiums: that mass of ‘good fans’ who are perfectly suited to Calcio Moderno because they consume, rather than participate in, the game.

  The tifosi buoni (good fans) as they are often called in the media, are the consumerist bourgeois fans that see the game as an entertainment, who cheer politely for the home team, who value sportsmanship over partisanship, who disavow racism in all its forms, who accept what happens on the field with humility, who experience the joy of fandom minus the aggression, and who cheer only in a way that displays education and bearing. In other words, the ‘model fan’ is as far removed as possible from the Ultras.

  The Ultras, in being denied the right to travel to support AS Roma, decided in meetings like the one at Boys Roma, that if they could not be a part of an AS Roma game, they would martyr themselves and not watch it at all. At least that way SKY and its advertisers would not benefit by their absence from stadiums. It was almost romantic, then, that the Ultras thought they could gain a measure of public acceptance by removing their voices and colors from the stadium.

  Approximately 200 Ultras representing various groups amassed near the Ostiense Station in Testaccio before heading together to the Circo Massimo. The leader of this group, ‘Spadino’ of Ultras Romani, spoke about what could be expected during the day, as well as what protocol was expected from the protest’s organizers. ‘Under no circumstances,’ he said, ‘are we to engage the police. We will sing and gesture against them, but that is all.’ Someone asked what would happen if the police invaded the Circo. ‘They will not do so,’ he said, relaying to us what he had learned from a police source. We were told to expect many journalists and photographers. Again, the directions were to have no contact with them. We were free to insult them in song, but action against them would not be tolerated.

  ‘The Circo is a public space, so the public will be present: police, media, tourists, and Romans. It is up to us to show who we are. We will give them nothing, but the media will strumentalizzare [exploit] our actions to suit their needs. There will be many Ultras there, even from rival groups and from groups long dead. However, the day is about unity,’ he said, ‘and any group choosing to participate will be honored in return. Because,’ he concluded, ‘the protest is also an opportunity to show how great Curva Sud Roma can be.’

  We entered the Circo around 1 pm. There was little going on except greetings and eating. Some group members climbed the Aventine-side wall of the Circo in order to place their banners on the ground. Within an hour, the central core of the Circo was full of Ultras. There were few, if any, normal fans present, but only the most committed and hardened Ultras, like one would see at a risky away game (like Juventus, Fiorentina, or Livorno). These numbered approximately 6,000. Instead of the agitated state in which one finds these characters away from Rome, there were only hugs, smiles, and well wishes.

  Figure 15. Journalists watch the protest. Note the banners on the Aventine wall of the Circo Massimo, Rome, Dece
mber 2, 2007.

  Some of the Ultras brought their children to the Circo. They could be seen standing with their battle-hardened fathers carrying and waving flags of Boys, Fedayn, and even the disbanded Fascist group Tradizione Distinzione Roma. Later in the day, the Fedayn child ‘representative,’ a girl of approximately seven years, waved the group’s flag as the current members encircled her and sang the Fedayn anthem. Given the group’s ‘silence’ I dared not ask who she was. Frankly, I felt that taking her photograph was the most dangerous thing I ever did amongst the Ultras.

  Ten minutes before game-time, Ultras Romani called everyone together, using one of the megaphones now banned from stadiums. The Ultras began singing, and a long banner was unfurled at the base of the Aventine wall, but only after a series of bombs exploded and smoke candles and emergency flares were lit to announce to all that the day’s activities (and festivities) were beginning. The banner was held aloft for the gathered media and Ultras with cameras and cell phones to plainly see and capture. ‘Questa è l’ora de mostra’ quanto valemo,’ (This is the time to show how much we are worth) it read. Not only was it part of the chorus to famous Roman singer Lando Fiorini’s beloved song Forza Roma, which celebrated AS Roma’s Championship of 1983–1984, but it was also a perfect encapsulation of the goal of the protest.

  The list of current groups participating in the protest was a who’s who of Curva Sud Roma: Arditi, Ultras Romani, Tor Bella Monaca, Razza Romana, Ultras San Lorenzo-Primavalle, Fedayn, Boys Roma, Giovinezza, LVPI, Casa Albertone, Padroni di Casa, Roma Casual Firm, Irish Clan Roma, and a dozen smaller groups all placed banners on the Aventine or held flags with the intent that their contribution be noted by those present.