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Italy soccer matches to go ahead, even without fans

Italy's soccer teams have decided to play this weekend, even if many of the matches will take place in empty stadiums because of new anti-hooligan measures, the head of the country's clubs' association said on Thursday.

After a policeman was killed last Friday during a soccer riot in Sicily, the government first suspended all soccer matches and then decreed that only those stadiums which meet new security standards could open to the public.

Some players and officials said matches should not go ahead behind closed doors and there was even talk of a soccer "strike" to force the government to change policy. But at a meeting of club representatives, the clubs' association, Lega Calcio, decided instead to play on.

"After a very lively discussion where many different opinions came up against each other, I have to communicate that we decided to play, to demonstrate our seriousness and our share of the responsibility for the country's problems," Lega Calcio head Antonio Matarrese said.

Clubs say the government is over-reacting to an isolated incident -- though officer Filippo Raciti's death was the second in a week in Italian soccer, after an amateur league official was kicked to death while trying to stop a fight at a match.

Italian police are questioning a 17-year-old boy over the death of Raciti, the 38-year-old policeman who was hit and had a homemade explosive thrown into his car as rival fans went on a rampage at a Serie A derby in Catania last Friday.

About 41 people were arrested after the incident, many of them charged with resisting police offers and causing injuries. Police have been studying video surveillance tapes at Massimino stadium in Catania to try to find out who killed their colleague.

Only six soccer stadiums in the country meet security requirements, meaning that league games in other arenas will be played behind closed doors.

The Olympic Stadium in Rome made the list, while the San Siro stadium in Milan did not, the Italian Interior Ministry said.

The other stadiums that were deemed safe were in Genoa, Siena, Cagliari, Turin and Palermo. Arenas in Florence, Naples and Bologna were among the 25 considered unsafe.

According to the findings of security standards at the stadiums, five of Sunday's Serie A games will be played behind closed doors, while five will be open to the public.

Officials said, however, that further checks on the stadiums would be carried out in the coming days. The officials also banned all night matches in the Serie A and in the lower divisions.
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