Nearly 11 months after the original altercation, eight Genoa supporters have been arrested for their parts in holding up Genoa’s match with Siena last April.
The match, which saw Genoa lose 4-1 in a run of horrendous form, was suspended for 40 minutes while the club’s ultras demanded the players’ shirts. According to the ultras, the players were unfit to wear the famous rossoblu shirt, and decided the middle of the match was the appropriate time to demand them.
At one point, captain Marco Rossi collected all of the players’ shirts and proceeded to hand them over. However, it was on loan striker Giuseppe Sculli that prevented this from happening and confronted the angry supporters. Images of Sculli and the ultras were spread across the globe the following day, giving Serie A another black eye in the minds of many. In the aftermath, team coach Alberto Malesani was sacked for a second time during the season.
The guilty men have now been given jail terms varying in length between six and eight months.
Just like a year ago, Genoa are currently fighting relegation. However, the team have been much better since January when Davide Ballardini took over as coach. The team are unbeaten in five, which includes a draw with Juventus and a win over Lazio.
The Grifone travel to the Stadio Olimpico this weekend to take on Roma.
Follow Drew Farmer on Twitter @CalcioFarmer, Drew is the Forzaitalianfootball.com Genoa correspondent and also hosts the Forzaitalianfootball.com weekly Club Focus podcast.
Why is it that these idiots are given jail sentences meanwhile nothing is done to the vile racists who abuse black players. Although I don’t condone their actions for one second it was their frustration at watching their team embarrass themselves week in and week out which brought about their actions, fair to say that some form of punishment is probably due. The racists on the other hand have no reason whatsoever for their actions yet when was the last time you heard about even 1 racist waste of a life being given a jail sentence for racially abusing a player. Never thats when. Because the pen pushers at the top are gutless when it comes to racism. The bans handed to Lazio for the actions of the racist contingent in recent european games will hurt Lazio not the culprits, who I’m sure couldn’t give a stuff and are probably laughing about how they brought about a stadium ban.