Lazio ultras during the club's match against Napoli at the Stadio Olimpico last Saturday. GETTY IMAGES
Serie A side Lazio "distanced itself from some of its most hardcore supporters" after a group of fans distributed leaflets demanding women "sit or stand at the back" of the Stadio Olimpico, according to Giada Zampano of the London TELEGRAPH. Lazio's ultras, a group of "die-hard supporters often associated with the political Right," handed out a letter at the gates of the ground on Saturday, saying that "women should be banned" from the front 10 rows of the Curva Nord terrace at the stadium. The notices said, "In the trenches, we do not allow women, wives and girlfriends." They were "immediately ridiculed on social media and condemned by a number of veteran fans," including a handful of "influential Italian actors and showbiz personalities." On Monday, the club "broke its silence." Lazio spokesperson Arturo Diaconale said, "This is an autonomous initiative by some part of the Curva Nord fans. That's not the position of the club, we are against any discrimination. Lazio fans are numerous, this is an initiative by just a few of them" (TELEGRAPH, 8/20).
WOMEN RESPOND: The BBC reported a group of women fans from the Curva Nord, quoted by Italian football website calcioweb.eu, expressed "indignation" over the ultras' flyer. They said that the Curva Nord had a "sacred role," and "we distance ourselves from those Lazio fans whose inappropriate behaviour lowers the Nord's value." It added, "And we distance ourselves from those whose gestures and words show they have forgotten that it was a woman who gave birth to them." AC Milan Women's first team coach Carolina Morace said that those who wanted to ban women from the first 10 rows of the Curva Nord "should be banned from the stadium." She added, "Sexism is also violence." Manila Nazzaro, a Lazio fan who was Miss Italia '99 and is now a TV presenter, said that "rules of the pack" were common to all fans, not just Lazio's. Nazzaro: "Some environments remain purely masculine, which men love to share with other men, just as there are some that women love to share with women" (BBC, 8/20).
