Five years ago the Italian Ministry of Interior introduced an identification document to classify fans and supporters of specific football clubs called Tessera del Tifoso (Supporter’s ID card). The reason behind this measure was obviously to prevent violence in Italian stadiums, and followed the death of Filippo Raciti, an officer killed in a violent confrontation between Catania supporters and police in 2007. The idea was to create to create a catalogue of registered fans.

However, since the measure’s adoption, the tessera has turned out to be a complete failure, causing two unquestionable and negative results for the Italian football system: the constantly decreasing number of people attending games and an unchanged number of accidents inside and outside stadiums. During the last six years, the ultras haven’t missed a chance to protest and show their disappointment towards these security measures.

On the other hand, the regular fans - the ones that with their money support the whole football system - felt all of a sudden discouraged from buying tickets: too much bureaucracy to go through in order to register, long waits to receive the card, and too few benefits deriving from owning it. The attendance figures perfectly reflect the status of the Italian football system at the moment. When it was at its top, in the mid ‘80s, the average number of fans attending Serie A games was around 38 thousand.

According the latest “Report Calcio 2014”, the annual report published by the Federation about the Serie A, the overall attendance in Italian stadiums went from 13.2 million in 2011/12 to 12.3 in 2012/13, with an average of 22.591 spectators attending each match.

 

The Serie A is now the fourth league in Europe for attendance, behind the Bundesliga (42.624), the Premier League (35.921) and la Liga (28.237), and not far from being taken over by the Ligue 1 and Eredivisie.

Similarly, where tickets revenues are concerned, with Italy (191 mln) very far from the top three European leagues - Premier League (667 mln), Bundesliga (546 mln) and Liga (433 mln).

Pay-per-view has become obviously the main source of income of the whole football industry. At the beginning of this month, a task force put together by the Ministry announced that from next season important changes will be introduced:

Tickets – The tickets will be finally available for sale on-line, up until the last minute before the game, with the opportunity for the fans to “download” them on electronic devices, like smartphones, and on their loyalty card, which will substitute the tessera. Moreover, tickets for away fans will be available on sale on the day of the event.

Loyalty programme - Advance purchase rights on tickets for loyalty card owners, with the opportunity of buying up to two tickets for non-card owners, discounted passes for families, under 14s, over 60s and foreigners.

Stewards - More attention on stewards’ education and training in order to guarantee a higher quality of their services, including rewards for professional conduct and responsibility.

Re-designation of facilities - Smaller sectors inside the stadiums (up to 10,000 people), in order to make more easily identifiable those responsible of racist chanting and violent actions, avoiding the closing of the curvas, stands usually dedicated to ultras.

The new measures announced are certainly interesting and show some improvements compared to the recent trend. In particular, the re-designation of the facilities is a crucial point, given the current conditions of Italian stadia. The example Serie A is trying to follow is represented by England, where sectors almost entirely reserved for ultras are completely disappearing.

At the same time though, this will have to be radical, because at the moment the layout of the facilities in Italy doesn’t allow for a partition in sectors such as the one suggested by the authorities. Where ticket sales are concerned, the new rules will make it easier for supporters to buy them, especially for home fans. However, it’s hard to believe that the clubs are making an effort in order to improve the attendance trend, when the constant increase of ticket prices goes hand in hand with the widespread of pay-per-view services.

This is the reason why clubs should make that extra step in order to improve their relationship with the fans. On one hand, instead of pushing fans away from the stadiums as it occurs in Italy, their passion should be valued, giving them a position or at least voice in matters regarding the club, as often happens in England and Germany.

This way supporters could have the right to vote, or at least should be consulted, on matters which directly involve their interests such as ticket prices, but also renovation of the stadiums, organisation of travel packages for away games, relationships with local authorities and police, development of merchandise etc. On the other hand, the construction or improvement of facilities using what has been done with the Juventus Stadium as an example, which currently represents the only stadium with large attendance in the Serie A, will be encouraged.

However, the change of route would have to be radical, and currently represents an utopia. Fans, especially the younger generations, have become far too used to watching games in the comfort of their homes and sofas rather than in thrilling environment of the stadium. And the feeling is that the trend will continue: the capacity of the recently built Juventus Stadium and of the Stadio della Roma’s project confirm it.

 

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