Fans gone wild

[AreliusIV]

What is the worst incident of a team's own fans turning on the team?

After Inter's exit from the Champion's League after losing to Villareal, they returned home to some very irate fans.

After Inter's 2-1 away win over Ascoli last Saturday, some of their supporters met up with the team at the aiport. Javier Zanetti and Cristiano Zanetti bore the brunt of the assault and though neither was seriously maimed, Italian FA bigwig Sergio Campana bellowed: "This was an episode of barbarity, intolerance and stupid violence fuelled by the hysteria that surrounds football in Italy."

This wasn't the first such episode, of course. Other examples from the last five years include: a fan beating Messina goalkeeper Emanuele Manitta unconscious in the middle of a game, Lazio and Roma fans attacking players from their teams at training, Napoli ultras lobbing a grenade into the club owner's garden and, not to be outdone, Inter fans petrol-bombing their own team's coach.

Four years ago, Campana recommended suspending football in Italy for six months so that authorities could "reflect on what's going on". That never happened. So all that was left for the exasperated leader to do today was incite change: "We need a cultural revolution," Campana declared. "We need to learn to lose gracefully. But I believe it will take a generation."