Football News » Editorial » Editorial September 2011
Editorial September 2011
Soccerphile Editorial - September 2011
Italian football at the crossroads as 2011-2012 season kicks off
"If we continue down this road, we will truly open up an irreversible decline," wrote Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Franco Arturi in the wake of Serie A's latest betting scandal. He may as well have been writing about the general state of the game in Italy, as one of Europe's most glamourous leagues continues to reel from a series of sucker punches.
The latest blow delayed the start of the 2011-12 campaign after the players' union opted to strike over a proposed new solidarity tax and a failure to agree a collective bargaining agreement with the league. The proposed tax would force high earners to pay up to ten percent of their income for three years, leading one Italian minister to label the players “spoilt children" for their failure to agree to the move. Yet tax wranglings are the least of Serie A's problems, as the league struggles to overcome a host of problems on and off the pitch.
The start of the slow decline can arguably be traced back to May 2006 when news of the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal broke. While Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro was lifting the World Cup trophy just two months later, his club side Juventus was being stripped of its two most recent Serie A and suffering demotion to the second tier. The Juventus squad was soon dismantled, allowing bitter rivals Inter to take full advantage and claim the next five league titles in a row - including the disputed 2005-06 campaign.
Not surprisingly, the immediate effect of Calciopoli was some the lowest average Serie A attendances for decades, particularly in the months just after the scandal broke. Contrary to popular belief, however, attendances are on the rebound in Italy – thanks in part to the resurgence of popular southern club Napoli. The problem for them – like most Italian clubs – is their cavernous Stadio San Paolo is owned by the city council, who take the profits from hosting fixtures despite offering little in the way of spectator comfort. It's an issue exacerbated by Italy's notoriously violent Ultras, whose intimidating presence on the terraces keeps more moderate supporters at home.
Even with attendances returning to their pre-Calciopoli figures, Italian clubs are still lagging well behind the rest of Europe. In nearby Germany, the Bundesliga is booming with capacity crowds flocking to state-of-the-art stadia to watch some of the most exciting football on the continent. The on-field success of German clubs has had a knock-on effect in Italy, with Serie A losing an automatic UEFA Champions League place after falling behind the Bundesliga's co-efficient rankings.
Indeed, despite Inter lifting the 2009-10 Champions League crown, Italian clubs have struggled noticeably in Europe in recent years, with cashed-up rivals such as Barcelona, Manchester United and Bayern Munich often buying their way to international success. The lack of European trophies once prompted fears of a mass player exodus to Spain, but by and large the big three of Inter, Juventus and Milan continue to attract international stars of impressive pedigree.
However, even with the likes of Diego Forlan, Miroslav Klose and Gabriel Heinze moving to Italian clubs for the new Serie A season, it won't convince many the competition is on an upward trend. In fact, the 2011-12 campaign could prove somewhat of a make-or-break season for a league desperate to regain its former status as one of the greats of Europe. Gone are the days when the likes of Diego Maradona, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten lit up Serie A and instead Italian football fans are now forced to look on enviously as clubs in the English Premier League and Spain's La Liga dominate media headlines.
Italian football has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons of late. Investigations into its most recent betting scandal rumble on, with popular ex-Italian international Giuseppe Signori the most high-profile figure ensnared. The recent players strike will have done little to restore public faith, while the performances of Italian clubs in Europe are increasingly under the microscope. And unless there's a drastic turnaround in fortunes on the pitch, Serie A could soon find itself slipping further into the mire as it struggles to retain its place in European football's elite.
| Football Editorials 2007 | Football Editorials 2008 | Football Editorials 2009 | Football Editorials 2010 | January 2011 Editorial | February 2011 Editorial | March 2011 Editorial | April 2011 Editorial | May 2011 Editorial | June 2011 Editorial | July 2011 Editorial | August 2011 Editorial
|
|
