Verona say they’ll keep pushing for the truth over racism claims, but it feels like “fighting Kalashnikovs with blowpipes.”
Verona say they’ll keep pushing for the truth over racism claims, but it feels like “fighting Kalashnikovs with blowpipes.”
On Tuesday Hellas Verona had been handed a €50,000 fine and a one-game partial closure of their stadium following alleged racist abuse aimed at Milan’s Sulley Muntari.
The club immediately hit back and released a statement denying such accusations, supported by Milan, who called the punishment “excessive.”
Verona are going to Rome tomorrow to take the matter to the Italian FA, although hopes of reverting the sentence are very low.
“At the moment we are really sad and annoyed,” director general Giovanni Gardini began in a Press conference today.
“But I wanted to thank Milan, because they showed that they want the truth as much as we do. We don’t want an apology, we just want the truth.
“Last Sunday, there was an attendance of 27,125 for the game against Milan and to think that nobody but the three inspectors have heard discriminatory chants is simply unacceptable. There were also 220 accredited media and 600 stewards to take into account.
“We have always stood up and taken our punishment when our fans were wrong, like the insults after Piermario Morosini’s death. But now it’s time to stop it with clichés. I am furious, first as a man, then as a director and then as director general of Hellas Verona.
“Just think about it – 3,000 people do something and nobody feels the duty to report the crime to the police! The inspectors had the duty to report it to the police or the Fourth Official, but they didn’t do it.”
Verona accused the inspectors of either lying or misunderstanding chants coming from the stands.
“Why their names won’t be published? We know their names and we can only say that they were far too young to be on duty at such an important game.
“And we can’t even defend ourselves despite living in 2014. Who is going to pay us back for this damage?
“When Milan played at Pro Patria and 50 people did something like that [racist chants], the teams stopped playing.
“Last season we had 400,000 people attending games in Verona and, apart from some minor incidents in the first game, everything was fine.
“On Friday we’ll be in Rome where our appeal will be discussed. There are three options – the suspension will either be cancelled or confirmed, or an extra investigation could take place.
“We’ll try to do our best in order to defend ourselves but it will be like trying to fight Kalashnikovs with blowpipes.”