Italy's judiciary has the power to be proactive in seeking out possible wrongdoing, which is not the case in Britain
As police teams swoop on the training team of the Italian national football team and the Squadra Azzura threatens to be engulfed by yet another betting scandal, it's worth remembering the events of 1980. Back then, Italian football was shocked by a match-fixing scandal of even more devastating proportions. Players were arrested in dressing rooms across the country. Some of those involved were extremely famous, such as the striker Paolo Rossi. Those found guilty were given long bans, although in the absence of laws about sporting fraud, the subsequent court case saw most of the protagonists cleared. Fans and journalists were scandalised, but then 1982 came around, Italy won the World Cup (with Rossi as top scorer and national hero) and 1980 was quickly forgotten.
Over the next two decades, as TV money poured into the game, Italy's Serie A went on to become the richest league in the world. All the top stars played there, from Maradona to Platini to Gascoigne to Van Basten, and Italy's top teams regularly won the European Cup and then the Champions League. But the rot had set in even as the cash was stacking up. Financial management was often lax (numerous clubs went bankrupt, including Napoli, Bologna and Fiorentina) and dodgy transfers were the order of the day. Violent fans controlled large parts of each stadium, and were often linked to organised crime.
Meanwhile, a system of power developed at the heart of the game which controlled the transfer market, the referees and their selection, eliminating any risk of losing. This system came crashing down in 2006 thanks to the work of magistrates in Naples, and led to the relegation of Italy's best supported club, Juventus.
A clean-out of sorts then took place, with the resignation of most of those in charge of the game. But it wasn't enough. Today it looks like the Italian game has failed to learn the lessons of the scandal that took place only five years ago. A match-fixing ring of jaw-dropping proportions has been unmasked by magistrates in Cremona, Bari and (again) in Naples. Some players are said to have already confessed to their crimes, and the number of clubs involved is, by now, well over 20 (with more to come). It appears that large sums of money have been offered to players to throw games, and that many have accepted. Juventus's current manager, fresh from winning the championship, is also under investigation for his activities at his previous club, Siena. All this is having a destabilising effect on the national team's preparations for the European Championships, and one player has already had to withdraw from the squad.
Why is Italian football in so much trouble? One, easy answer is simply to point to Italian society as a whole. Hardly a day goes by without a corruption scandal hitting the world of politics in Italy, so why should football be any different? This is, in part, true. Let us also remember the baleful influence of a series of men without scruples who have been allowed to influence the national game: Silvio Berlusconi, Luciano Moggi, Luciano Gaucci.
But we should also take one other key factor into consideration: the power and independence of the Italian judiciary. Italian magistrates have the ability to set up phone taps and run long investigations into scandals of this kind. They are also proactive in seeking out possible wrongdoing and can order arrests and offer deals to those who confess. British police, for example, are much weaker and less interested in football-linked corruption. Illegal betting is an issue for every sport in today's globalised world, and has been for many years (in cricket above all, but also in numerous other sports including football). Italy is different, but we should not be complacent. What if the difference between Italian and British football is that people just get on with it over here, with no fear of being caught?
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