Italians must rid game of yobs

Inter's owner, Massimo Moratti, is under intense pressure from supporters over the club's lack of silverware in recent years and there are some in Italy who believe the trouble was a staged protest against his leadership.

The shameful scenes - which the Milan police are now investigating - follow on from widespread football violence - in Rome, Florence and Palermo - last weekend which left 85 police officers hurt and more than 250 people arrested.

Earlier this season, the Rome derby was abandoned after fans battled with the police, while the Champions League clash between Roma and Dynamo Kiev was scrapped when referee Anders Frisk was struck by a coin.

This upsurge in trouble has prompted Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu to threaten stadium closures as a hardline response to the problem, which now seriously threatens Italy's bid to host the 2012 European Championships. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who also owns AC Milan, added: ''There is a risk of even more serious events occurring, a risk that has to be stopped in every way.

"We will continue to take a tough line. I have asked minister Pisanu to dedicate himself to preventing further incidents and, if necessary, taking drastic measures."

However, seasoned observers of Italian football insist they have heard such rhetoric before only for decisive action to founder when confronted with the power of the Ultras.

Lazio, for example, were fined just £17,000 after their extremist fans indulged in fascist chanting and displayed swastika banners during last weekend's game against Livorno.

The Ultras - an intensely loyal section of hardcore of fans - can exert huge influence over the way clubs are run. They are also synonymous with football violence.

Leading members know where the players, the coaches and officials live and have even been known to use the threat of reprisals to achieve their aims. It was noticeable, for example, how no Inter players came out publicly to condemn Tuesday night's trouble.

The ease with which flares were taken into the stadium has also been questioned, which could again be traced to the Ultras. One theory is that police are unwilling to risk confrontation with them for fear of trouble, while another suggests that fans given access to the stadium in the afternoon to erect banners brought in and hid boxes of flares.

The Ultras have a sizeable following and their interests can extend far beyond football. There are estimated to be as many as 60,000 Ultras in Italian football, 10 per cent of whom are believed to be attached to far-right or far-left political groups.

Even the Italian police acknowledge that much of the country's football violence is politically motivated.

A spokesman for SISDE, the force's intelligence gathering unit, said: "Fans are getting more and more violent and they are looking to attack the police. Our latest intelligence suggests that there are at least 300 supporters' groups who have extreme right- or left-wing political connections following Italian football.

"There is a real risk that this escalating violence will have a serious effect on the traditional place of football in Italian life. These groups are well organised and also well financed. They fund their travels through the sale of memorabilia but more increasingly through crime."

In Britain, banning orders and significant investment in intelligence-led policing have helped cut football violence. Now the Italian government will try to follow their lead. Yet there will be those in English law enforcement who will question why it has taken them so long.