Why are some Napoli fans fighting despite Serie A and Champions League success?

Napoli have never had it so good. Or in the last 33 years, at least. It’s only a matter of time until they win just their third ever Scudetto (Serie A title), which will be their first without Diego Maradona. At the same time, Luciano Spalletti’s men will take on Milan in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday, a stage of the competition they were unable to reach even with the Argentina legend spurring them on in the late 1980s.

Surreal scenes at Stadio Diego Maradona

Yet anyone who watched Napoli’s last home match, a 4-0 defeat against their midweek opponents, will have been struck by some bizarre goings-on. Stadio Diego Armando Maradona is famous the world over for its raucous atmosphere but during that loss to Milan, few flags were waved, no songs were sung and there were moments of huge tension, including a fight in the stands and insults aimed at club president Aurelio De Laurentiis. Rather surreal given their recent on-field success.

De Laurentiis is due plenty of credit. He bought Napoli after they had gone bankrupt in 2004, leading them back to Serie A in 2007. Since then, they have won four trophies (three Coppas Italia and one Italian Super Cup), played in European competition for 13 consecutive seasons (the best current run in Italy), will win a league title this season and perhaps even a Champions League. All this while balancing the books to near perfection. Why, then, are supporters unhappy?

Unrest among ultra fan groups

The issues centre around the club’s ultra fan groups. After a fight which took place between Napoli and Roma ultras on Italy’s A1 motorway in Tuscany, the authorities banned fans of Gli Azzuri from taking banners, drums, megaphones and flags to home matches for two months, a ‘punishment’ that was extended following similar incidents with Eintracht Frankfurt ultras in the city of Naples in March. At Stadio Olimpico in Rome, meanwhile, Roma fans faced no such restrictions. Nor did those visiting the Maradona, with Lazio supporters even letting off firecrackers which injured a Napoli supporter.

Protests and violence during home game against Milan

Before the match against Milan, then, fan groups from Curvas A and B (sections of the stadium behind the goal) met outside, singing songs to get behind the team as they usually would. Inside the stadium, however, they remained silent in protest at the restrictions, which led to rising tension.

Some Curva B ultras have given up their season tickets - unhappy at being forced to obtain a Tefoso Tessara, a card which enables supporters to buy both season and match tickets - and began chanting insults at De Laurentiis that other ultra groups did go along with. The dispute led to violence, images of which immediately went viral.

“Don’t mess with the ultras”

Milan ultras then joined in with the chanting and were applauded by sections of the Napoli fans, who have long been considered one of their main rivals (something similar happened in the match away to Lecce last Friday). Rossoneri supporters also hung a banner during their weekend draw against Empoli at San Siro, of which ‘ADL’ (Aurelio De Laurentiis) was the target: “You only have to speak when you say something worth more than silence. Don’t mess with the ultras”.

De Laurentiis’ response was blunt: “They are criminals, not fans, who truly humiliate real supporters in Italy. This story has been going on for 50 years, nothing will change until we apply Thatcher’s laws in Italy (Margaret Thatcher’s British government waged an aggressive war against hooliganism in English soccer in the 1980s).

Silence at Napoli’s biggest ever game?

On Wednesday, there shouldn’t any trouble. As was the case in Lecce, Napoli fans will be allowed to take banners and flags into San Siro and will get behind the team in full voice. What will happen in upcoming games against Verona and Milan at the Mardaona, however, is another matter entirely. The second leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie will be one of the biggest matches in the stadium’s and indeed the club’s history. Fans sitting or standing in silence - or worse still, fighting - would be the wrong way to mark the occasion.