Three Year Jail Sentence for Corrupt Italian Official

One thing Italian football is never short of are people who delight in every piece of bad news for Juventus, or La Vecchia Signora (the Old Lady). This spreads beyond the local rivalry with Torino in the Berby della Mole. Fiorentina fans are known to harbour a hostility to Juve that goes beyond any local rivalry. Their rivalry with Inter Milan is known as the Derby d’Italia (the Derby of Italy). They also draw a significant number of supporters from the south of Italy, well away from their Piedmont home, and this can cause significant resentment from those who have stayed loyal to their local side. Indeed, Juventus has the largest fan base of any Italian club; at 170 million it also has one of the highest numbers of supporters world-wide. They are also the most successful side in Italian history.

For those with this anti-Juve passion, there has been no shortage of cause for a wry smile in the latter part of 2009. They were unceremoniously dumped out of the Champions League at the group stages after being thrashed by Bayern Munich 1-4 in front of their own supporters. Shortly before that, their greatly unloved fans managed to secure a second successive fine for their obsessive persecution of Inter’s black forward Mario Balotelli. On Sunday, they were humiliated at Bari deep in Italy’s southern Apulia region.

Seattle Juve Fan Says Racist Chants Unacceptable

Greg Mockos, one of the organisers of Sounders FC’s largest supporters group, the ECS, was a Juve fan during his 19 years in Italy. In his opinion, Juve is definitely in a rut both on and off the field, although he suspects double standards may be at work.

“Being the most hated club in Italy also does not help, as I am confident that match fixing occurs at all levels of football in Italy. Juventus just happens to be a glaring scapegoat. In regards to the racist chants, those are unacceptable and quite embarrassing as a Juve supporter.

With that said, Ballottelli deserves as many non-racist derogatory chants as the mind can think of due to his arrogance, something that has probably rubbed off on him from his current manager. I am sure la Vecchia Signora will recover and I, for one, do not believe Ferrara should get the boot. The fact that a team like Bari can beat Juventus 3-1 is testament to the quality of the Serie A product on the field.”

‘But there’s more’ to quote the words of the less than legendary Irish comedian Jimmy Cricket. This morning, the match fixing scandal which saw Juventus relegated in 2006 reared its head into the headlines again. Antonio Giraudo, a Director of Juventus at the time, has been sentenced to three years in prison for his role in the scandal. Giraudo, already banned from football by a 2006 sports tribunal, was found guilty of sporting fraud and conspiracy in the criminal trial linked to the affair.

At the time, Juventus were relegated to the second division in 2006 as a punishment for their attempts to ensure helpful referees for their Serie A matches. Three of those officials have already been jailed. Tiziano Pieri and Paolo Dondarini received 28 months and two years in prison respectively while Tullio Lanese, the former head of the referees’ union, has received a two-year jail term. They are now back in Serie A.

However, the guilty four are unlikely to serve any jail time because of a lengthy appeals process and a broad pardon for non-violent offences committed before 2006. Former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi declined to use an expedited path to a trial like those already convicted and his trial is still continuing.

Juventus Dark Year:

Juventus in Crisis

Juventus Thrashed by Bayern and out of the CL

Juve Fined for Racist Chanting

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