Part of the game.

Tonight I went up to talk to J&M and they said "Did you see the soccer game in Italy where they were throwing flares?" I responded "Oh yeah, I see that all the time." They go "No no, tonight on Sportscenter, AC Milan and Inter Milan were playing and a goal was disallowed in this game and the fans threw flares onto the field and caught the goalkeeper on fire." And yet, I was still not surprised.

I've seen pictures of countless flares, with flammable banners next to them, flying in Amsterdam Arena for an Ajax game, footage of more projectiles in the air at an England national match than we drop in Iraq in a given day, read reports of fan riots all over the world. For the most part I just went along with it; it's a sign of the game, something that we never accepted here in the States (thus the handwringing over fires and tipped over cars after championship wins here; in Italy, Mexico and selected Premiership cities you don't even need a game).

But tonight's actions took it to the next level. Clubs and fans in Italy were already under warning after an unprecedented weekend of fan violence forced the threat of stadium shutdowns for the rest of the Serie A season. Tonight's game, though, and tomorrow's very worrisome Liverpool at Juventus match in Turin, Italy (the first between the two clubs there since a Liverpool riot in 1985 caused the death of 39 Juve fans) were Champion's League, which means all of Europe is watching. UEFA has jurisdiction here and will most surely take it to punish Internazionale (Milan). But the Guardian's James Richardson says the problem and solution lie with reforming the fan structure at the games.

I suppose something must be done; fan on fan violence is assuredly unfortunate but one of those things that eventually you must take responsibility for when you enter certain sections of the stadiums. But to see the audacity of fans to stop a game and attack a player is out of bounds, period. (Though Barry Glendenning, who does wonderful match updates for the Guardian, had this to say:

Anyway, it's only several thousand plastic bottles and a big cloud of smoke - hardly an unprecedented event at a Milan derby. Far be it from me to condone this kind of guff, but Inter's fans do have every right to be upset, as their side has been robbed by referee Markus Merk tonight. He failed to send off Andriy Shevchenko for a blatant headbutt before the Ukrainian scored, he denied Inter a penalty and then disallowed a perfectly legitimate goal by Esteban Cambiasso. Is it any wonder they've got the hump?

So that being said, I would very much hate to see it devolve to the American state of affairs. Worrying about bathroom lines and beer prices is not the level of fan interaction I would want to see in the Bundesliga or the Primera Liga; Paris Saint-Germain and Celtic and Olympiakos all deserve better. I don't know what the answer is. I do know, however, that many, many commentators tomorrow on ESPN and the news and sports talk radio are going to be pissing on the Europeans and their 'football', and when I hear their righteous indignation, I'll wish I had some flares of my own.