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Should Italian Football clubs (Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio) be granted amnesty if Italy’s national team wins the world cup?
Dr Andrew Borg Cardona is a lawyer and columnist.
Well, the first question that arises is “Will Italy win the World Cup?” Since MaltaToday is the first paper many people read on a Sunday, for the majority of readers this question is still unresolved, but after the Australia game I was saying that you could bet the farm on them winning it, and the game against Germany confirmed my opinion, as much as it galls me to state it in public.
My answer to the actual question posed, though, is a resounding “NO!”
Why should the four league teams get an amnesty, I have to ask? It is the FIGC Team that might (according to me, will) win the World Cup and not La Vecchia or any of the other clubs involved in this mega-scandal. In fact, the FIGC (Federazione Italiana Gioco di Calcio, if my Italian serves) not to mention football as a whole (I almost wrote “as a religion)” is the offended party in this whole sorry affair, and since when does something good happening to a victim mean that the perpetrators of serious injury on that same victim get an amnesty?
It is the FIGC and its representatives that have had to investigate the alleged crimes of Moggi and Co and, sopra corne (to use a favourite Italian phrase) now people are saying that if they win the Cup, they should be magnanimous with the people who are alleged to have raped them, in sporting terms. To quote Mickey Blue Eyes “get outda here!” (sorry about the spelling but how else do you write “get out of here” in Mafiaese?)
About the only reason I can perceive for thinking about granting an amnesty would be to recognise the effort of the national team players, none of whom were involved in the machinations of the alleged miscreants. But in response to this I would have to be a bit hard and say that these same players got the benefit of Moggi’s telephone antics through the enhancement of their marketability, and if anyone thinks they’re going to stick with their clubs in the basement of the Italian Campionato, then they’re even more naïve than most football supporters.
The offences under discussion were not committed by the FIGC or by the players of the Italian National Team, they were committed (if they were committed at all – in dubbio pro reo just to carry on using foreign languages) by the people who run the businesses that own the teams for which the players play. The really unlucky ones are the ones who are not as easily marketable as the national team players: perhaps for these people, the FIGC could legislate to allow them to dump their contracts without penalty, so they can join clubs which have been allowed to remain in Serie A.
If there are any, by the end of this saga!
Mark Attard is a sports journalist and television presenter.
Italian football was, until some months ago, considered to be the most spectacular in the world. I still hold this belief. The Italian media have blown ‘Calciopoli’ out of proportion and in so doing they murdered their own football scene.
Nonetheless, all those who have Italian football at heart must admit that these are not the happiest of times for the sport. Many people, including some of those involved, are at a loss. Probably, the phenomenon is so widespread and complex that some people got embroiled in this affair unknowingly.
The law is the same for everyone and this principle should be applied across the board - all those who are proven guilty should get the punishment they deserve.
Italy’s squad in the finals surprised many, myself included. Apparently the trouble at club level has driven the Italian players to prove that they still deserve to be called the best in the world. And in this they are succeeding well. If one takes note of the best players on Marcello Lippi’s team, one will realise that these belong to Milan and Juventus: Buffon, Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Gattuso and Pirlo.
If I was one of these players I would ask the others to request that either our clubs are given an amnesty or otherwise we won’t turn up for tonight’s match.
Juventus are coming out worse in this affair not because they committed the most serious of offences but because the most powerful person in the world of football was employed by this society.
If one examines Milan’s case one will find out that their case is much more serious than that for which Juventus is being accused of. Luciano Moggi is under investigation because of intercepted phone calls. In all of the over-heard calls he was recorded as saying, “send me that referee who I trust”. He never said, “send me that referee so I can corrupt him”. The affair sounds suspicious but as the judge of this case himself said, he is finding it difficult to sustain his accusations so as to put an end to this soap opera. Milan’s case is quite different. The latter have been caught arranging with Udinese so that for their final match they get a point and Udinese’s Czech player Marek Jankulovski joins Milan the season after. As a matter of fact that’s what eventually happened. Jankulovski joined Milan instead of Juventus. Think about it, which is the obvious case of corruption?
For the sake of Italian football, Serie A cannot do without these two great clubs. Alongside there are also Fiorentina and Lazio. The only people pushing for these teams to be relegated are Inter. The latter know that with these teams in Serie A their dream of winning the ‘scudetto’ will never come true – this is their only chance. Surely, a team responsible for causing havoc for 15 whole years by its ‘campagnia aquisti’, will not be allowed to influence the Italian judiciary.
I am confident that if Italy wins the world cup tonight, it will only be right if the said teams are given an amnesty or have their sentences reduced considerably. The players know this and I am positive that 2006 will be ‘the’ year for Italy. “Fratelli d’Italia, fateci sognare !”
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