Italy’s Roma soccer club gets partial fan ban for racial abuse
A Manchester City fan displays a banner with a message for FIFA President Sepp Blatter about his handling of recent allegations of racism in football on Nov. 19, 2011.
Italy's Roma soccer club must play a match next season without fans in the Stadium's 'Curva Sud', after AC Milan's Mario Balotelli again suffered fan's racist chants last week, officials said.
Roma were also fined after the game, in which several other players were subjected to racial abuse in a match that ended in a scoreless draw. Roma said anyone identified with the offensive songs would be banned from the stadium.
"What occurred Sunday night is appalling and unacceptable. AS Roma does not want those individuals [who are] responsible as fans," the club said in a statement.
"The actions of this small group are hateful and also hurt our club and our loyal law-abiding supporters," the club added. "We have not yet received a detailed report from the league or federation but will continue to work with them and law enforcement to ensure that everything possible is done to identify and ban those involved from football stadium."
Recently, Italian club Inter Milan was slapped with a 50,000 euro fine without a stadium fan ban, and in February, Inter was fined 50,000 euros after fans chanted offensive songs.
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In January, after fans racially abused Milan's Kevin-Prince Boateng, he and his teammates walked off the field during a match.
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