Irate fans of Italian soccer club Genoa CFC disrupted a Serie A game against Siena for over 40 minutes. They demanded Genoa players hand over their jerseys, threatening to storm the field if they refused.
Away team Siena was sitting on a 4-0 lead when Genoa ultras bombarded the field with flares and smoke bombs. The referee halted play in the 54th minute, and that’s when things took the strangest of twists.
Fans climbed the barricades and stood on top of the tunnel that leads to the locker room. They stood face to face with riot police, promising trouble if Genoa players tried to leave the field at the historic Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
After 15 minutes, referees and Siena players were allowed to leave the field, but Genoa players were prisoners on their own home field.
Genoa captain Marco Rossi spoke to the leaders of the ultras. The hard-core element demanded that he and his teammates surrender their jerseys, as they were “unworthy” to wear them.
Rossi rounded up the players’ jerseys in the bizarre scene.
But a tearful Sculli insisted that he was giving his all for the club and refused to hand over his shirt. He spoke to the leaders of the ultra groups and convinced them to stand down.
The game was allowed to resume, and Genoa fell 4-1.
Italian soccer is home to some of the most passionate followers of the world’s game, but this crossed the line. It should not take Sculli’s display of bravery to tell the fringe element of fans that they do not control things at the stadium.
See the infamous jersey ransom in the video below.
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