The FIGC has approved ‘landmark’ plans to incentivise clubs in the crackdown on racism and offensive behaviour from their fans.
The FIGC confirmed at a council meeting yesterday that clubs would no longer be liable for punishments if they cooperated with authorities fully over identifying unruly supporters.
“This is a landmark day because responsibility becomes personal,” explained President Gabriele Gravina.
The FIGC has approved ‘landmark’ plans to incentivise clubs in the crackdown on racism and offensive behaviour from their fans.
The FIGC confirmed at a council meeting yesterday that clubs would no longer be liable for punishments if they cooperated with authorities fully over identifying unruly supporters.
“This is a landmark day because responsibility becomes personal,” explained President Gabriele Gravina.
“We haven’t affected the basic principles, but if a club adopt our rewarding model, they no longer have anything to fear and it’s no longer the case to speak of objective responsibility.
“If instead some clubs don’t want to give the names of those who are responsible then it goes back to being objective.”
Sides have complained that they are being held to ransom in the current system by ultras who threaten to make offensive chants if they do not receive free tickets or other benefits.
This causes teams to receive fines, whereas the fans responsible go largely unpunished.
However, under the new proposals, responsibility would be removed from clubs if they actively worked with the sporting justice system to invest in security and technology, preventing and combating individual offensive behaviour.
This can include new speaker systems aimed at identifying racist chants, more stewards in the stands and cameras.
There should also be a protocol put in place for how to deal with racist abuse as the prerogative at present is to maintain public order rather than stop play.