Fans or Fanatics?

The Champions League final is in Rome tonight at the Olympic Stadium north of the center of town. Much to the disappointment of Italy, all Italian teams were knocked out of competition months ago, so Barcelona will face off against Manchester United tonight. Much of what I have heard is rumor I'm sure, but I think there must be some truth behind it. The capacity of the Olympic Stadium is about 80,000 fans, but apparently another 30,000 to 70,000 (numbers vary from source to source) screaming British fans have descended on Rome to catch whatever piece of the action they can. The vast majority of these will not find tickets to the game (which are being sold for upwards of 1500 euros) and so will be roaming the streets looking for a watering hole to watch the game.

The city of Rome has taken measures against the general festivities. Starting last night at 11pm and running until 6am tomorrow morning, bars and pubs in the center of town are not allowed to serve alcohol. The main thoroughfares running through Rome will also be closed starting around 2 this afternoon.

To me these seem like very extreme measures. Rome is a major city, 3 million people in the city proper and 5 if you count the suburbs. That a soccer game could cause such massive changes is difficult to comprehend fully. Imagine if the city hosting the Superbowl could not serve alcohol and cut off the majority of it's larger roads? Doesn't seem like that would go over very well.

Which brings me to the title of this post, are European soccer fans that much crazier about their teams that their American counterparts? Does a national tie to a team make the connection stronger than living in the same city as the team? I think America lacks greatly in its support of our teams that play internationally. Look at the World Baseball Classic that has taken place in the last few years, it was barely a blip on the radar screen of Americans, even serious baseball fans. For countries such as Japan (they won it by the way) it was a huge event. The first rounds, pool play with four groups of four teams, were played in Mexico, Canada, Japan and Puerto Rico, but the second round, semi-finals and finals were all played in the States. The US team made a good showing and made it to the semis, losing to the eventually champions.

The reason bars are not allowed to serve alcohol is obvious, the city is afraid that drunk Brits (they aren't that concerned with the Spaniards) will turn the city upside after the game, win or lose. Are British fans that much more violent that American fans? Or just drunker? Or maybe both. I don't have an answer to these questions but it is impressive that a soccer game could have such a huge effect on a city as large as Rome.