Naples Soccer Fans, Secondo Tempo

It's hard to even begin to describe the video I just posted below.

Briefly, though, on Sunday, Naples soccer fans damaged buses, attacked train conductors and took over the Roma Termini train station by force on their way to a championship match between the Roma and Napoli soccer teams.

It was the latest in a long series of increasingly violent clashes among *some* Italian soccer fans. Such clashes, not unique to Italy, are more common in Europe, where fans are likelier to travel to away games to see their teams.

If you don't speak Italian, the video's images will tell the whole story.

If you do speak Italian, you'll hear that four train conductors were hurt and that the train was two hours late coming from Naples, where train personnel tried to persuade people who did not have tickets and simply wanted to cause trouble to exit the train.

Some of the fans threw small explosives, and wore ski masks not unlike what you would see on a bank robber, or more to the point, on a terrorist.

Italy -- what a beautiful country. But how does this happen?

I scanned a half a dozen videos and different details jumped out at me. In one shot of passengers at Roma Termini, you can see Japanese tourists simultaneously panicked and curious -- they are taking photos of the demonstration but keeping a safe distance.

In another excerpt from TV news, a message about the status of Hurricane Gustav flashes on the screen, while the images of the soccer riot play behind.

The incident has sparked a passionate debate online between those who see the hooligans as a small minority, and defend Naples, and those who have simply had enough of the violence and don't have the heart to see such distinctions.

On YouTube, the video I posted has so far spurred 320 comments online.

In my opinion, you can debate the issue all you want -- you can say it's a small minority that unfortunately besmirches the city of Naples.

But in the end, the innocent passengers who witnessed Sunday's guerrilla warfare probably don't care who's at fault -- they just know Italy has a problem it has to deal with.

Government officials in Italy proposed today that Naples soccer fans will not be allowed to attend away games. Yeah, like that's the bold response needed.

File this under the "Worst of Italy."