Fiorentina fans remain idiots, earn season-long travel ban

Like a cargo barge running at half power, Fiorentina is ever so slowly turning its season around. The best performance of the season came on Sunday at Bologna, with a well-fought 1-2 away win finally giving the supporters something to cheer. Those supporters, however, won’t get a chance to do that on the road again this year, having earned a season-long travel ban for clashing with AS Roma fans.

The fight involved several dozen hooligans who engaged in a running battle on the A1 highway southwest of Bologna. The Giallorossi fans were passing through en route to Turin for their team’s game at Torino, while their Viola counterparts were in town for the Derby dell’Appennino. I’ve seen different reports about who started the fracas. One theory is that the Roma fans were just passing through and were ambushed by Fiorentina ultras, who stole several banners from them in a disgusting display of aggression.

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I’m not a big fan of the violence that ultra culture often promotes and don’t think those yahoos deserve the benefit of the doubt, but I’m also curious about how a group of Roma ultras ended up on a highway in suburban Bologna. I wouldn’t be shocked if this was planned in advance by both sides in a typically idiotic display of toxic masculinity, and the punishments—both sides banned from traveling for the rest of the season—reinforce that theory.

Fiorentina’s fans have had a rocky relationship with their team this season, understandably accusing the players of giving up. The incremental improvement over the past month was getting them back onside but now they’ll only be able to cheer their guys on in half the remaining Serie A games. The traveling support probably won’t be the deciding factor in Fiorentina’s fate but every little bit helps and now these boneheads have removed that extra little boost they could’ve provided.

This also explains why Roma fans booed during the league-wide moment of silence that Serie A instituted in memory of Rocco Commisso. Like most observers, I found that response to be disrespectful in the extreme, but at least now I understand why the Gialorossi were so riled up, even if I don’t think that part of the response was warranted.

The ban doesn’t apply to the Conference League playoff against Jagiellonia Białystok next month or any potential Coppa Italia games should Fiorentina beat Como next week. It’s a shame that this bunch of idiots had to go ruin any further trips for the rest of the fans, but that’s what machismo does. Nice one.