Turin has always had a beautiful, bitter edge to it. The Derby della Mole is rarely a spectacle of flowing football; it is more often a street fight d...
Turin has always had a beautiful, bitter edge to it. The Derby della Mole is rarely a spectacle of flowing football; it is more often a street fight dressed in kits, a game where reputation counts for little and the noise from the stands can rattle the most seasoned of professionals. But now, Lega Serie A President Ezio Simonelli has thrown a hand grenade into the pre match buildup by publicly calling for a night time ban on the fixture. His reasoning It is simply better to avoid the trouble.Let us be brutally honest here. This is not a man who lacks an understanding of Italian football culture. Simonelli knows that the atmosphere in Turin can turn volatile, particularly when the lights go down and the ultras from both sides find themselves in close quarters. He is not arguing for a 3pm kick off because it suits television schedules. He is arguing for it because he believes it might save someone from a broken nose or something far worse. When the chief of the league says it is better to avoid a night time slot, you have to ask yourself: what exactly are we waiting forSome might cry that this is an overreach, a bureaucratic move that kills the romance of a floodlit derby. But is a crowd of 40,000 people being herded out of the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino at 10.30pm really romantic The tension in the stands is part of the fabric, sure, but when that tension spills over into the car parks and the back streets, the game loses something it can never get back. A 12.30pm kick off on a Sunday might not have the same cinematic glow, but it gives the authorities the daylight they need to manage the energy. It gives the families a chance to get home before the atmosphere curdles.Of course, the fans will argue that they can police themselves. And to a degree, they are right. But the numbers do not lie. The Derby della Mole has a history of flashpoints, from pitch invasions to violent clashes outside the ground. Simonelli is not making this up. He is reading the same reports that the local police read. He is trying to get ahead of the curve before something truly ugly happens. It takes a certain kind of courage to suggest that the league should put safety above spectacle. In an era where everyone demands more drama, more late night showpieces, Simonelli is the one saying: maybe we should just turn the lights off and go home early.The question now is whether the clubs will accept it. Juventus and Torino both know that derby day is their biggest domestic sell out. If you shift it to a daytime slot, you lose some of the edge. But you might also keep the game on the pitch where it belongs. That is the trade off. And frankly, if the alternative is a headline about a stabbing or a riot, I know which one I would choose. Sometimes the most intelligent tactical decision a league president can make is to take the fixture out of the shadows and put it back in the afternoon sun.
