'Closing curvas not the answer'

By Football Italia staff

Cagliari President Tommaso Giulini claims ‘closing curvas isn’t the answer’ to ending racism in Italian football. “The stewards have to report people.”

The FIGC is investigating Cagliari fans after they racially abused Inter striker Romelu Lukaku during Sunday’s Serie A encounter between the sides at the Sardegna Arena.

“We’re trying to work in a serious way, through the awareness of our stewards who will have to report people to DIGOS [a law enforcement agency],” Giulini told Radio Popolare.

“It’s not easy to lipread with technology: we’ll also ask the decent fans for help, that is 99.9 percent of Cagliari supporters.

“Fighting ignorance is difficult, so we can only raise awareness. This incident has caused huge anger and frustration in us for all the initiatives we’re carrying out. We were the first to introduce a school for young fans.

“Cagliari isn’t a racist city at all. I’m so sorry that this image of us has also gone abroad.

“I hope we aren’t banned. Closing curvas isn’t the answer: as I said before, stewards must be made aware.

“I won’t rule out, however, that any of my stewards saw something or a camera identified someone chanting.

“Once they’re recognised, these people could be denied entry if they try to re-enter the stadium.”

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