Last weekend, in the final hours of the January transfer window, the relatively little-known Italian defender Gianluca Grassadonia moved from second division Cagliari to Serie A side Chievo in a straight exchange deal which saw Chievo defender Moreno Longo travel in the other direction.
At first glance, this would appear to have been just another of the many loan and exchange deals which dominated an Italian transfer window that was clearly much diminished by the burgeoning financial crisis of Italian (and European) football. Events of Sunday night 10 days ago, however, had a large say in this particular exchange.
The Grassadonia family were safely tucked away in bed in their Cagliari apartment block when they were rudely awakened by a loud explosion. Grassadonia himself takes up the story: "It was ten to four in the morning and I walked out onto the balcony, to find that all hell had broken loose. My car was on fire and so was the one parked next to it, that belongs to the lady who lives in the flat above us. Everybody in the condominium, including my three small children, had been woken up by the blast.There was an awful mess, fire engines, policemen, firemen, sirens blasting, lights flashing."
Inevitably, initial inquiries suggest that Grassadonia's car had been deliberately set alight and that, furthermore, the perpetrators of the act of arson were disgruntled Cagliari "fans", angered not only by Cagliari's 3-0 defeat by Venezia earlier that day but also by a Grassadonia own goal in that loss. "Maybe, they went for me because of the own goal. But maybe, too, they attacked me because of the fact that I'm a bit of a Cagliari mascot, I've played here for seven years now," said Grassadonia on the morning after the arson attack.
Seven years that came to an end last Friday when Grassadonia decided that enough was enough. At 30 years of age, he is not innocent of the ways of football fans. Seven years ago, whilst a player with second division Salernitana, he was parking his car in his garage below his house when three masked "fans" assaulted him.
On that occasion, too, the incident had been preceded by an unfortunate own goal in a 2-1 win against Perugia. Grassadonia had seen this particular movie before and opted to move to Chievo prior to seeing a second re-run.
Unfortunately, the attack on his car (a €50,000 BMW, by the way) was only the latest in a series of incidents that continue to besmirch Italian football. In late November, after Napoli had drawn 0-0 in a Serie B home clash with Palermo, Napoli defender Francesco Baldini was followed home by disgruntled fans who first set about beating him up (he received minor head and leg injuries) and then too tried to destroy his car.
Players at Roma, Como and Catania have also been assaulted by fans this season. Especially serious was the attack on Messina goalkeeper Emanuele Manitta, knocked unconscious by a blow from a Cagliari "fan" who had staged a solitary pitch invasion during a Serie B home game last November.
Thanks to TV footage and photographic evidence, the "fan" in question was subsequently identified, arrested and banned from attending football matches for the next five years. It later transpired that the "fan", a certain Massmo Meloni, was an ex-drug addict with a criminal record, having been sentenced for petty theft.
Whilst these events have prompted indignation, as well as a symbolic 15-minute strike called by the Italian Players' Association (AIC) in December, the sick reality is that they could have been worse. Just ask the relatives of Colombian international Andres Escobar, shot down in a hail of bullets in Medellin in July 1994, just days after he too had conceded an own goal whilst playing for Colombia against the USA during a USA World Cup finals loss that saw Colombia eliminated.
As Esobar's killers ran away, one of them shouted back: "Thanks for the goal." Parallels with the violence of Colombia are not really appropriate, or are they?
