https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66037831
Italian FA bans number 88 on players' shirts as part of anti-Semitism initiative
Italian FA bans number 88 on players' shirts as part of anti-Semitism initiative
Racism in Italy - even anti-racism is filled with racism
- Thread starter Ødegaard
- Start date
It's engrained into Italian culture sadly. It will be very difficult to erode it
Dunno, seems a bit like a token gesture. I appreciate in Europe squad numbers can be less conventional, but what does banning 88 really achieve?
If an anti-semite can't pick number 88 they're just gonna pick another number aren't they? The issue isn't the number, the issue is the person picking the number and presumably their lack of education.
It’s silly shirt numbers go up to this amount anyway. Squad numbers should be up to 50 and that’s it.
Buffon wore 88 at Lazio, right?
Why?
Because a squad size usually, at a push, is 25-30, with anything after 30 for youth players. There’s no real need to have shirt numbers higher than that.
Imagine you have 88 on your shirt, just because you like the number and then you accidentally wear a shirt with a Mussolini quote. If you don't have great hair some people may actually think you're a fascist. With this rule Serie A would protect its players and thus itself from such accidents. At basically no cost.
Meh I disagree. Either just limit it to the numer of players in your squad or just let anyone pick for themselves - there's no reason 9 is a better suited number to play football with than 82 imo, so whatever.
At Parma. That was over 20 years ago, there was a bit of outrage at the time. He said he picked it because it reminded him of 4 balls, and something else about having balls.
Not much has changed in 20 years it seems.
It’s not often, if ever, I agree with a pool fan but I do here.
As a previous poster said, the number 88 isn’t the issue, the issue is the anti-semite who would be wearing it for negative reasons.
Let them pick whatever, makes it easier to pick out the wrong’uns wearing 88 ‘just because’ anyway.
Yeah exactly.
Mignolet started out at Bruges with 88. It caused a mini-storm in Belgium for exactly the neonazi-stuff reasonings, but he explained that '88 is his birth year and Bruges was his fourth club, so 4x22 (his old number) also equalled 88. Mentioned that he didn't even know about the 88 stuff when choosing the number.
(Still switched to 22 when it became available again the year after).
At Lazio it's probably reserved for the fans.
At Lazio they probably don’t need the code and just sell the jerseys with the written words on them.
At City it is but not for anti-Semitism
Letting players choose for themselves is silly though. Sure let a player take 7 if they want a shirt with some tradition etc. but going for 88, 9+1 (Zamarano), 77 etc etc is all a bit silly.
The number 8 is seen as a lucky number or harbinger of good fortune for the Chinese, so 88 would be the dream number for Asian players/markets. Like the number 4 is associated with death. Banning 88 is kinda window dressing, lip service towards doing something about the blatant racism in Italian football. Maybe do something about the fascist solutes before banning a number?
Eradicating fascism and superstition in one go.
This was my experience too when I went to Italy. Got stared at all the time. Had drivers go past physically turn their head, and stop looking at the road to briefly stare at me. It was very intimidating and I felt very uncomfortable there. But when you tell people this, they make out that you are paranoid or some shit. It is relieving only in an odd sense to learn that others have experienced it and that I was not paranoid.
Lazio in another scandal, with fans on picture doing the Nazi salute etc.
Never expected that at Lazio. Normally such a pleasant fanbase.
This has really come completely out of the blue.
It's a shame and as many know, nothing new. How many remember Di Canio's antics there?
But nothing will happen. It's the 'ultras' and that's that. I'm pretty much a libertarian, instinct is to protest against much censorship and banning things. But you shouldn't be able to celebrate Adolf Hitler in a publicly accesible brewery. Keep such madness private.
But nothing will happen. It's the 'ultras' and that's that. I'm pretty much a libertarian, instinct is to protest against much censorship and banning things. But you shouldn't be able to celebrate Adolf Hitler in a publicly accesible brewery. Keep such madness private.
At least one of those guys was actually arrested and had to pay a fine. No idea why the police didn't identify more, I didn't see any details about that, probably he was stupid enough to being caught doing it when the police arrived or something like that? So it definitely has consequences, lead to the police arriving and stopping this.
Don’t see why it matters the actual value of the number is irrelevant it is just an identifier.
Remember the Italians were on the German's side in WW2 and made a deal with Adolf until defeat.
SS Nazio