After a week of ultras-related outrage and public relations damage in Italy, the only surprise, regrettably, is that anyone should still be surprised
Of all the stadiums Lazio could visit on Wednesday, it had to be the Renato Dall’Ara. Their week had begun amidst outrage after ultras affixed anti-semitic stickers, including mocked-up images of Anne Frank in a Roma shirt, to plexiglass barriers inside their own Stadio Olimpico. Now supporters travelling to their away game against Bologna would occupy a stand dedicated to the memory of Arpad Weisz.
A Jewish Hungarian, Weisz came to Italy late in his playing career and stayed on afterwards to move into coaching. He remains the youngest manager ever to win Serie A, having led Inter – then known as Ambrosiana, following pressure from the fascist government to adopt a more ‘Italian’ branding – to the Scudetto at 34. Weisz would claim two further titles with Bologna, before fleeing the country following the introduction of racial laws. He was killed at Auschwitz in 1944.
Related: Anne Frank diary to be read at Serie A games after Lazio fans’ antisemitism
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