The Curva Sud — the heartbeat of the Allianz Stadium’s atmosphere on matchdays — has announced a full boycott of the Juventus-Lazio fixture. The groups will not take their places in the stadium. The stand will be empty. “You will hear our silence,” the communiqué concludes.
The grievance is specific and long-running. In the communiqué titled “Basta! La Curva non è il capro espiatorio” — “Enough! The Curva is not the scapegoat” — the ultras groups contest the public order management at the Derby della Mole against Torino in May, in which chaotic scenes led the Questore to intervene during the match. A large number of Juventus supporters abandoned the stadium following decisions made by the public order authorities. The Curva’s complaint is that the subsequent banning orders, measures, and sanctions imposed on its members were disproportionate, indiscriminate, and failed to apportion responsibility fairly — including to those who, in the groups’ view, should have prevented the contact between the two sets of supporters in the first place.
The specific demand is that all responsibilities be established in full, including those of the authorities. The Curva rejects what it describes as a blanket crackdown and calls the sanctions unjust.
On Saturday at 3pm, the groups will gather outside the Curva Sud before the Lazio match. Then, when the game kicks off, they will stay outside. The stand they normally fill will be silent. The timing — as Juventus prepare for the most important period of the domestic season — underlines the seriousness with which the groups regard a grievance they have evidently been nursing since May.
