Comedy cure suggested for Roma's racist fans

ROME, Feb 9 (Reuters) - AS Roma fan newspaper Il Romanista says it will give away copies of the Roberto Benigni comedy film 'Life is Beautiful' as a way of combating the neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic views of some of the club's fans.

The newspaper, which has a circulation of 10,000 copies a day, took the decision after fans of the Serie A club displayed neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic banners during a Serie A match against Livorno at Rome's Olympic Stadium last month.

The disciplinary committee of the Italian Football League punished Roma by ordering it to play its next home Serie A match at a neutral ground without spectators.

But Il Romanista's editor, Riccardo Luna, felt that it was the fans' attitudes that needed changing, not just the venue.

Benigni's film, which won three Oscars at the 1999 Academy Awards, tells the story of a Jewish family deported to an Italian concentration during the Second World War.

'At least this way one might grasp what happened in the death camps,' Luna was quoted as saying in La Gazzetta dello Sport on Thursday.

'At the stadium that day there was indifference, but straight afterwards our newspaper was inundated by emails and letters from angry fans, who asked me how we could show our disapproval.'

The Roma fans' banners were only the latest in a series of racist and political incidents to tarnish the image of Italy's top flight this season.

Lazio striker Paolo Di Canio has twice been fined 10,000 euros and banned for one match for fascist salutes at the end of Serie A games against Livorno and Juventus.

In November Messina's Ivorian midfielder Mark Zoro threatened to walk off the pitch after suffering racist abuse from Inter Milan supporters.