MILAN, March 30 (Reuters) - Sunday's Serie A game between Juventus and Parma has been postponed after a Parma fan was accidentally knocked down and killed by a bus following a spat with rival supporters.
'Juventus and Parma, with the approval of the relevant
authorities, have jointly decided to postpone the match as a
mark of respect for the accident involving the Parma fan who was
travelling to the stadium in Turin,' a joint statement said.
'Given the tragic fatality, the two clubs have decided that
it would not be right to send the teams on the field.'
All other Serie A matches went ahead on Sunday with a
minute's silence for the fan before kick off.
Police said some Parma and Juve fans were trading insults at
a service station where the accident happened.
'There were the usual insulting phrases,' highway police
spokesman Alessandria Ovest told Reuters.
'In order to avoid trouble, the coach of Juve fans left, but
obviously the driver was not aware that there was a fan in front
and he hit him with the forward part of the vehicle.'
In November, before the reverse set of fixtures to Sunday's,
Lazio fan Gabriele Sandri was shot and killed by a police
officer following scuffles with Juve fans at a service station
near Arezzo.
Sandri's death, the second in a year connected to football
violence in Italy, led to riots and the suspension of the league
for a week.
Juventus had to postpone a Serie B game against Cesena in
2006 after two youth team players accidentally drowned in a lake
at the club's training ground.
Juve are third in Serie A, seven points behind second-placed
AS Roma. They will now have a game in hand with eight matches
remaining in their season. Parma are struggling towards the
bottom.
A decision has yet to been taken on when the game will be
rearranged.
