Juve fans are threatening to boycott Serie A. Football will go downhill in Italy. That's 30% of the country's fans. Maybe they should all go and follow Rugby Union or Ferrari.
Juventus Fans Send Letter To FIGC Demanding Calciopoli Justice, Two Revoked Scudetti, Compensation & Threatening To Boycott Serie A
J1897.com, the second largest online Bianconero community in Italy with 40,000 members, have sent a letter to Juventus and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) demanding Calciopoli “justice” and threatening to boycott their club and Serie A altogether.
The Juventino community have demanded the reassignment of the two revoked Scudetti, a formal public apology for the wrongful relegation, compensation for lost revenue, and even demotion of clubs that weren’t punished in 2006. The website also bemoaned the conflict of interest in Italian football that sees TIM's sponsorship links to both Serie A and Inter, and warns that they will no longer be part of a political league where money dictates.
Calciopoli rocked the Calcio world in 2006, and Juventus suffered more than any other team. They were stripped of the Scudetti they won in 2005 and 2006, and relegated to Serie B with a heavy points penalty. After selling off many of their star players and losing out financially and internationally, the Bianconeri have yet to recover.
Since the crisis there have been many theories that Calciopoli was a conspiracy targeted to eliminate Juventus as Calcio’s most powerful force. Some of the complaints can be found in this editorial.
Former Juventus director Luciano Moggi’s ongoing trial in Naples has raised further doubts about the punishments dished out in 2006, with suggestions that there was mass evidence-tampering four years ago, with 171,000 phone calls implicating Inter and others withheld from court.
Juventus fans have been extremely upset that their current management, who replaced the 'Triade' of Luciano Moggi, Antonio Giraudo and the recently-returned Roberto Bettega in 2006, have failed to defend their club during Calciopoli by first complying during the original trial and then never fighting for “justice”.
J1897.com have now upped the ante with a strong letter sent both to Juventus and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in which they make it clear that they will stop at nothing to ensure that there is “justice”.
The letter in full is below:
"We Want Justice
Only four years have passed but for us fans it seems like many more. From 2006 to the present day we have absorbed too many humiliations, now it is time to seriously raise our voices.
The intercepted phone calls that have emerged recently from lawyers Prioreschi and Trofino in the Neapolitan Civil Court demonstrated one simple thing: those who four years ago professed immaculate honesty and walked the streets wearing the white veil of virginity with the “Scudetto of Embarrassment” stitched on top, made calls that were far worse than anything heard in 2006.
• Never was Moggi overheard asking for two linesmen from designator Mazzei, let alone obtaining them.
• Never was Moggi overheard suggesting a new method to assign referees (and request to discontinue the random draw), inserting referees outside of the grid process to increase the probability of obtaining a desired referee.
• Never was Moggi found conversing with referees on the phone, excluding the call Paparesta made to Moggi after he officiated the Reggina-Juventus match, which Moggi terminated with seconds claiming he had nothing to say to him.
• Never was Moggi heard requesting and being granted a referee for a Coppa Italia match (remember that Coppa matches did not adhere to a random draw process but rather straight assigning of referees).
Juventus fans are not stupid.
It is clear as daylight that there were no fixed games in the “incriminated seasons” on behalf of Juventus, Inter, Milan, or any other club (this sentiment is further shared by the very judges who stated as much in the verdicts they wrote in July of 2006).
The only evident “system” was one that the FIGC itself created and promoted whereby team directors were invited and encouraged to maintain dialogue with referee designators for the purposes of communicating feedback be it satisfaction or criticism. There was certainly no mafia style organism governed by two men, who have now suffered the consequences alone while all others continue to walk freely proclaiming their innocence.
It appears as though there are but two possible outcomes:
• It is determined that all are innocent: in such a case we demand that the FIGC reassign the 28th and 29th league titles to Juventus, a public apology for the damage that has been caused to the Juventus name along with a demand to Juventus SpA for an economic restitution by the FIGC for the financial losses incurred by the federation’s decisions. These are the MINIMUM acceptable actions that the team’s directors could carry out to finally demonstrate respect towards its fans that have remained loyal even in Serie B.
• It is determined that all are guilty: in such a case we demand that the FIGC open a new investigation in their Sporting Tribunal to analyze the new intercepted calls and that the same rules applied four years ago be applied again. This could only be realized by the relegation of certain ”honest” teams.
The behaviour was the same by all team directors, therefore we only ask for fair and equal treatment for all.
Other solutions will NOT be tolerated from the Juventino population; do not think that revoking the 2006 title from Inter will be sufficient to pacify the country’s biggest fan base and bury the hatchet. We want a trial, we want the truth. The time of half truths and power games has come to an end.
Since all our prior requests for clarity regarding this case have fallen on deaf ears, now we are obligated to communicate by threat.
If these demands are not met by Juventus FC or the FIGC, we are prepared to boycott the entire football product, because at that point it will become clear to all that this is not a league based on sport and competition but rather a farce where it is acceptable to make those who spend more win. No season ticket sales, no regular tickets, no magazine or web subscriptions, no pay TV, no merchandise, absolutely nothing.
* We do not want this type of football.
* For this type of football you will have to proceed without our money.
* This type of football Mr. Moratti will have to finance entirely.
We are many, we are awaiting the results of this case and we are infuriated.
Do not call our bluff because we assure you that in such a case we will bring our money elsewhere.
It is our consumer right and no one will take it away."
