Rome - Hooligan violence remains a troubling issue for Italian football ahead of the start of a season that sees the introduction of fan cards to regulate access to games.
The Interior Ministry has sponsored the card since last year and made it mandatory this season for fans of professional clubs who want to buy a season ticket and follow their team to away games.
Those who have been banned from stadiums for violent behaviour, about 5,000 people, cannot get the card - a norm which appears to have irked die-hard fans.
Anti-card protests were held last season in many stadiums and fans rallied in November in Rome to protest against what they consider a way to keep people under control and limit their personal freedom.
Ahead of the Serie A season kick-off this weekend and with minor leagues already started, clubs have issued about 200,000 cards, seeing season-ticket sales fall by 20 per cent.
A large number of supporters decided not to get the card, seemingly preferring to spend more buying single tickets for each game.
'Those against the card either have not understood, are pretending not to understand, or believe that violence in the stadiums is a legitimate thing,' Minister Roberto Maroni said.
'We think otherwise. The card is not a way of blacklisting, nor an instrument to control the fans. It is a way to favour good fans and leave out those who go to the stadium with other ideas, which have nothing to do with the values of sport.'
The ministry has already had some good results by bringing stewards into the stadiums, increasing police surveillance and banning fans from travelling away to high-tension games.
The measures brought violent acts in the past season down 42 per cent from 2009, but clashes involving hooligans and police were frequent in the second half of the season.
Furthermore, signs that violence remains rooted in Italian football came from several pre-season friendlies.
An early August game that Roma played away to Serie B side Pescara was followed by riots that left two home fans stabbed, 10 wounded - five of them policemen - and dozens of cars damaged.
Roma fans also marred the Italian Supercup game that their side lost 3-1 at Inter Milan on Saturday.
It was the last match before the official introduction of the card system and hooligans hurled smoke bombs on the pitch, chanted racist choirs and pelted home fans with bottles and other objects.
Hundreds of them vandalized a bar on a highway rest station - a feat that seems to have become a ritual for fans from other teams, too.
The obvious question is if they would have behaved differently with the card in their wallets, which would have allowed them access the stadium through fast lanes and also get discounts at the bar they destroyed.
The card, meanwhile, seems to have created a dangerous split between supporters of the same club, with card holders being called traitors by the others.
Policemen, who fall under the Interior Ministry, have also been lukewarm about the card, which, having to be controlled, is expected to increase their workload.
Some officials also fear that groups of fans without cards will still go to away games and mix with the home fans, as they will not be allowed in the sectors reserved for card-holding guests.
