Football: Punishment still haunts England for riot in Rome

The Football Association's assertion that Italians caused the crowd trouble at England's World Cup qualifier in Rome looks like being vindicated by Fifa. Yet England may still be punished, says Glenn Moore in Marseilles.

Fifa's investigation into October's riot in Rome is being passed from committee to committee like a bottle being lobbed over a fence but, when it finally comes to land in the public domain, it is likely to conclude that the Football Association got it right. But football's world governing body may fine the FA anyway.

The FA's own report into the violence on 11 October blamed Italian ticket arrangements and policing for the running battles between England fans and Italian police in the Stadio Olimpico. The World Cup Organising Committee, which yesterday referred its investigation back to the disciplinary committee, "acknowledged that there were lessons to be learnt with regard to better control of tickets to fans through unauthorised channels". It added: "While Fifa did not have authority over the police forces the methods used by the police should be better adapted to the specific requirements of football."

With the police out of Fifa's reach, it is the Italian FA which will suffer for the poor organisation. Yet the FA's report ignored the effect of two days' intimidatory behaviour before the match by a substantial minority of the England supporters in Rome. It also appeared to ignore the small minority who relished the terrace fight with the carabinieri.

Fifa is not being so blind. While it is likely to agree that the FA did all in its power with regard to ticket arrangements Fifa indicated yesterday that England will still be penalised in an effort to deter similar behaviour by travelling supporters.

Sanctions are expected to be financial although more draconian punishments are available. These include forcing either or both national sides to play their next World Cup qualifier behind closed doors or out of the country. Or, in England's case, banning travelling support. A final decision is not expected until the new year.

The decision is inevitably linked to the continuing campaign to encourage the French to allow a fence-free World Cup. Of the 10 venues only Nantes and St Etienne have to be persuaded to take perimeter fences down. Vertical segregation fences will remain, however.

"Fences can become death traps, as we saw as recently as October 1996 in Guatemala," Sepp Blatter, the general secretary of Fifa, said. "In England and Scotland they have taken fences away and shown that spectators who sit down without fences are not aggressive. If you put people behind bars they are aggressive: bars are for prisoners and animals, not for humans."

Blatter agreed that some supporters still needed to be "educated - you don't see people throwing bottles at the theatre" and he said security would take into account the nature of matches. This does not, noted one official, just mean England games: "There are other countries to worry about."