First Round KO for the Hammers.
Hammers take early exit in UEFA Cup while fans brawl in the streets of Sicily
West Ham were dominated by the Sicilian team of Palermo and took an early exit out of the UEFA Cup. They were beaten 3-0 with the scorers being Simplicio, who bagged two goals including a delightful chip over Roy Carroll's head in the 62nd minute, and Di Michele who beat the offside trap in the 68th minute to wrap up the tie. Hammer fans then took to the streets and began to fight with Sicilian fans which ended up with over 500 involved in brawl. This violent confrontation ended with fans, locals and local authorities hospitalised with fortunately only minor injuries. 20 Hammer fans were arrested in the aftermath of the mass brawl.
This morning the streets of Sicily are shrouded with the remains of broken bottles, cans and even turned over chairs. These were the remnants of a typical football riot. The fans involved in this turmoil were the fans of West Ham and Palermo.
It was the night of the 2nd leg in the first round of the UEFA Cup, Palermo being the team with the upper hand coming in to this match at home after a 1-0 victory in the 1st leg at Upton Park. The match was controlled by the home team as they headed on to victory with consummate ease.
However, the night was not over both set of fans as they would take to the streets and battle for pride. 500 fans ended up in the clash with people from both parties and the local authorities going home with injuries. Even locals who were caught up in the duel went home with a few cuts and bruises.
It took Police in riot gear over an hour to control this gargantuan culture clash. The affairs concerned occured outside the location of the first leg, where Hammer fans were selling shirts that implied the Sicilians were linked with "The Mafia" of the Italian criminal underworld. This caused tenisions to rise and sparked the midnight madness.
English authorities are expected to set in banning orders to the 20 Hammer fans who were caught and arrested last night at the scene of the crime.
This morning the streets of Sicily are shrouded with the remains of broken bottles, cans and even turned over chairs. These were the remnants of a typical football riot. The fans involved in this turmoil were the fans of West Ham and Palermo.
It was the night of the 2nd leg in the first round of the UEFA Cup, Palermo being the team with the upper hand coming in to this match at home after a 1-0 victory in the 1st leg at Upton Park. The match was controlled by the home team as they headed on to victory with consummate ease.
However, the night was not over both set of fans as they would take to the streets and battle for pride. 500 fans ended up in the clash with people from both parties and the local authorities going home with injuries. Even locals who were caught up in the duel went home with a few cuts and bruises.
It took Police in riot gear over an hour to control this gargantuan culture clash. The affairs concerned occured outside the location of the first leg, where Hammer fans were selling shirts that implied the Sicilians were linked with "The Mafia" of the Italian criminal underworld. This caused tenisions to rise and sparked the midnight madness.
English authorities are expected to set in banning orders to the 20 Hammer fans who were caught and arrested last night at the scene of the crime.