Will tomorrow be the end of the italian premier league as we know it?
I guess the italians will welcome their heros and forget about it. Much ado about nothing will be the end. Clemente Mastella, Italys justice minister spoke about an “amnesty” for the victory in the “Corriere della Sera”.
Believe it, Juve, Milano, Lazio and Firence will play next season, like nothing ever happened.
What’s the Calcio without Juve and AC Milan? Heck, when the match started today there were 7 players from Juve in France and Italy playing in the WC final.
Anyway yeah I think they’ll call an amnesty.
Bah. That stinks.
We’ll see. From what I understand the players shouldn’t be punished because the corruption came from the team organizations buying off referees.
I also heard during the ABC coverage today that if the teams are relegated all the players will become free agents, so it’s not as though the likes of Del Piero and Cannavaro will be forced to play in the third division - instead, you’d have a transfer frenzy.
If there’s anything to this corruption then absolutely Juve and the other offenders should be relegated at least one division. But in light of this World Cup win (and perhaps even without it), I suspect that Italian “justice” will prevail and absolutely nothing will happen.
I remember reading an excellent article once, which looked at the history of the Holy Roman Empire (which used to contain much of Italy), the conflict between the Welfs vs. Ghibellines therein and its reflection in the rivalry between imperium and papacy; compared German with Italian unification with reference to the different economic and political conditions in mid-to-late 19th century Europe; and concluded that at a fundamental political and sociological level, Italians are lazy, corrupt grafters who will never actually challenge northern European power, except in areas where cheating consistently works.
I say this as an Anglo-Italian. So I know.
I didnt understood a word before you came to this part of the sentencte.
Yeah all these players always have a clause in their contracts to become free agents if their teams get relegated.
That was because the article “walked a mile to travel a meter” in finding complicated and obscure ways to show something that is, to everyone, already obvious.
What are you talking about? World Cup? Italians bribed referees to help them? I seem to have missed that news (though I didn’t watch 1 minute of the World Cup)…
No, several top-flight Italian clubs, primarily Juventus, are under investigation for bribing referees in domestic league competition.
Lots of loud noise, arguing, the appearance of action and nothing actually done. Kinda like the last two world wars.
What the fuck?
1940: Italy waits for France to be beaten before invading.
Italy invades Greece, Greece defends and starts pushing Italians back into Albania. The Italians hold in Albania, prepare a large offensive in spring and fail to dent the Greek line. This induces the Balkan campaign by the Germans, which delays Barbarossa and of course we all know what happened in the winter of 1941, with German troops 20 miles outside of Moscow.
The Italian navy sorties one time, gets a bop on the nose from the Royal Navy and stays in port for the rest of the war.
1940-41:
Italy is getting its butt handed to it in North Africa. Again, Germany intervenes and gets within spitting distance of Suez.
1944:
Italy capitulates to the Allies after the invasion of Sicily and southern Italy. Once again, Germany intervenes.
Total Population and Military Losses by Axis and Axis-aligned nations in Europe:
Finland 3,700,000 95,000
Hungary 9,200,000 300,000
Romania 19,900,000 316,000
Germany 69,300,000 5,500,000
Italy 43,800,000 306,400
All-in-all, a rather disappointing effort for a great power in an epic conflict.
World War I:
Italy sits out 1914, essentially breaking the Triple Alliance by saying that she was not obligated to join since it wasn’t a defensive war.
In May 1915 Italy declares war on Austro-Hungary, after numerous bribes promised in the Treaty of London.
Italy spends the next two years in a stalemate with the ineffective and incompetent Austro-Hungarians.
1917:
German advisers and a couple of their divisions are assigned to the Italian front after the withdrawal of Russia from the war. Within months, an Austro-Hungarian offensive using German tactics destroys the Italian line and drives the Italian forces to the Piave river over a couple of weeks. This rather eliminates the theory that it was the difficult mountain terrain that made offensive gains impossible. The Austro-German advance is stopped by the influx of French and British relief forces and the inadequacy of the Austrian supply network.
1918:
A year after the Austrians were stopped, with reinforcements from the western front, the Italians finally score a victory against an Austria shaking itself apart with internal dissent at Vittorio Venetto. 8 days before Germany signs the Armistice.
Italy’s army in World War I was outmoded and poorly motivated, rather like the Russians, or more accurately, Austrians. The troops were motivated by terror (there are several incidents of decimation) and punishments, rather than loyalty. The officer class was corrupt and generally incompetent. Soldiers were poorly trained and not trusted with even the most basic information or maps. Many spoke different dialects and were not organized into cohesive fighting units based on their regions, but rather lumped together as a whole. The three most significant and decisive battles of the Italian campaign - Caporetto, Piave, and Vittorio Venetto - are all the direct result of German and/or Allied intervention.
In short: much noise, much fanfare, nothing done.
Italy lost 43 Million civilians in WW2? I don’t think that’s right.
Jakub, that was not very clear from your original reply :P