Soccer Fans to Get Free Access to Museums So They Don't Destroy Cities
You look like you love sports. Would you ever fuck up a historical monument in order to prove to the world how much you really loved sport(s)? Would you rather go to a museum to prove that you love sports—and art—thereby killing two birds with one stone? I like where your head is at.
The mayors of both Rome and Florence have decided in order to encourage soccer fans to refrain from completely destroying their cities in an outrage of drunkenness and excitement before and after matches, they will offer fans free admission to museums when they show their tickets from the upcoming Europa League games. Before a match between Dutch soccer team Feyenoord and Rome's club at the end of February, Dutch soccer fans damaged a 17th Century Baroque statue in Rome and fecklessly left the city littered with beer bottles and trash, clashing with riot police. Twenty-three Dutch fans were arrested.
Rome's Mayor Ignazio Marino explained his reasoning behind the forthcoming promotion, via the BBC:
"After the terrible events of the past weeks, culminating with the violence and devastation in the city centre, we want to transform the next dates into something radically different," says a statement on Mr Marino's website. "A match can and should be preceded by an awareness of the beauty of the host city."
Way to go, Marino. Florence's mayor echoed Marino's sentiments, saying, "Culture can help to teach real values," to Radio 24.
Good work.
[Images via AP]