The China Mail - Napoli, Roma fans given two-month away game ban after motorway brawl

Hardcore "ultra" supporters of both teams were involved in running battles on the A1 motorway on Sunday after they met at the Badia al Pino service station in Tuscany on their way to matches at Sampdoria and AC Milan, creating queues of up to 15 kilometres long.

Nicknamed the "sunshine motorway", the A1 runs from Naples to Rome and then all the way to Milan in northern Italy and is one of Italy's most important roads.

In a statement, the ministry said it had ordered "the closure for two months from today (Saturday) of away sections of stadiums where SSC Napoli and AS Roma play matches away from home".

The ban also extends to the selling of tickets in the home sections of those same stadiums "to people who live in the provinces of Naples and Rome".

Serie A leaders Napoli host fans Roma in the league on January 29.

Fans of the two clubs who live elsewhere in the country have not been barred from buying tickets in home sections, a common occurrence at matches in Italy which rarely leads to trouble.

Earlier on Saturday, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said he was set to approve the ban, telling reporters he had to "consider a general ban of the two sets of fans for public order reasons".

Matches between Roma and Napoli are fiery affairs due to the rivalry between two of Italy's largest and most passionate fan bases.

The antipathy was made outright poisonous after the fatal shooting of Napoli fan Ciro Esposito by a Roma supporter near the Stadio Olimpico before the 2014 Italian Cup final.

V.Fan--ThChM