Inter ultras arrested with weapons outside San Paolo

Some disturbing news came out after the match against Inter Milan today: a host of Inter fans were arrested before the match for trying to bring weapons in to the San Paolo.

From Forza Italian Football:

The buses of fans were blocked by officials at the Napoli north freeway exit and subsequently searched by police.

According to Il Mattino, the supporters were found to be carrying knives and wooden bats.

The report states many of the fans were drunk, with all offenders identified and detained.

The report is pretty frightening. If these fans hadn't been caught, things could have gotten very, very ugly in the stands. Thank goodness for whatever it was that tipped police off to the situation and their quick, assertive work to stop the buses and detain those looking to cause harm.

This is part of a very dark side of football fandom that many had hoped we were past by now, but apparently can't quite move on from. Hopefully we won't be hearing about incidents like this for much longer, but ... you can't help but get the feeling that something truly scary is going to have to happen for this kind of thing to truly get stamped out.