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There's plenty to be frustrated and angry about on the pitch after Napoli's loss to Roma, but that might just pale in comparison to something that happened in the stands.
As you all know, Napoli fan Ciro Esposito was shot in Rome before the Coppa Italia final last year during the clashes between Napoli fans trying to get to the Stadio Olimpico and Roma fans apparently only trying to cause trouble. This was Napoli's first match against Roma at the Olimpico since then, so some ... colorful responses from Roma fans were expected.
Some, ah, "delightful" chants were heard from Roma fans and a banner was unfurled proclaiming that Daniele De Santis was "always one of us," supporting the man identified as the person who pulled the trigger that eventually ended Esposito's life, and who was also charged with injuring two other Napoli fans. That was more or less expected, but things took a turn for the worse when Roma fans took aim at Ciro's mother.
A banner mocking the mother of murdered #Napoli fan Ciro Esposito in the Curva Sud today #ASRoma Shameful pic.twitter.com/AYjKlLyOCM
— Adam Digby (@Adz77) April 4, 2015
That banner translates to "How sad, you're making money off the funeral with books and interviews," referring to the book Ciro's mother wrote about her son in his memory. Never mind that she's a mother in pain over a lost child, never mind that almost all the money from the book is going to charity, never mind that, again, her son is dead after trying to watch a football match, obviously it's time to mock her and say terrible things about her! There's also indications that other banners said some horribly distateful things about her, but as finding translateable pictures of them has proved difficult, we'll leave those aside.
This is absolutely not OK and absolutely not acceptable. Everyone involved should be ashamed, but sadly you know they're not. Such displays only serve to tarnish the image of their club, as well as the league and, frankly, the sport as a whole.