Italians may be deserting football - the game they love as a religion - for cultural pursuits such as the theatre.
This is surprising consider that Italy contributes just £1.2 billion a year to culture, compared to £3 billion a year for England and even more for Great Britain as a whole (the beer-swilling, fast-food eating British are actually the most "cultured" Europeans attending theatres and museums etc more than anyone else in Europe).
However, English football teams are taxed 60% less than Italian teams. Get that sorted and the fans will come back......
Theatre-loving Italians desert football
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
17/03/2007
AC Milan. For Italians, soccer - "il calcio" - is a religion.
Once a national obsession, football in Italy has now fallen behind the theatre in terms of popularity. Only nine million Italians watched a live match last year, compared with 13.5 million who went to the theatre.
The news has come as a shock in a country that often seems completely football mad. There are three national newspapers and hours of prime-time television debate devoted to the sport. Italy is the current holder of the World Cup, with only Brazil having won the competition more times.
Italian football stadiums can be intimidating for visiting teams
And when the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi entered politics, he named his party Forza Italia! (Go Italy!) after the terrace chant.
However, it seems that unpopular kick-off times insisted on by television networks, a match-fixing scandal last summer and the air of barely suppressed violence in the stadiums are having an effect. "It seems brain has beaten brawn," said La Stampa newspaper.
The upturn in the arts is surprising given that Italy contributes just £1.2 billion a year to culture, compared to £3 billion in England.
However, Aldo Spinelli, the president of Livorno football club, said: "English clubs are taxed at least 60 per cent less. If we had a less oppressive regime, the price of tickets would fall by half and fans would be delighted."
telegraph.co.uk
This is surprising consider that Italy contributes just £1.2 billion a year to culture, compared to £3 billion a year for England and even more for Great Britain as a whole (the beer-swilling, fast-food eating British are actually the most "cultured" Europeans attending theatres and museums etc more than anyone else in Europe).
However, English football teams are taxed 60% less than Italian teams. Get that sorted and the fans will come back......
Theatre-loving Italians desert football
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
17/03/2007
AC Milan. For Italians, soccer - "il calcio" - is a religion.
Once a national obsession, football in Italy has now fallen behind the theatre in terms of popularity. Only nine million Italians watched a live match last year, compared with 13.5 million who went to the theatre.
The news has come as a shock in a country that often seems completely football mad. There are three national newspapers and hours of prime-time television debate devoted to the sport. Italy is the current holder of the World Cup, with only Brazil having won the competition more times.
Italian football stadiums can be intimidating for visiting teams
And when the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi entered politics, he named his party Forza Italia! (Go Italy!) after the terrace chant.
However, it seems that unpopular kick-off times insisted on by television networks, a match-fixing scandal last summer and the air of barely suppressed violence in the stadiums are having an effect. "It seems brain has beaten brawn," said La Stampa newspaper.
The upturn in the arts is surprising given that Italy contributes just £1.2 billion a year to culture, compared to £3 billion in England.
However, Aldo Spinelli, the president of Livorno football club, said: "English clubs are taxed at least 60 per cent less. If we had a less oppressive regime, the price of tickets would fall by half and fans would be delighted."
telegraph.co.uk