15th March is the Ides of March - the day when Julius Caesar was stabbed. How appropriate then that several Middlesbrough fans have been stabbed in Rome, where their team play Roma in the 2nd leg of their UEFA Cup tie, in which Middlesbrough lead 1-0 on aggregate.
Football fans stabbed in Rome
09:14am 15th March 2006
Three Middlesbrough football fans have been stabbed and injured in Rome ahead of tonight's Uefa Cup match against Roma.
Ten other fans have reportedly been injured after trouble flared between the two sets of fans.
Middlesbrough chief executive Keith Lamb confirmed several fans were hospitalised.
"There was an incident in one of the bars in a square in Rome. Some Boro fans were drinking in a bar and the bar was attacked by some Roma fans," he said.
"A number of Boro fans have been injured - a small number - and taken to hospital and received medical treatment.
"As far as I'm aware everybody is okay now, although one was retained in hospital but is in a stable condition."
A police spokesman said the Italian fans appeared to be "an organised gang" and were wearing scarves and bandanas around their faces.
Thirteen fans were injured in the trouble, and one 39-year-old Middlesbrough fan later underwent an operation for stab wounds to his back and chest.
Two other fans, aged 18 and 31, were also stabbed and needed hospital treatment.
A spokesman for Cleveland Police said today: "Tables, chairs and bottles were being thrown, and police called to the scene broke up the fight with their batons."
Late last year a Middlesbrough fan died after being stabbed outside a bar in Amsterdam, after travelling to watch his team in the Uefa Cup.
Brendan O'Connor, 36, of London, had joined friends to travel to Holland where his team were playing Dutch side AZ Alkmaar last November.
dailymail.co.uk
Football fans stabbed in Rome
09:14am 15th March 2006
Three Middlesbrough football fans have been stabbed and injured in Rome ahead of tonight's Uefa Cup match against Roma.
Ten other fans have reportedly been injured after trouble flared between the two sets of fans.
Middlesbrough chief executive Keith Lamb confirmed several fans were hospitalised.
"There was an incident in one of the bars in a square in Rome. Some Boro fans were drinking in a bar and the bar was attacked by some Roma fans," he said.
"A number of Boro fans have been injured - a small number - and taken to hospital and received medical treatment.
"As far as I'm aware everybody is okay now, although one was retained in hospital but is in a stable condition."
A police spokesman said the Italian fans appeared to be "an organised gang" and were wearing scarves and bandanas around their faces.
Thirteen fans were injured in the trouble, and one 39-year-old Middlesbrough fan later underwent an operation for stab wounds to his back and chest.
Two other fans, aged 18 and 31, were also stabbed and needed hospital treatment.
A spokesman for Cleveland Police said today: "Tables, chairs and bottles were being thrown, and police called to the scene broke up the fight with their batons."
Late last year a Middlesbrough fan died after being stabbed outside a bar in Amsterdam, after travelling to watch his team in the Uefa Cup.
Brendan O'Connor, 36, of London, had joined friends to travel to Holland where his team were playing Dutch side AZ Alkmaar last November.
dailymail.co.uk