35 replies to this topic

[Finntastic]

Thursday-Five Press Conference - Italian GP
Thursday September 7th, 2000

Q. Are the tifosi reasonably fair to you?

MH: There are always good and bad fans, and some of the less friendly ones are showing the middle finger. To a sporting mind, that is quite disappointing to see. But at the same time, emotions can get a bit high, and I can understand the Italian temperament. Some other fans here are very friendly: they want to shake your hand and get an autograph, things like that.


Very good sportsmanship these guys have. I would recommend them not to visit Finland with that attitude.

[Frans MSH]

the middle finger is very populair this season isn't >???;)



Anyway, I think Hakkinen can handle that....... don't he? AHah

[K-One]

To Finntastic:

Yeah, the Tifosis are not very nice people. Last year when Mika made that famous spin, he came out of the car and the Tifosis threw Mika with rocks&bottles! I really hope that Mika wins on Sunday, it would be a nice to see what Tifosis will do then!

Shoot him?!?!?!?

[Frans MSH]

K-one, be carefull...... idiots DO still excists...

Last year some dude wanted to shoot Mika's tire in the final GP to let Irvine become worldchampion, he just had to say it............


If they are SO crazy with Eddie already, how will this extreme behavior be with Schumacher for the title?


I hold my breath! Really scary!

[Chris G.]

Oh God! Those tifosi are just so mean. Next thing you know they'll make a website dedicated to hating Mika - perhaps, The Anti-Hakkinen site. The horror!!!! Of course, the Finn-fans and MS-haters would never do such a thing.

[baddog]

lolol

touche

Shaun

[Dsilence]

chris.. i think there's actually already a anti-hakkinen site... but i can't remeber the url

[Dsilence]

here it is http://members.xoom....hd/ah/index.htm

[Alfisti]

Jeeeez.. and people say i'm negative ;)

[norfolk's tear]

Ooops. I saw one of those AntiHakk sites sometime ago. I only find them generally quite funny, and of course dont take them too seriously. But there was two fotos from Hakk's nearly fatal accident on this one, with some moron joke undertitles. That I started to find somehow disturbing.

[130R]

Seriously though! What did you expect the tifosi to do??... Pray for him?

Their fanatics.

[Janne]

I don't think the tifosi in general have anything against
Hakkinen... they just want Ferrari to win, nothing else
matters. But there are weirdos everywhere, amongst tifosi
as well.

[Ellen2]

The guy that wanted to shot Hakkinen tyre wasn't Italian............

And of course, you have never been to either Monza or Imola. 98% of the people have cheered and aplauded Mika. Just because a few morons misbehave, you can't apply your stupid generalization to the entire population. Mika knows it and said most are nice to him. At least, he gets it.

Or should we say every Dutch and British soccer fun is a murderer? should we? I see blood, injured people, fights, police, riots at every game England and Holland play. IS every Dutch and English fan so reckless and bloody? this is your line of though.....pretty stupid and immature, if you ask me. You accuse the Italian fans of being unfriendly...they will remind you that British Liverpool fans killed 40 Italian fans during the Champion's cup final, while Ferrari fans at worst show you a finger and boo you as you walk. Keep it in prospective as you type this BS.

[Ellen2]

Finntastic, you really are full of it. I just checked the article and you left out on purpose the conclusion of Mika's coment:

"...but mainly the fans here are very pleasant."

I can see very clearly now how biased and low fans can be also in Finland......pathetic.

[tifosi]

Ellen2,

My thoughts exactly. Iwas just starting to reply along the same lines you used, but then thought, with such a bigoted, biased, anti-fan as finntastic, why bother. Your comments will go way over his head.

[Todd]

There are good and bad fans everywhere. The stories coming after the Brazilian GP were far worse this year, but that doesn't mean that the majority of Brazilian fans weren't respectful of the drivers they perceived as their drivers' adversaries. Finland doesn't seem to have any sort of asshole shortage either.

[Ricardo F1]

"they will remind you that British Liverpool fans killed 40 Italian fans during the Champion's cup final"

Ellen - you really should NOT go there. That is a completely fabrication and lie. Two sets of taunting fans on either side of a wall and the wall collapsed. Nobody killed anybody, it was an accident caused by two sets of rampant fans.

[Lamont]

Ellen, you beat me to it, I was thinking the same thing about the creative "editing" done on that post.

As Todd says, there are good fans and there are bad fans of EVERY nationality. Making broad generalizations about any group of people based upon the actions of a small few is just a bad idea.

[mhferrari]

We just want Ferrari to win, we Italians are passionate about our sport favourites. Especially the Scuderia.

P.S. If the Italians got into a fight, I wouldn't think that 40 of them would get killed without 100 Brits going down.

[Ricardo F1]

"P.S. If the Italians got into a fight, I wouldn't think that 40 of them would get killed without 100 Brits going down."

Just what the f*** is that supposed to mean. A f***ing wall collapsed on them, it wasn't a fight.

And I wouldn't get into an argument about that anyway, history will prove you very, very wrong.[p][Edited by Pascal on 09-09-2000]

[TMG]

With respect Ricardo F1, that is actually incorrect.

I was at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels that night (unfortunately I was also at Hillsborough, which is another reason why I now avoid soccer at all costs) and the Liverpool 'fans' ripped down a fence in the centre of the terrace to get at the Italian fans. Several hundred of them then charged at the Juventus supporters, who for some reason had been allocated terracing at the Liverpool end of the stadium. In the crush to escape the onslaught, the Italians all moved towards a perimeter wall, which then collapsed under the pressure, killing dozens of fans.

Drunken Liverpool fans were entirely responsible, which is why Liverpool were subsequently banned from European competition for 4 years by FIFA.

Compared with the average English soccer fan abroad, the tifosi behave like choirboys on a sunday school outing.

TMG
http://www.savefenwaypark.com

[Ricardo F1]

TMG - I personally wasn't there but had many friends who were, from their perspective taunts and objects were hurled by both sides, and yes the wall collapsing was from retreating Juve fans but to put the blame all on one side is ludicrous.

And English clubs were subsequently banned from 4 years of competition due to reputation more than anything else (witness the lack of action on German supporters after the last World Cup).

I agree with the fact that there's nothing more than handbags here with the tifosi, but if English fans are bad what the hell are Turkish fans?

p.s. I'm not defending either here by the way, it's a disgrace and to be honest none of those 'supporters' should be called that.

[TMG]

Well I'll have to agree with you there Ricardo...compared with Turkish soccer fans, even English supporters are like a bunch of choirboys on a sunday school outing!!

The tifosi are truly fanatical it's true, but I'm sure only a very small minority would think of doing anything potentially dangerous. You have to admire the passion with which they support their team.

But I honestly can't ever see the day when Formula One becomes so sectarian and tribal that gangs of tattooed Ferrari, McLaren, Jordan, Jaguar fans etc start roaming the circuits of the world armed to the teeth with knives, and chanting obscenities...most of the guys we sat with at Silverstone this year were armed with thermos-flasks of hot minestrone soup, a warm rug for their legs and a copy of Autosport!

TMG
http://www.savefenwaypark.com

[Chris G.]

Oh my, that anti-Hakk page is one of the worst I've ever seen. I swear, it looks like Frans put it together.

[Ricardo F1]

Totally agree TMG, I think F1 is far more of a 'gentlemens sport' and to be honest it's hard to get quite as passionate about something so remote. I mean anyone can go down a park and kick a soccer ball around, we've all been there ; plus the clubs play what, 60 odd games a year. Football to me is a total devotion, I've laughed and nearly cried due to what my team's been doing at the time - I certainly nearly always swear at the TV (usually at the ref these days!). Can't say the same about F1, it's a different sort of fanatacism I guess. . .

[Ellen2]

Riccardo, the one who is lieing and fabricating is you. What a hypocrite. Some else described better than I will, as I was there but quite young.

The section of Italian that got assaulted was not composed of young (which normally are the most violent) fans, but mostly families who had arrived with organized tours. Most of the people killed were middle aged guys who did not manage to escape the assault. The Liverpool fans (remember I am British!!!) organized an assault that caused the Italians to get pressed against the wass which collapsed. It was a determined, planned, premeditated voluntary assault started by the British. The Italians did not even try to react, they started running for their life. The game was played in a surreal atmosphere, as we were already aware of the deaths at some point in the game.

I cannot think of more clear example of voluntary manslaughter!!!!!!


Besides, have you already forgotten the street fights in the 1998 world cup in France????? British drunk fans rioting in the streets!!!!! have you seen Italians going around beating people, destroying property, etc??? absolutely not. Just shut up and admit for once that you have no idea of what you are talking about.

[JayWay]

The sad thing is not that 50 Italians were killed, or that 2 English fans were killed by Gala fans. The sad thing is that despite all this tragedy no one has learned a damn thing and everytime a big game comes along we still fear for violence. Morons, all of them. No one is singled out, they are all morons. No one even stops to think after all that has happened.

[JayWay]

Btw I am a Liverpool fan

[Piquet_1]

There was a little matter of a Benetton being stripped for all it's worth last year during the race and the usual track storming after the race (why weren't the organizers penalized, or did I just not hear of it?). I wouldn't attend Monza with a ten foot pole. Nor would I go to Brazil. The stories I've heard from people attending either venue are pretty horrendous (and in Monza's case, it's not just the tifosi themselves, but the local gendarmes).

[Jhope]

he he. i see the tifosi got a FINGER full after Johnny's win in 1995!!!

[TMG]

Of course the tifosi storm the track after the race...it would probably take three crack divisions of the Italian Army equipped with tanks, water cannon, barbed wire and flame throwers to stop them.

The only realistic hope would be to recruit a few hundred French farmers...that would stop the buggers in their tracks.

TMG
http://www.savefenwaypark.com

[130R]

there are hooligans on every corner of the world...

[Max Torque]

I don't understand what that argument about the 40 italians killed in a football match is supposed to prove.
If some thousand organised McLaren fans were to go to Monza, then we would see if the tifosi are the nice people you seem to want us to believe.

And what was that about how many more English the Italians would've taken out if they were really fighting??!!! That has to be the most childish remark I've ever heard here on Atlas.

[Ricardo F1]

Ellen you are so full of shi* it's untrue, end of story. I will never defend any hooliganism anywhere and will gladly say that British 'fans' have had there fair share of bad times, but what you said about Heysel is a sham, a fabrication and a totally one sided view. End of story. For f's sake I know people who were hit and badly hurt with missiles thrown from the Italian fans so don't pull that.

The city of Liverpool was devastated by the disaster at Heysel and the subsequent police fowl up at Hillsborough. (actually organizational fowl ups at both) - as I remember Juve / Pool supporters meetings happened frequently after it to honor the memories of those lost. It was a tradegy and something that should never happen again, but please don't follow the hollier than thou route.

[tanja]

@ TMG, French farmers staging a strike to stop the tifosi coming onto the track.

[TMG]

I'm not kidding tanja... those French guys with their tractors and herds of man-eating sheep run that country...the French government are terrified of them.

The British SAS couldn't penetrate a French farmers picket-line.

TMG
http://www.savefenwaypark.com