The Roma and Lazio fans announce that they will desert the stadium in protest, some against Lotito and some against the Prefecture. They will find themselves outside, increasing the risk of accidents and injuries, like a year ago…
The Lazio players at Ponte Milvio because they are protesting against Lotito, the Roman fans a few meters away so as not to be hostages of the messes of modern football. The derby at the Olimpico is turning into the worst nightmare for those who have to manage public order around the stadium and not just a mess that has unleashed a storm of criticism and controversy on the Lega Calcio Serie A. The confrontation with the Interior Ministry has led to the postponement of Roma-Lazio at 8.45pm on Monday 18 May, given that the chances of the TAR overturning the decision taken by the Prefecture of Rome are almost nil.
But the paradox is that the decision taken to avoid having to manage the afternoon coexistence between the derby and the men’s final of the Internazionali d’Italia, Sunday 17 May, is turning out to be a boomerang because the derby in the evening and with the fans outside who last spring met and discounted, causing dozens of injuries even among the forces of the order, is worrying and not a little.
The protest of the curves of Lazio and Rome
That the ultras of the North Curve Lazio had decided not to attend the derby it had been known for some time. In open dispute with Lotito’s ownership, they have been deserting the Olimpico for months, demonstrating outside and granting themselves only two exemptions: against Milan in the championship and in the Italian Cup final lost to Inter. They are stationed in the Ponte Milvio area, the scene of most of the accidents in 2025.
The news is that even the organized Romanist groups have decided not to cross the gates of the stadium, meeting near the Obelisk of the Foro Italico. The reason? A form of protest against the push and pull in the organization of the derby, which moved from 12.30pm on Sunday to 8.45pm on Monday together with the other four matches with teams competing for the Champions League zone. A short circuit ended up before the TAR with an emergency appeal presented by the League once the last hypothesis of compromise with the Interior Ministry and with Federtennis which organizes the Italian Internationals was over.
“There is a limit to everything and that limit has been exceeded. Has the Prefecture decided? So have we. Dignity is not worth any football match and we will play nobody’s puppets, out of respect for all the Roma fans who have spent time and money in vain following these absurd and inevitable situations. If the game were to be played on Monday, the organized groups will remain outside, on the understanding that anyone who wants to join the initiative will be welcome” is the statement which also places the Curva Sud on a war footing.
Derby in the evening, fears for public order
Now, therefore, the police will have to manage two groups of fans with fresh precedents of serious accidents, both outside the stadium and in the evening and at night. Exactly what the Ministry of the Interior had ordered a year ago should not happen, so much so that in September the first leg derby was played at lunchtime on Sunday. In short, it will be a Monday of passion for everyone, not without controversy given that the Prefecture’s choice to waive the night ban for Rome-Lazio was motivated by the need not to burden the weekday flow in an important neighborhood of the capital.
The development will cause new controversy over the matter, but it is difficult to imagine a new intervention to further move the time of the match at the Olimpico so as to return “to the light of day”. It should be remembered, in fact, that Juventus-Fiorentina, Genoa-Milan, Parma-Como and Pisa-Napoli will also have to be played at the same time as Roma-Lazio: at least 300 thousand fans are victims of the organizational inconveniences of an affair in which errors and clashes at an institutional level have overlapped.
