Thank you for clarifying us Americans still rank at the top for sensitivity and that word is a no-no for sure in Europe. Did happen in Italy (never been to) but few people who have for enough time been told one of the most racist countries in Europe. Sad if true.
It’s hard to say. Italy seems to relish in dark humor when it comes to football cursing. Hence the lavali col fuoco.
Or the old fascist song updated for a then-recent deadly helicopter crash as “E gira gira l’elica, romba il motor, L’elicottero dell’arma è tornato al creator” in Tim Parks’ book, “A Season With Verona”.
https://timparks.com/non-fiction/a-season-with-verona/extract-from-a-season-with-verona/
Italian ultras love the darker, the fouler, the most offensive the better.
Now I’m probably going out on a limb here for seemingly excusing outright racism, but there is definitely an element of that which seems like a social release … a sort of “anything goes” offensive zone to feel unconstrained and be the worst version of yourself for a couple of hours. Like the American white rap fan who seems crazed to not be able to enter some space and yell the n-word all day long with abandon.
And in football, race is an easier stick to grab as an available weapon as things like last names, height, a fancy for tranny hookers, etc.
Because most offenders act not like the horrible racists they may seem in the stadium. But the problem is that there are too many who are, and they are too clueless to get the subtle difference.
Players should not have to suffer social shaming and insults for nothing they can’t change. And at least symbolically, having even one “unsafe space” where that could be allowed as a venting outlet probably does more harm than good, as it risks leading to it spreading beyond the stadium and the next thing you know some douche with a megaphone is chanting about the Jews replacing them in a public square.
But I appreciate the need for that venting outlet in a way that football can be a proxy for war. I only wish that Italians were a little more clever and found loopholes to go after offensive and vile things without the racist cave man grunts. IMO, cheering a volcano or celebrating a crashing helicopter should still be ok despite its deliberate offensiveness.