Devastating flooding is taking place in Florence and Fiorentina fans are calling for their clash with Juventus to be postponed due to the situation.
- Floods hit Italy, Florence was hit
- Juve play Fiorentina on Sunday
- The fans are asking for the match to be postponed
WHAT HAPPENED? After leaving the UK, Storm Ciaran made its way across Europe and hit Italy, especially the Tuscany region, where there have already been six confirmed deaths. Fiorentina fans have called for the game against Juventus, originally scheduled for Sunday at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, to be postponed because the city of Florence has also been badly affected. The mayor of Florence announced earlier today that the game would go ahead as planned and Serie A also agreed and decided to hold a minute’s silence for the deaths.
WHAT THEY SAID: Fiorentina’s Ultras, Curva Fiesole, issued a statement saying: “Part of our city is completely on its knees, houses are destroyed, lives are tired and while it continues to rain, people are thinking of playing the game on Sunday as if nothing happened . it happened
“In a clear, decisive and unequivocal way, Curva Fiesole is asking that the race be postponed so that energy and resources can be devoted exclusively to our fighting world and not to make a sporting event.
“We demand respect or the victims, their families, for those who lost everything in just a few hours and now feel abandoned, without light or electricity, surrounded by water.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: As well as sending a message, Fiorentina’s ultras have taken steps to help people affected by the terrible floods. They have set up a number of locations to act as collection centers for supplies, which will then be distributed to people living in the flooded areas. In addition, they are assembling gloves, sticks, buckets and other supplies so that when the police give their all, they can physically assist in the cleanup efforts.
IN PHOTOS:
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WHAT’S NEXT? With the match scheduled for less than 48 hours later, decisions should be made soon by the authorities on whether to let the game go ahead or not.