Baldissoni: It's not illegal to support your team

AS Roma's general manager was speaking on Monday at a conference entitled 'La legalità rompe le barriere' (Lawfulness breaks down barriers) at the Sapienza University of Rome.

"In our contact with law enforcement agencies recently, it has been reiterated on numerous occasions that security issues sometimes mean you have to make decisions that can be defined as negative," Baldissoni said. "It's true that lawfulness breaks down barriers but we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking football fans are an ill that needs to be eradicated. Supporting your team is not a bad thing.

"We should aim to eliminate all barriers because they create divisions and prevent people from being responsible for their actions. If there were no barriers, certain actions would lead to consequences and that's precisely why we should remove them and encourage each and every person to fully assume their responsibilities. This means there will be consequences for those who break the law.

"Certain initiatives shouldn't be run for one day only; they need to be carried forward with conviction and with action – not just words," Baldissoni added. "There has been a lot of investment at Roma in this regard. We have opened a family village that can host up to 4000 people for big matches with games and entertainment on offer.

"We have also moved the family section from Distinti Nord to the Tevere to ensure more people can come in. We've got a project in primary schools around Rome called 'A scuola di tifo' which encourages children to talk about different types of respect. We capped off the initiative by inviting 600 kids from these schools to Roma v Chievo."