Lazio Ultras Respond to the Hierarchy, Confirm Stand: “Our Duty Is to Not Attend”

Lazio’s campaign continues to descend into further chaos, as the rift between the Lazio management and the club’s ultras widens by the day.

The Background

The Biancocelesti’s organised supporter groups had announced that they won’t attend the club’s next home fixture against Genoa on January 30, while inviting all other Lazio fans to join them by deserting the Stadio Olimpico’s stands.

Lazio Ultras Lost Patience with Claudio Lotito

The ultras have been at odds with club president Claudio Lotito for years, but their protests have intensified since the start of the season. The club was slapped with a transfer ban in June that prevented them from strengthening Maurizio Sarri’s squad last summer.

Lazio Management Condemns Boycott Against Genoa

While the market has now been unlocked, Lotito and Angelo Fabiani have seized the opportunity to sell some of the club’s biggest assets, while replacing them with cheaper alternatives, much to Maurizio Sarri’s dismay. And yet, the hierarchy responded to the boycott call by condemning this action in an official statement published on the official Lazio website.

SS Lazio strongly condemns the message spread in recent hours by individuals linked to so-called organized fandom, urging Lazio supporters not to purchase tickets for the Lazio-Genoa match, basing such behavior on considerations and demands related to club and sporting decisions.

This is a serious and unacceptable act, which goes beyond any form of legitimate dissent and takes on the form of a real attempt at organized pressure and influence against the club, the team, and the entire Lazio community.

Lazio Fans Explain Their Decision

Nevertheless, the supporter groups remain firm in their stance, as they respond to the official note with a statement of their own, justifying the reasoning behind their actions. The Lazio ultras insist that protesting is a right protected by the constitution, and it is also their duty towards their beloved, which is enduring a free fall.

FOR THE LOVE OF LAZIO, OUT OF RESPECT FOR LAZIALI! In a period in which frustration and hysteria dominate social media, we are compelled to make choices that are painful for us, in response to statements from a club that has failed to show respect for the choices of its own supporters — the blood and heart of Lazio itself.

The statement released last night by SS Lazio, in addition to being threatening and excessively offensive towards the Biancocelesti fanbase, violates the constitutionally guaranteed right under Article 21 to express one’s dissent through speech, writing, or other forms of communication — a Constitution that every Senator of the Republic should be familiar with.

Despite our firm belief that we do not intend to abandon the stadium permanently, we feel it is our duty NOT TO ATTEND the stands for the match Lazio–Genoa and to decide, step by step, how a protest that has become too confined to the mere fifteen minutes of the first half of every match should evolve.

Every supporter is free to choose what they believe is best, in accordance with their own conscience. Ours obliges us, after this statement, to dispel the doubts we had before it was issued and, as a consequence, NOT TO ENTER the stadium. For all those who freely choose not to go in, we will meet from 6:00 pm at Ponte Milvio to listen to the match commentary together and support Lazio in the way only we know how.

IF LAZIALI STAND UNITED, THEY WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED!

View this post on Instagram