Soccer-Catania fans banned from Inter match amid clampdown

By Paul Virgo

ROME, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Catania supporters have been banned from attending Saturday's Serie A game at Inter Milan with the Italian authorities continuing to clamp down after Napoli fans got the season off to a troubled start.

Bans on fans attending certain matches were used regularly in Italy last season following the deaths of a policeman and a supporter of Rome club Lazio in separate incidents in 2007.

But Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has signalled his intention to adopt an even harder line this time.

"From now on, if a match is considered high risk, away fans will automatically be banned and if it's considered very high risk I'll consider having it played behind closed doors," Maroni told a Senate commission on Wednesday.

"There will be no tolerance of violence," he added as he announced that he was stopping Catania fans from travelling after Italy's soccer security body (CASMS) had previously given them the green light for Saturday's visit to the San Siro.

CASMS had already banned Fiorentina and AC Milan fans from their respective Sunday games at Napoli and Genoa, considering them high risk encounters.

Maroni said clubs whose fans caused serious disturbances risked having them banned from away games all season, like Napoli's.

The Naples team's supporters were involved in violence during their opening day visit to AS Roma on Aug. 31, when a Rome-bound train was ransacked causing 500,000 euros ($707,800) in damage.