Last Sunday a 26 year old, Gabriele Sandri, lost his life after being shot by a policeman, apparently by accident.

It was a tragic death and our sympathies go out to his family. Regardless of the rights or wrongs of his involvement in a mass brawl involving rival football supporters, because that is why he was where he was, that is how he was labelled.

He was not, first and foremost, a man, a son, a human being, he was, first and foremost, a football fan.

This tragedy and its labelling hits on levels far the shooting of Gabriele, as, because it happened at a “football” occasion, it led to widespread riots at further football matches.

I suppose my question is, what has the tragic death of a young man, at a non-descript service station, got to do with football?