"Derby of the dead child": This match changed football forever | OneFootball

When is a game legendary? When everyone can remember where they were at the time of the game? When the game has its own Wikipedia article? When the game marks a turning point in football?

Exactly 22 years ago today, there was a game that fulfilled these three criteria for Roman or even Italian football fans. The "Derby del bambino morto" (English: "Derby of the Dead Child"), to be precise. 

The conditions before the Rome derby were suboptimal. Both clubs were financially massively strained. Additionally, the situation between the police and fans had been more than tense for quite some time. Even before this derby on March 21, 2004, there were clashes between police and fans. 

After the match started normally and the first half was played, things became increasingly restless around halftime at the Stadio Olympico. Within minutes, the rumor spread that the police had run over a child outside the stadium and that the child might have died. Fans had previously seen a child lying under a white sheet, as later reported in various media.

As the rumor spread like wildfire, leading figures among the Rome fans reacted and climbed onto the pitch in the 47th minute, as reported by 'Spiegel' two days after the derby. The supporters of the capital club approached Roma legend Francesco Totti and urged the players and officials to immediately abandon the match. Totti later went to his then-coach Fabio Capello and uttered the legendary sentence: "If we continue playing now, they will kill us." 

📸 AFP - 2004 AFP

After lengthy deliberations and a phone call between referee Roberto Rosetti and the then vice-president of the Italian league, Adriano Galliani, the game was officially abandoned 20 minutes later. However, the real chaos was just beginning. 

Both the Roma fans and the rival Lazio supporters packed up their things and, despite their enmity, launched a joint attack on the police. The clashes between fans and police, described by eyewitnesses as resembling a civil war, continued late into the night. Despite multiple announcements in the stadium that no child had been harmed, the spiral of violence could not be stopped. 

In the end, up to 174 police officers and 21 fans were injured. Due to the massive use of tear gas and the fear of being recorded by the police in nearby hospitals, it is believed that the number of injured fans is actually higher. 

And what about the child under the white sheet? According to various media reports and accounts, the boy under the sheet had been injured by the tear gas used and was under the white cloth to be protected from the tear gas lingering in the air. It later emerged that there was never a dead child.

Subsequently, some observers, including the police, suspected a full-blown conspiracy, which could not be proven. Roma and Lazio fans were accused of planning everything to demonstrate their power against the state apparatus. However, the conspiracy charges were dropped in court three years later after lengthy legal examination. 

📸 STR - 2004 AFP

Nevertheless, this game marked a turning point. Subsequently, security measures in Italian stadiums were massively tightened, further straining the relationship between fans and police. Video surveillance in stadiums, multiple checks, as well as personalized and non-transferable tickets were some of the measures taken that affected fan life in Italy.

Books were written about the game afterward. It is one of those matches that all attendees remember to this day - the Wikipedia entry is, of course, obligatory. Although many things went wrong that day, it became a legend. A legend that also serves as a memorial.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 PATRICK HERTZOG - 2004 AFP