Italian authorities suspend all sport

Sports authorities in Italy yesterday called off all sports activities for the coming weekend in response to the murder on Sunday of a Genoa fan before the Serie A game against Milan. The 24-year-old victim, Vincenzo Spagnolo, was stabbed in the stomach outside the stadium and died during surgery; the match was abandoned goalless at half-time.

The suspension will affect only national leagues, and the Davis Cup tennis tie against the Czech Republic will proceed as normal on Sunday.

"A Sunday without soccer? Three or four if needed. We've had enough talking and then forgetting," Parma's Gianfranco Zola said, though Walter Zenga, the Sampdoria goalkeeper, said: "We've got to go ahead and keep playing otherwise we'll let the murdererswin." An Internazionale official, Peppino Prisco, said the measure would be a mistake, angering people "without resolving the fundamental problem of fan violence."

A man was arrested yesterday in connection with the murder. Simone Barbaglia, 19, an apprentice gardener from Milan, was detained after witnesses picked him out of photographs.

Three fans arrested on Sunday and convicted yesterday of resisting arrest and insulting the authorities were sentenced to probation ranging from a few months to one year.