By Aris Barkas
Sports heckling in Italy used to be an art, specially in basketball. In the years of the Bologna dominance in the sport, the rivalry between Virtus and Fortitudo produce many such instants of pure heckling, which in Italy was considered as a form of “campanilismo”.
But times have changed and last night in Siena the heckling went too far. “They called me a Serbian murderer and they spit on my jacket”, said Olympiacos coach Dusan Ivkovic after the Euroleague play offs Game 2 and the win of Siena by one point (81-80) that evened the series (1-1).
According to reports from team members at least 50 fans from Siena tried to attack the players of Olympiacos when they were leaving the court and the trainer of the team, Andreas Gatzoulis, was hurt by a punch.
Joey Dorsey was furious after being – literally – spitted on the face, something that he considered a racist attack against him. One can wonder what could happen if the tables were turned and Olympiacos had won the game.