Juve Consult After Record Low Crowd
MILAN, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Juventus vice-president Roberto Bettega wants to consult with the club's fans after just 237 supporters paid to watch Wednesday's Italian Cup match against Sampdoria.
The crowd was the lowest in Juve's history, beating the previous low of 561 set for an Italian Cup match against Venezia in October 1998.
Wednesday's match, won 5-2 by Juventus, was played at 1800 at the request of television.
'We won't give up a night match to play on a (midweek) afternoon again,' said Bettega on Friday.
But attendances at all Italian Cup matches this week have been very low with just 2,038 seeing Udinese's 1-1 draw with Parma and 6,200 watching league champions AS Roma play Brescia.
Freezing temperatures and the fact that all the games have been live on television allied with the lack of prestige for the Cup have led fans to stay away.
Italy also has a round of Serie A games next Wednesday, which have been held over after the league cancelled fixtures in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
After Piacenza's game against Bologna last Saturday night was played in dense fog, there is growing concern over the wisdom of playing night games in the north Italian winter.
Juventus had their Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen postponed twice due to fog in November and Thursday's Italian Cup match between AC Milan and Lazio was snowed off.
'The problem exists,' said Bettega, 'Maybe we should have a break in the championship. But night games are unavoidable in the European cups and it is the same everywhere in Europe.'
'We and other clubs need to think about this and above all we need to listen to the views of the fans'.
