Palermo responds to mafia jibes
Afp, Rome
Palermo are hoping to change the stereotypical view that Sicily is the home of the mafia by distributing anti-corruption t-shirts to West Ham fans before Thursday's UEFA Cup first round, second leg. The move comes after the sale of t-shirts before the first leg in London which read: "Hammers (West Ham's nickname) against the Mafia." The Palermo t-shirts say: "The mafia disgust me. Liberty is 'Cosa Nostra'," the Italian nickname for the mafia which translated literally means 'Our thing'. "It's the way that we have chosen to give the English fans a welcome to our land, a way in which to put an end to the incident with the shirts which put the word mafia next to the city of Palermo," Sicilian governor Salvatore Cuffaro said on Monday. "The only difference is that for their offensive t-shirts you had to pay seven pounds, while ours will be given as presents to say welcome and goodbye. "Goodbye because Palermo will win on Thursday and West Ham will go out of the UEFA Cup. Of that I am sure." Palermo won the first leg 1-0.
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