On Sunday, for the second time this season, Juventus won the ‘Derby della Mole’, beating Torino 1-0 . As it happened last September, this victory came via controversial circumstances. Whilst it was an offside goal last September that infuriated the home team, this time around Toro had a legitimate penalty appeal waved off. However, more that by the referee’s decisions, the aftermath of the Turin derby was marked by the discussions over the fans’ behaviour and their mocking banners. In fact, the Mole Antonelliana, the building that lends its name to the derby, is not the only thing that binds these two teams: along with a successful history, they also have in common the burden of great tragedies.

On Wednesday 4th home from a friendly match in Lisbon, when their plane crashed into the hill of Superga , near Turin, killing all 31 passengers on board including 18 players. That team, known as Il Grande Torino , was a legendary side, which had won the last Italian league title before World War II and, after the resuming of the competition, also triumphed in four consecutive post-war titles too. At the time of the crash, Torino was leading the championship race with four games to go. The club fielded a youth team in each of those games, and as a mark of respect, their opponents did the same.

The youngsters won the last four games to claim the Scudetto . The disaster had hit very hard not just Torino, but indeed the whole Italian football. Only three players from the team had survived, having missed the fatal flight for one reason or another. The national team was also seriously weakened , as the players who died made up the bulk of the Italian squad. The Torino club itself failed to win another national title until 1976, a full 27 years after the tragedy. Juventus suffered too.

On May 29 1985, more than 60,000 supporters of Liverpool and Juventus had made their way into the ageing Heysel stadium in northwest Brussels to watch the European Cup final. At around 7pm local time, about an hour before the scheduled kickoff, the trouble started. Fans had been chanting, waving flags and letting off fireworks, but the atmosphere became more violent and a thin line of police was unable to prevent a contingent of Liverpool followers from stampeding towards rival fans.

A retaining wall separating the Liverpool followers from Juventus supporters in sector 'Z' collapsed under the pressure and many were crushed or trampled when panicking Juventus fans tried to escape . May 1949, in fact, the Torino football team were returning thirty-nine Juventus fans died and hundreds were injured. The banners reading “Quando volo penso al Toro (When I fly I think of Torino)” which appeared on the Juventus stands last Sunday, and which resulted in a €25,000 fine to the club, were just the last shameful demonstration of the stupidity of some fringes of the Italian football fans.

Repeatedly the ‘Derby della Mole’ has been characterized by these episodes, and fans have often used the tragedies as a way to insult and anger their rivals . For example, for many years after the Superga incident, when the stadium announcer was calling out the names of the Torino team, a section of Juventus fans would spread their arms wide, humming and swaying to and fro imitating aeroplanes and when the announcer was finished his duties they would also cry out in unison “Boom! Superga!” .

On the other end, Torino fans were armed with ammunition for their revenge following the Heysel disaster. After 1985, Torino fans could be heard to sing chants such as “ Grazie Liverpool (Thanks Liverpool)” and “ Dateci un altro Heysel ( Give us another Heysel)” . A song was even composed for the occasion with the title being translated as “39 under ground, long live England” However, it is important to remember that all these actions have been carried out by extreme core of both teams’ fans.

There is no doubt that these two clubs understood the impact of tragedy unlike any other in Italy. A demonstration of that is the exhibition that is being held at the Museo del Grande Torino e della Leggenda Granata since last week, titled “Settanta angeli in un unico cielo – Superga e Heysel tragedie sorelle (70 angels in the same sky – Superga and Heysel sister tragedies)”. The exhibition gathers material from the 4 ^th of May 1949 and the 29 ^th of May 1985.

Along with many pictures, visitors can find the first pages of newspapers from the different ages; on all of them, the tears, the desperation of people who lost their dears, but also scarves, banners and flags, everything that represents the passion for a football team. The idea of the exhibition is not to celebrate the victims of Superga or of the Heysel, but to remember 70 people who lost their lives and who were united by the same city, the same sport, just divided by their support for rival clubs, and whose memory other fans can’t mock. A symbolic event, which has as theme the idea that sport should unite, and not divide, even in its darkest and most dramatic moments.