Fans of West Ham United will have some new T-shirts to try on when they come to Sicily this week for the second leg of their team's UEFA Cup tie against Palermo.
Several Italian politicians protested earlier this month over T-shirts reading "The Hammers vs. the Mafia" that were sold in London before West Ham's first match against the Sicilians.
Salvatore Cuffaro, head of the Sicilian regional government, was so incensed that he's responded by ordering the production of 4,000 T-shirts that he believes should set the record straight. The new garments, to be distributed before the Palermo-West Ham match, are emblazoned with the words: "La Mafia mi fa schifo. La liberta e' cosa nostra" (I hate the Mafia. Freedom is our thing).
"This is how we've decided to welcome the English fans, so we can just leave this whole business behind," Cuffaro said as he presented the T shirts on Monday. They were made in the Palermo team's pink and black colours and they bear the three-legged symbol of Sicily alongside the anti-Mafia message.
Cuffaro noted that, while the Mafia T-shirts on sale in London had cost £7, the new ones he had prepared for Thursday would be given away free, as a "sign of welcome". He said the gesture was also, in a way, a farewell gift: "I'm sure that after the match on Thursday, West Ham will be leaving the UEFA Cup because Palermo will win".
The London club goes into Thursday's match with a one-goal disadvantage, having lost the first leg 1-0.
