Interesting Weekend

[SteveP]

This weekend I left Chesham for a 'different' football experience, Lazio v Roma, all I am saying is I wouldn't expect the following to occur on an away journey to Heybridge....

 

Firstly my friends and I approached the stadium (2 and a half hours earlier to avoid any minor skirmishes outside the stadio olympico), when we arrived going over the bridge on the approach to the stadium there appeared to be a small fight between fans of Roma, Lazio and the police.

 

The warmup was something special, there were about 50,000 in the stadium and there was a juniors game of Lazio versus Roma, supported with all the gusto of the main event. Then followed the sign exchanges Lazio fans producing banners such as 'Cassano's Mother is a drag queen'.

 

Then before the kick off both supporters gave their grandest gesture. The Roma fans waved five sets of flags then lit flairs above this, it doesn't sound impressive, but it was. Lazio's return was a massive flag with their Eagle logo standing above the coloseum covering a huge expanse of the fans. This derby was a bit better than our games with Aylesbury.

 

The game saw Roma begin strongly, then Lazio gradually took control and were denied a couple of clear penalties. The game then took a turn for the worse after half time as word spread that the police had ran over and killed a Roma fan. Both sides fans then threw flares on to the pitch to postpone the game, the polic countered by dousing the whole arena with tear gas.

 

The scarf can provide a reasonable filter but you still feel your mout burn and eyes water. Eventually the palyers left the pitch and everyone walked in to a haze of tear gas. At the exit the continuing running battles with the police occured as the roma fans invaded the pitch, outside the ground the fans wrecked the gates, barriers and any police vehicles.

 

As I left the ground there was a panic and everyone was getting out of there on scooters in this mass of mayhem. I thought to myself, if this happened in England, you would see this in the news for the next month and Sepp Blatter would have banned us from Europe, I think Italian is just a little bit too insane, but will of course be chanting tonight such chants as..

 

Wealdstone Merde!

 

and

 

Wealdstone, Wealdstone, Vaffancuolo!

 

It's a shame I won't have another 40,000 people to help me shout it!

[CANV EFM]

brilliant.. those italians know how to party.. when i was in milan i had to admire the surrending greasy cowards for their total disrepect of any rules