It is no surprise, since I am of Italian decent, that my first sport I grew up playing was soccer. Even though I eventually grew out of soccer and discovered other sports, I always have had an appreciation for soccer. Thanks to the best soccer coach I ever had (Paolo Bonomo), the video game FIFA, and technology have all made it possible to stay up to date on soccer in Europe and Italy. As one can infer, going to my first soccer game was a priority of mine while studying abroad in Italy.
Background info: On Sunday February 5th, 2012, I attended AS Roma vs. Inter Milan. As of lately, I have been supporting AS Roma because one of my favorite players to watch, Daniele De Rossi, plays for them. Recently, both of these soccer clubs have been in the upper echelon of the Serie A (Italian Soccer League). The main rivalry for AS Roma is against their hometown rival Lazio, but Inter Milan is starting to become a bigger rival now that Roma is improving and can compete with the stronger teams in the Serie A. AS Roma plays in the Stadio Olimpico. This is one of the more famous stadiums in Italy because of its capacity to hold a lot of people for sporting and concert events. It is located in the capital of Italy and held the 1960 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the athletic competitions.
Here is a panorama shot of Stadio Olimpico from my phone in our seats
It took me and my friends around 1-1:30 mins by public transportation (metro and tram) to arrive at Stadio Olimpico. This is a little longer than normal because Rome had just been hit with the biggest snow storm it has seen in 26 years!! Since Romans are big on religion and fate, everyone freaks out with something unusual happens. This means that a lot of public transportation services were not working normal hours or were stopped completely. Anyway, we eventually arrived to the game with enough time to buy a beer (or two...) and a sandwich.
1. The first difference between an American football game vs. Italian soccer game is that I did not see tailgating before the game. I think this is due to the fact that everyone uses public transportation, so nobody is going to bring a grill, food, beer, etc. on the bus with them. This also means not a lot of parking lots and empty space to set up a tailgate. Rather, I think Italians probably go to bars near the stadium and get their tailgating done there, although I am not positive. To give you a better idea of Stadio Olimpico from the outside, here are a few pictures:
2. Stadio Olimpico is probably bigger than most American Football stadiums but that does not mean it fills up for soccer games. The average attendance for AS Roma games last year was around 34,000 people. That is not even close to halfway full!! There are a few factors that have a big influence with this as they are similar with American football game attendance. As I mentioned before, the weather had a big part on the small attendance. A lot of people could not take trains/public transportation or drive there 3 foot, two-wheel drive smart cars to the game. The economy is also not doing well here in Italy, so it makes more sense to stay home in a warm house and watch the game on TV and save money.
- There are also 40 games in the Serie A season for each team, so there are a lot more games one can attend. This means there are a lot of opportunities to pick and chose what games you want to see and the rivalry games will always be more popular.
3. Curva Sud vs. The Black Hole
The section that is most similar to The Black Hole at the AS Roma games, is called "Curva Sud." I thought The Black Hole was crazy, but Curva Sud is definitely filled with a lot of crazy, passionate soccer fans. Throughout the game, there were numerous cherry bombs, flares, smoke bombs, you name it going off! In the videos I took, you will hear the bombs going off. The reason why I am surprised and also swear a lot is because every time a bomb went off, the whole stadium shook and it was extremely loud. The Black Hole is crazy, but I am not used to bombs going off.
AS Roma song and Curva Sud fans before the game
First goal from Borini. He scored two on the day
Since soccer is a game that is normally low scoring and sometimes low in excitement, the fans occupy themselves with songs they sing in unison. Sometimes I would just catch myself looking around at the fans to see what they were doing because there was so much going on in the stands from cherry bombs, colored flares, smoke bombs, different songs, and flags waving for 90+ minutes. I guess you can say that the AS Roma fans are some of the most passionate fans in Italy!
4. Security
The part that I found amusing is that there was more security around the Roma fans seperating them from the one section of Inter Milan fans, then security getting into the stadium. At Raider games, you almost go through a metal detector to get into games. Here, I guess its OK to bring in cherry bombs and different flares and throw them close to the field. Towards the end of the game, the announcer on the loud speaker repeatedly told the Inter Milan fans to wait in their section after the game so they could be escorted out of the stadium by police because it was safer that way.
5. Getting Tickets
Getting single game tickets for the game, was a little different than buying them online for a Raiders game. Thanks to my roommate Reza who is pretty much fluent in Italian, we were able to walk down the street to the "Lottomatica." This place is basically a little shop were you can purchase lotto tickets, soccer tickets, concert tickets, etc. The actual process of getting a ticket to the game was time consuming. First we had to figure out the date and time the tickets went on sale. Then once we got to the lottomatica, we received a numbered ticket (we got 18) which means there are 17 people that got there before us to get a ticket. We still had to wait 30 minutes before the tickets went on sale. After waiting 30 mins, we then had to wait for the 17 people in front of us to be called and get their tickets. Finally once your number is called, you get to go inside and choose your ticket.
The ticket prices usually depend on the significance of the game. For this game, my ticket was 75 euro which is similar to a good ticket for a Raider game. My seats were in the middle and close to the field. For my women, the tickets are cheaper! For the same seat I got, my friend Kara got her ticket for 45 Euro. My guess is that since these games can get pretty crazy, the only way to reach the women demographic is to have cheaper tickets in the nicer sections.
For the Curva Sud section, tickets were anywhere from 20-35 euro. Since this was my first Italian soccer game, there was no way I was going into the Curva Sud for my first experience. If I decide to go to another game, I just might sit in the Curva Sud because I will know what to expect.
Conclusion: Overall, attending an Italian soccer game was a very unique experience and one that I will never forget. AS Roma beat Inter Milan by the score of 4-0. That is a very high scoring game in soccer and I am glad I got to witness a lot of goals being scored by the team I support! On that note, FORZA ROMA!
