I was able to experience this firsthand last night in going to a Fiorentina-Parma match.
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| Il Stadio |
First off the tickets were really awesome looking and you only had to scan them so the entire thing stayed intact.
Everyone and their scooter was at this game. It was a sea of scooters outside.
One of many crowd shots that is included in this post. Honestly this one packed end of the stadium was mesmerizing. They were so loud singing, clapping, whistling and waving their flags.
I tried to capture a bit of the chanting in a video, but it really doesn't do justice to just how loud the section was but you can hear them about :30 in. It was awesome.
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| Ball boys? |
We clearly didn't pick the right section to sit in.
This sign according to Google Translate says, "I give my love to be your strength!"
These Italians, they're not messing around with their team.
There was plexiglass around the entire pitch, reminded me of hockey. Though I don't think in hockey their as worried of people storming the ice in rage. There was also a lot of space separating the fans from the field which you can see in other pictures of the field.
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| Corner Kick! |
#18 is Riccardo Montolivo, who every time he touched the ball was whistled at by the crowd. I thought it was because they liked him, instead my Italian professor explained to me today because Montolivo wants to leave the team. So apparently he's not very well liked.
I believe this says "Free Transfer" which is certainly directed at Montolivo and his desire to leave Fiorentia.
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| Free Kick! Too bad he kicked it right into the wall... |
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| Man down. But it's fine he got up on his own. |
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| Halftime! |
Yes, teams go down the same tunnel for halftime.
Not even a minute into the second half Fiorentina scored to make it 1-0, this was the post goal celebration.
In response to the goal the crazy fan section lit a flare. Dead serious.
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| Aftermath of the flare being lit. |
I was asked if I had a lighter in my bag when I entered the stadium, clearly I wasn't who they should have been worrying about.
That curved line with people sitting not facing the field? Pretty sure they were crowd control in case something happened and they can't even watch the game. Lots of space between fans and the game as I said before.
Those two in the purple shirts made the game so much more fun for me. They were into the game, yelling and throwing up their hands at every misplay. Actually if I looked to the left of me hundreds of hands were being thrown up in the air simultaneously when there was a misplay. Italians really do talk with their hands. Also I think that lady smoked an entire pack of cigarettes by the end of the game.
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| Fiorentina & Italian flags |
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| Close up of one of the flags, I don't exactly know who that is. |
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| Celebration of goal #2 |
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| I just really liked this guy's weird bleach blonde mohawk. |
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| Italia! |
One of the times the screen actually showed something informative. Otherwise while the game was being played it only showed advertisements. Clearly they know that when the game is being played your eyes should be on the field and not on the screen. As I believe it should be. The only replay I ever saw on the screen was of a shot that just missed scoring.
The closest I'm ever going to get to capturing the moment of a goal being scored.
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| Tre a Zero! |
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| The tunnel to the locker rooms, interesting that they're underground. |
This was really awesome looking, late in the game everyone held up their scarves.
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| Vittoria! |
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| Fleur-de-lis of Firenze |
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| Sigh, camera fail. But Fiorentina wins 3-0 over Parma! |
A solid win for the home side. Two goals for Stevan Jovetic and one for Alessandro Cerci.
Honestly, the game was thus far the coolest sporting event I've ever been to. I think it only would have been better had I been sitting in the end of the stadium with all the crazy fans. If I go to another game, which I really want to do, I want to sit in that section.
Overall, it was one heck of an awesome experience.
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