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Away Days


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Just back from a bit of football tourism in Italy with the boy and wow what an experience.

Flew to Milan on Tuesday and watched AC v Chelsea. What a city and what a stadium. The atmosphere was electric from start to finish, even though AC lost, all credit to their fans (and the poor guy on the PA all game who coordinated the singing, he must have been hoarse after that). 
 

Flew to Naples the following day for the Napoli v Ajax game. First time in a long time I’ve felt unsafe in a city which was disappointing. Again both sets of fans were great (albeit the Fside lads had run their Italian counterparts all over the city the previous day). Again coordinated singing and genuine passion for their clubs and a great game to watch.

 

Took the high speed train to Rome after the match and went to Lazio Sturm Gratz. Wow, totally different atmosphere which was bordering on very sinister. I knew they were right wing but a huge chunk of that Lazio support are horrible barstewards. Nazi salutes during the game, monkey noises when a black player touched the ball. It felt like being in some perved time warp and really did not enjoy the experience (although both teams served up some excellent football at times and some Gratz boys we spoke to after the game were a good laugh).

have to question the value v experience of Scottish football when that trip cost £240 for flights/trains, hotels and match tickets.

 

anyone got any interesting away day tales or experiences as I think this will be repeated and it would be nice to find other venues?

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9 hours ago, Eastendtales said:

When you say Naples was unsafe, what did you mean? Just curious, was there recently and didn't feel that at all except for the traffic.

We got there early afternoon and pretty much 200 yards from the train station were getting the hard eye from a couple of unsavoury chaps. Was the same after the game when we went for a pizza before heading for Rome. Perhaps over thinking things as I was in a strange place but just felt really uneasy there, always seemed to be guys skulking in the shadows. Might be totally wrong just my take on it but certainly not in a rush to go back, neither would the laddie.

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Sounds like a good trip.

I think Naples is very dodgy for the pickpockets. I know a pars fan who is going in a couple of weeks to Naples and it just happens to be the same time Rangers are playing them.

Have you got any other trips like this planned Boston? Germany would be a good one to do something similar. 

Did you bump into any Hearts fans in Italy.

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I went across there for our honeymoon with the impression it was going to be a ****e time while we were in the city. Honestly never felt uneasy after walking around for an hour or so, but like any major place I understand how it isn't the same for everyone.  

As for footballing trips, I'd obviously recommend Cologne as you could make a weekend of it fixture wise. 

 

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One of my away days is the last in the "searched" thread below. Another incident was when living in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico I went to a home game, it was a bit like Cowdenbeath's stadium. As I got into the ground there was a lot of heavily armed police wandering about and wondered if there was going to be trouble but it was just their way of getting into the ground for free. About ten minutes into the game a policeman sat next to me and propped his rifle up against the seat he then fell asleep and at this point the rifle tilted over and was leaning against my leg, he then woke up and decided to go and get something to eat, I shouted at him to take his rifle with him but he said it would be safe with me as I was not Mexican. I thought about shooting the referee because he was a baldie.

As an aside please google San Miguel de Allende as it is one of the most beautiful cities in Mexico.

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Travelling for football is great 

Been to some great places(and some total dumps tbf) to watch Scotland.

My favourite trip is probably to Ljubljana, seemed a great city. Good food, plenty to see. Found a wee shop selling old pin badges half way up the hill the castle. 

Going to the friendly v Turkey in November, looks like it will be played in Diyarbakir, seems like it will be a interesting place to visit 

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I would recommend Braunschweig especially in section 7 of the Südkurve where the ultras are.  Wolfsburg felt a bit sterile and over commercialised imo when I watched the mens' games.  Atmosphere was much better at the women's match I watched a couple of years ago, perhaps because it is a smaller stadium and Wolfsburg Frauen are dominant in Germany.  There are absolutely ****loads of amateur clubs in Germany also so if you do a German trip you could probably watch a match every day.

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9 hours ago, rosythpar said:

Sounds like a good trip.

I think Naples is very dodgy for the pickpockets. I know a pars fan who is going in a couple of weeks to Naples and it just happens to be the same time Rangers are playing them.

Have you got any other trips like this planned Boston? Germany would be a good one to do something similar. 

Did you bump into any Hearts fans in Italy.

There were loads on the flight out then I. Rome for the flight back. The boy is looking at games in Germany where we can get a cluster, loads of football and save on flights

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