Quite old but "interesting" none the less.  Links are the for the 5 parts for the Italian ultras, in order:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfNq4xJK9q0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIIsAZNWNfg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiU7vg-YOkE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DHtx3fEJ9k&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWLB-DX_zDM&feature=related

Nice post... .decent documentary and gives a good insight into the ultras...

its hard to take a stance on them though, do you support them or are you against them... unfortunately its pretty polarising...

I always admired the ultras for making Italian games more of a spectacle than elsewhere, but after the events in catania, it forces you to stop and think about if it is worth upholding a belief like this, even at the cost of life..

I just hope that a compromise can be found, let the ultras have the curvas, but keep the violence to a minimum.... sadly, you cannot change the such a deeply ingrained mindset...

What the documentary failed to do was examine the reason for the ultras existence in the first place, .. I believe them to be an expression of societal problems in italy, and they show it in the only place you can... the Calcio world...
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Baggio Per Sempre!

badman wrote:

Nice post... .decent documentary and gives a good insight into the ultras... its hard to take a stance on them though, do you support them or are you against them... unfortunately its pretty polarising...

It isn't quite that simple.. There are good and bad points.

Ultras are those who stand in the curva in the driving rain, leave at 11pm for a 3pm game down south (or north), spend time and money making banners, organize choreography, pay thousands a year on petrol money, turn up whether for a promotion, relegation or nothing midtable battle. They are true fans... Only the few that unlawfully use football as a vehicle for their own agenda are the ones that drag the "ultra" name down. And they aren't Ultras, they are petty thugs.

I've written some "articles" on this when bored, but have had a couple of drinks. The Ultra mentality is something that had always interested me though. And sadly it's something the authorities are trying to stamp out.
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http://theredpandacult.blogspot.co.uk/

Brescia



Verona





Livorno



Napoli

Last edited by SSL 1900 on 19-06-11 18:26; edited 2 times in total

"On the stands you sing, in the police office you shut up."

But why would you be in the police office if you were only singing?

Napoli

@ Myles: Ultras is about much more than singing alone, obviously.

Lazio



(by the way, I see that you are administrator, is it okay for a topic about Ultras to be opened? I'm new here)

SSL 1900 wrote:

(by the way, I see that you are administrator, is it okay for a topic about Ultras to be opened? I'm new here)

Yes it's okay.


Juve

Myles wrote:

But why would you be in the police office if you were only singing?

Crimes against melody?

Laziali (with Gabriele)



Napoli  



Roma



Doriani



Atalanta



Frosinone



Piacenza

SSL 1900 wrote:

@ Myles: Ultras is about much more than singing alone, obviously. (by the way, I see that you are administrator, is it okay for a topic about Ultras to be opened? I'm new here)

Welcome, SSL1900.

I can't imagine anyone would mind with the pictures, but maybe a point of view or even an anecdote or experience of the topic might be nice too.

I remember being at the Delle Alpi next to the Curva when a Milan fan managed to make his way through the older gents (and me) to the edge of the curva. He was waving his arms and shouting trying to rile the hardcore and was swiftly chased away by what I distinctly remember as a couple who resembled Mr Burns and Joan Rivers.

@ Micky, I understand. I will try to post a bit of everything.



This is the story of ANTONIO DE FALCHI.

Quote:

"On June 4th 1989 ANTONIO DE FALCHI, almost 19, arrives at 8:30 a.m. at the Milan Railway Central Station with three friends. The four guys decide to go to San Siro by themselves, leaving the mob of 40 people which made the trip with them. After having purchased the tickets, the four go to the gate 16, with the yellow-red scarves hidden in the jackets. It's 11.35 a.m. (the kick off was scheduled at 4 p.m.). Suddenly a person appears. "Do you have a cigarette?" he asks. And then: "What's the time?". The roman accent betrays Antonio and his friends: a signal and about thirty people appears from behind a wall in construction (there were works due to Italy '90). The four roman guys run away. Antonio can't escape, he falls on the ground. They hit him with kicks and punch. After thirty seconds the Milan mob run away because the police arrives. Antonio try to stand up, he's very pale and he breathes very badly; he falls again. One of the cops try to make the mouth to mouth breath and with a cardiac massage. No way. He is immediately put on the ambulance but he arrives to the San Carlo Hospital already dead. In the meantime the police halts, near the gate 16, three people. They're Daniele F. (29), one of the leaders of "Gruppo Brasato" with a card of the "Order Service" of A.C. Milan, Luca B. (20) and Antonio L. (21). The funeral (payed by AS Roma) is done on june 7th 1989 in the San Giovanni Leonardi Church, in the quarter of Torre Maura in front of 10.000 touched people. There's Dino Viola there (who at the end of the ceremony embrace touched Antonio's mother), Peruzzi, Nela (who talks, touched, with Antonio's brother), Giannini and the whole team of younk kids of AS Roma.

Quote:

On June 7th 1989 the autopsy on the body of Antonio decree the the death came for heart attack. On july 13th 1989 the Milan Court judge seven years of condemnation to Luca B. with temporary freedom, Daniele F. and Antonio L. are absolved because of the lack of evidences."

Quote:

"Your Ultras."

Quote:

"Some days ago I have finished my time. They told me that I was a man now, that I must be adult, responsible, and that I had to stop entering the Curva Nord, and to quit being an Ultras. Absurd! I wouldn't know how to forget those people who have shaped me, with whom I have lived all those years, who protected me and loved me. I live, in every moment of my existince, with the Ultras mentality, impossible to stop, impossible to change. I remember my friends from the battles. Their faces, their voices, their actions. I do not want to stop marching next to them. My face will always be directed at the newspapers, my ears on the television. Today just like yesterday, I am ready to be there. And as long as even only one of my Ultras enters a train, I will be next to him. This is my destiny that does not end. Take care lads."

In memory of Gabriele Sandri.

Quote:

"I've just finished playing, and now, as always, I'm leaving to support you to the victory!"

What a bunch of planks!  It's the language of the Spanish Civil War transferred to pathetic and pitiful gang fights.  

What do the Lazio Ultras make of Beppe Signori's arrest or are they too busy masturbating over fascist memorabilia to have heard about it?

Sir George wrote:

What a bunch of planks!  It's the language of the Spanish Civil War transferred to pathetic and pitiful gang fights.   What do the Lazio Ultras make of Beppe Signori's arrest or are they too busy masturbating over fascist memorabilia to have heard about it?

This was the risk of opening a topic about Ultras, I suppose.

First of all, Ultras is about so much more than gang fights. It is only a small minority that is violent, exactly like in any other (sub) culture I guess.

Secondly, Beppe Signori has been released, and of course everyone was shocked by the news. He was/is a hero for many.

Thirdly, politics and Italian football culture have always walked hand in hand. Walk around in Livorno, go see a match, and you'll get an idea. Go with the Ultras of Verona, Inter, Lazio, Roma, Varese, Triestina, and you'll see the other side. It's about time that people know/understand/see that it is far from Lazio's hardcore alone who's (far) right-wing. If you like, I can post hundreds (literally) of photos of Roma (or any other club I mentioned) Ultras with fascist symbols, gestures, and so on.

Ultras from all over Italy come together in Rome, in 2009, to protest against the so-called Tessera del Tifoso.

Lazio