Great pictures SSL 1900.

Aberdeen and Hellas Verona?!?! I'm bloody amazed by that Dons flag amongst theirs. God knows how that got there!
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'Il tifo e il nostro mestiere.'

I'm in Asia at the mo, saw a Thai game yesterday and surprisingly there are a few 'ultras.' The playing standard was default Master League style but not too bad an atmosphere.

Still ended up spending all night arguing with Palace and Luton fans though. Twats.

Also this is Ultras. Oltre i colori... Lazio lads, ex-Banda Noantri, with a banner with 3 names on it. One of the names is Gabriele, their dear friend, that was murdered while sleeping. The two others are fans/Ultras of other clubs. A banner of Banda Noantri once, during the derby against Roma, said: "mentality goes beyond rivalry... Honour to the real Ultras". It's not just about rivalries, it's not just about fighting, hate, and so on. It's about mentality, first and foremost. Respect for those who lead the same way of life.

Quote:

"20/09/2003, Avellino-Napoli. The away fans arrive at the stadium, and they get charged by police without any reason. One of them is Ercolano, a boy in his twenties, a fan of Napoli. He is pushed, crushed, and he falls down, 10 metres. Thirty minutes he lies alone, in pain, because the doctors do not dare to go to him. He fights for his life, but gives up in the hospital of Avellino. Heavy riots occur in the stadium..."

Quote:

"Matteo, "Il Bagna", was an ultra, a member of Boys Parma 1977. He was a young man of 27 years, with a family, a job and many passions. Among which was Parma Football Club. He followed the team home and away and was an active participant in supporting the team. This afternoon Il Bagna died. He died in a motorway service station, under the frightened gaze of his brothers. Never again will we see his timid smile, never again will we hear his friendly and sanguine voice. Something dear to us, to which we were accustomed, has been suddenly snatched away. And now we feel its absence fiercely. This is the moment for tears and sadness. For his family, for his friends, for his loved ones. And it is the moment for respect and silence, for those who have a heart and a conscience. But some people never stop, even in the face of death. They twist the facts, and thanks to a thousand lies, a young life destroyed becomes a means to sustain theories, hold forth, invent scoops. A work of disinformation which develops into truly vulgar profiteering. There are stories of chains, bars and cudgels. But neither we nor the juventini were armed. There are stories of fighting and brawling, but the two factions never came to blows. There are stories once again about violent supporters and the wish to suspend all away travel, but Il Bagna wasn't killed by other ultras, he died under the wheels of a coach. Another bloody event, but the ultra is not the aggressor. He is the victim. The truth should be respected, as should the memory of a young man who is no more, and the pain of those who loved Matteo."

Bagna, Ercolano, Gabriele, rest in peace.

Saw 3 games in Germany this weekend, Schalke-Larnaca (Cyprus), Fortuna Dusseldorf-Dynamo Dresden and Dortmund-Wolfsburg.

Schalke was a bit disappointing, was at the wrong end, no goals and spoke to a couple of fans after who said their fans weren't at their best. You can drink (and smoke) whilst watching at all German games but they have a stupid card system where you pay 10E for one, get 2 beers and a snack and you're left with say 1.50E, which gets you nothing. I really hope that isn't introduced in Italy or England (not that League 1 would be affected), Holland, France and I'm sure others already have it too.

Dusseldorf was a lot more fun. Terracing, 11E entrance, no drink cards and top of the table taking a last minute winner. Their fans were a lot more vocal, Dresden had a good turn out, and we got showered in beer as they scored.

I had a lot of trouble trying to get Dortmund tickets in advance, then it turned out they still had some on the day... Anyway, their ultras were in decent voice and put on a coreografia, which I've only seen twice in person before and that kop end is f'n huge. They went on to win 5-1 with Gotze getting 2.

I'm planning on Hertha Berlin before the end of the season, though that's largely going to be about the clubs and music. It's another country ticked off for me, but Italy is still my favourite place to watch football, and has the most interesting Ultras I've come across.

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hp...6102978_10755879_1694941585_n.jpg
http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hp...6102978_10755933_1811579801_n.jpg
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hp...286102978_10755980_23322799_n.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OsANhT2EyQ

The stadiums/fans in Germany seem to have a good balance of atmosphere and control, unlike England and Italy where there's not much atmosphere and too much violence respectively.

I don't like the goal music all the grounds in Germany play though.  I've no idea why such a bad idea has become so popular.
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Forza Juve!!!

That's some mighty fine soccer blogging there, Phil. Mighty fine.

Cracking pics / video, n'all.
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ACF FIORENTINA : FORZA LA VIOLA

diatribe wrote:

I'm planning on Hertha Berlin before the end of the season, though that's largely going to be about the clubs and music.

If you're off to Berghain or Waterfront, be prepared to deny being English and take along a Lady for the added insurance of actually getting in!

Both are ace but an absolute b****** to get in.
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'Il tifo e il nostro mestiere.'

I was in Berlin over the weekend and went to the Hertha - Monchengladbach game. Got a seat right next to the Ostkurve for 15 Euros. Fantastic Stadium and great fans, shame about the team.

Cheers for the comments. Ja those are the kind of clubs I'd be looking at going to and I've heard the horror stories, but hoping my German would help.

4 years today since Gabriele Sandri was killed..

Good clubs but hyped up beyond recognition! I'm sure your german language skills will help you get in and good luck.

The four years since he died have passed by really quickly. RIP Gabriele Sandri.
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'Il tifo e il nostro mestiere.'

Gabriele vive.

Now the fan's passport has been declared illegal in Italy, will attendences pick up again? It would be nice to see large travelling supports unhindered by this silly scheme. Well done to the Codacons!  
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'Il tifo e il nostro mestiere.'

Yay, am no longer jobless so can start planning silly trips again.

Anyway, was there a book on ultra culture that came out about 2 years ago? Am trying to remember the name of it, if anyone knows? Cheers.
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http://theredpandacult.blogspot.co.uk/

I'm guessing, but would it be this:

http://www.amazon.com/Football-Fa...TF8&qid=1329936720&sr=1-1
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Forza Juve!!!

Yep that's the one, thank you!
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http://theredpandacult.blogspot.co.uk/

Congrats on the new job!  
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ACF FIORENTINA : FORZA LA VIOLA

Thank you   It has been a very long three and a half months since I got back from Asia.

The reason I was asking about that book (and I should have checked through this thread first, sorry) is that a Charlton fan's trying to do a documentary on the mini-rise of English ultras and is after some resources to give it context.

I really can't take it seriously over here though, it comes across as so overly contrived and is about 40 years too late. Crystal Palace's "Holmesdale Fanatics" are good for a laugh though, they "boycotted" Ipswich away and stood up for "the working class man" as tickets were £35. You can guess how much we were charged the last time we were at Selhurst.
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http://theredpandacult.blogspot.co.uk/

Some fans tried an Ultra group at Leicester last season, but they faced a whole load of problems with the club (petty things like flags needing fire safety certificates), and there was probably only about 30-40 at most home matches.

I think the group has now dwindled into nothing as I've not heard anything since the end of last season.

They had good intentions, but English clubs and fans don't seem to want to accept this sort of group.
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Forza Juve!!!

Liam :

Some fans tried an Ultra group at Leicester last season, but they faced a whole load of problems with the club (petty things like flags needing fire safety certificates), and there was probably only about 30-40 at most home matches. I think the group has now dwindled into nothing as I've not heard anything since the end of last season. They had good intentions, but English clubs and fans don't seem to want to accept this sort of group.

Didn't some of the Leicester lot get banned too?

Celtic are the only group in UK which is decent to be honest. Palace's is fairly good too.

I think that as and when safe standing (hopefully) starts to appear around the UK then the atmosphere will become better and we'll start to see decent groups.

There's talk of a singing section coming into affect at United which I think will be quite good. The people who are doing it are trying to encourage the use of 2-stick flags etc as well which will hopefully make the atmosphere at OT decent again.

Anyway, here's a few pictures from the recent Lazio-Rome match.

AS Roma









SS Lazio





Ultras Roma





"Defend your country
From a democracy that kills"

Ultras Roma about IRR(IDUCIBILI)

WATPOAE wrote:

Didn't some of the Leicester lot get banned too?

I think some may have been thrown out of matches, but I can't recall if anybody actually got a more permanent ban from the ground.

I think the group was victimised because of the Ultra tag, and and its small size.  There's a much larger section of the ground that stands all game (persistent standing was one of the main issues the group faced), but nothing was done to stop that.  Similarly away fans can stand all game if they want.
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Forza Juve!!!