Gazzetta Football Italia (not)
I studied and worked for a year in Italy back in the 1990s and used to pop down to Genoa regularly to watch the eponymous football team (which is the oldest in Italy).

A couple of years later, back in the UK, I was in a pub in the West End when some people walked in, all wearing Genoa scarves - the side was playing at Wembley the next day in the final of the Anglo-Italian Cup. Obviously, I got chatting to them and I should mention that I was a little the worse for wear.

They dragged me down to Piccadilly Circus, where all of the fans were meeting up at a certain time, then plonked me in front of an Italian TV crew so they could get a view on the following day's match from this mad Scotsman who lived in London and was somehow a Genoa fan (the 'somehow' being that I'd had a great time there during the 1990 World Cup).

Went to Wembley the next day, good day out, then a couple of weeks later I received a parcel through the post including a video of my interview - it was clear that I'd had a couple, although personally I think that improved my Italian.

A few years after that, I went over to Genoa to watch the local derby against Sampdoria, again I got collared by a film crew (I think being six foot one and blond means I look a bit different from the typical Italian football fan) and again I gave a good account of myself, despite having been on the birra. Never got to see the vidoetape of that one, though.

If they draw an English team in the Europa League (ex-UEFA Cup) next season, I might have to go for the hat-trick :o)

Lunghezza? Quarantacinque secondi.
(Capo, Thu 11 Jun 2009, 13:04, Reply)