Last week I went to my first ever soccer game. My friend was going so I made him take me with him. Viareggio was playing against…..I forget who. The first difference I noticed was all the police. There were many and not only that but they were in full riot gear; helmets, batons, and shields. What was I getting myself into? Apparently at the game the previous Sunday, the Viareggio fans caused a wee bit of trouble…destroying property, robbing the bar, and assaulting police. This wasn’t your regular NHL game. We sat with the fanatical fans and during the first half they were on strike. Even fans strike here, go figure. After the first half some guy started strapping a megaphone to a nearby pole facing the fans. At the beginning of the second half he started screaming cheers into the megaphone along with “fuck the police” type slogans. The fans would repeat and clap and sing and hold up flags (see above). And have I mentioned that a battalion of police was sitting just to the left of these fanatical fans?
In the end, neither team scored so maybe it was better that way. Who knows what would have happened if Viareggio lost?
I plan on going to the next one in a couple of weeks. :D
