Bilboblue
Well-Known Member
Hahah! It's Serie B these days, won't be stopping anyone going mate..... Doing it solo this time, will be good to meet the lads over there I know again though, fantastic people, great hosts
Hellas Verona, Italia
- Thread starter Bilboblue
- Start date
che_don_john
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 7 Nov 2011
- Messages
- 729
I played a game at the Bentegodi (county football tour; played against a Veneto regional side if I recall correctly) back in 1999. One of the worst pitches I have every played on; a lumpy mixture of wet mud, grass and sand. Crazy to think that two professional teams were using it, although the weather had been particularly bad at the time.
We had a tour of the stadium the day before and the guide gave us all Chievo pendants at the end. Someone from Hellas obviously got wind of this and the next day before the game we were given a load of Hellas memorabilia; which the Chievo rep then of course had to trump again by giving our team a signed shirt and ball. All the effort to one-up one another, and we were just a poxy county U-16s team.
We had a tour of the stadium the day before and the guide gave us all Chievo pendants at the end. Someone from Hellas obviously got wind of this and the next day before the game we were given a load of Hellas memorabilia; which the Chievo rep then of course had to trump again by giving our team a signed shirt and ball. All the effort to one-up one another, and we were just a poxy county U-16s team.
Dave Ewing's Back 'eader
Well-Known Member
I've got the prayer mat out for yer - I'm thinking a very dull 0-0!
Dave Ewing's Back 'eader
Well-Known Member
http://www.thehardtackle.com/2014/hellas-verona-the-most-racist-fans-in-all-of-italy/
The book is "A season with Verona" by Tm Parks. This is best football book that I`ve read. I went pre-season to Verona to watch City in the Paul Lake comeback tour and it was a bit of an eye opener. I still have the Hellas scarf I was given by the staff at the ticket office.
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I've got a similar volume but it's 'East Stirling'! Jeez, if yer had to watch teams like that yer'd take up 'Paint Drying Observation'!
Bilboblue
Well-Known Member
Good story that mate.
Hellas virtually ignore Chievo, who they regard as a 'fake team' and a lot of the ultras refuse to go to the derby when Chievo are the 'home' team.
You literally never see any Chievo fans around the town, but plenty of Hellas supporters. They absolutely love to see English lads on the curva sud and can scarcely believe it when you tell them you have gone to Verona for the purpose of seeing their team, it's great, had some really good chats with their fans, in and around the stadium.
Bilboblue
Well-Known Member
That was my original trip @Dave Ewing's Back 'eader it was a top game and finished 3-3, saw a 2-2 draw earlier this season, probably gonna be 1-1 then!
che_don_john
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- Joined
- 7 Nov 2011
- Messages
- 729
Beautiful little city, too, it must be said. Well worth a visit. Would be interested to know how Hellas' attendances as a Serie B side still compare with Chievo's as a Serie A team, as from what I recall (as you said) Hellas were always the 'bigger' team regardless of league standing.
Bilboblue
Well-Known Member
Chievo averaging 12.562 this season, highest attendance 26,000 v Juventus, lowest 8,000 v Fiorentina.
Hellas averaging 14,709, highest of 15,815, can't find the lowest but it's not bad at all really, seeing as they are a division lower.
Bilboblue
Well-Known Member
Got back yesterday evening from another great trip to Verona, arrived the Sunday morning at 10am, stayed at my friends apartment this time as the hotels were really expensive, being a holiday weekend there too.
Had a couple of hours kip before heading out, met up with the people I already know and a couple of new faces, similarly lovely people. Went for lunch in a really good restaurant in the back streets of the old part of town before having a good walk around the city, stopping occasionally for refreshments and checking our score, the game wasn't being shown over there.
Ended up going back to another friends apartment where his wife cooked a superb meal, couple of beers and watched the spuds-arse and the Inter-Napoli matches before getting a relatively early night.
Up early on match day and out for breakfast before heading to various bars near the stadium, ticket was 14 Euros, the Curva Sud was sold out, great atmosphere building with it being a spiteful local derby vs Vicenza, no love lost there and the Hellas fans were nearly all confident, with 'The Cat Eaters' being just one point off the relegation places.
The heavens opened at around 1:30pm, kick off still 90 minutes away but it didn't dampen the enthusiasm around the stadium, had a couple more beers then headed into the ground to savour the atmosphere and grab a beer to take onto the terraces.
Match started off a bit cagey but Hellas with a lot more quality and duly took the lead, thereon the game changed a bit with the 'GialloBlu' sitting back and inviting Vicenza onto them, an invitation they duly took, equalising before half time.
Second half was strangely more of the same with Vicenza defending well and looking dangerous on the break, indeed, for a large part of the second half, were the better team, and went ahead, celebrating like they had stayed up already, it took til the last ten minutes for Hellas to shake themselves out of the stupor they found themselves in and started turning up the pressure on the Vicenza goal, wasting a few good opportunities, before scoring with 88 minutes on the clock.
Spoke with my good friend Alessandro and he was still a bit despondent about only getting a draw against Vicenza, the board went up showing 5 minutes of added time, told him not to worry, 5 minutes is enough for anything (wonder where I got the idea from?!)
Hellas continued to attack but Vicenza still looked dangerous on the break, the winner finally came on 95 minutes, a really good finish it was too, ball crossed in from the right and a perfect volley into the far corner to start delirium on the Curva Sud, it was absolutely mental, the noise, the sights, the only things I can compare it to was Sergio's goal, the home derby with Kompany scoring, or when Yaya scored in the cup semi-final, it was brilliant.
Sadly it reminded me of how football used to be in this country, before it became sanitised and diluted, I loved every minute of it, something that doesn't happen nearly enough at City matches lately. It's probably because I don't go there every game, but I will certainly be going back, maybe to a couple of their away matches next season as well, hopefully they will continue as they are and get promoted back to Serie A.
Met and spoke with many new people on this trip and all love that foreigners go to see them, they have friendships with a few teams, Kaiserslautern being one, and a couple from within Italy such as Sampdoria, they go to each others games once or twice a season. I was asked if we have any friendships with other teams and the question stumped me a bit, I know there is a small link with Torino, but are there any others?
Had a couple of hours kip before heading out, met up with the people I already know and a couple of new faces, similarly lovely people. Went for lunch in a really good restaurant in the back streets of the old part of town before having a good walk around the city, stopping occasionally for refreshments and checking our score, the game wasn't being shown over there.
Ended up going back to another friends apartment where his wife cooked a superb meal, couple of beers and watched the spuds-arse and the Inter-Napoli matches before getting a relatively early night.
Up early on match day and out for breakfast before heading to various bars near the stadium, ticket was 14 Euros, the Curva Sud was sold out, great atmosphere building with it being a spiteful local derby vs Vicenza, no love lost there and the Hellas fans were nearly all confident, with 'The Cat Eaters' being just one point off the relegation places.
The heavens opened at around 1:30pm, kick off still 90 minutes away but it didn't dampen the enthusiasm around the stadium, had a couple more beers then headed into the ground to savour the atmosphere and grab a beer to take onto the terraces.
Match started off a bit cagey but Hellas with a lot more quality and duly took the lead, thereon the game changed a bit with the 'GialloBlu' sitting back and inviting Vicenza onto them, an invitation they duly took, equalising before half time.
Second half was strangely more of the same with Vicenza defending well and looking dangerous on the break, indeed, for a large part of the second half, were the better team, and went ahead, celebrating like they had stayed up already, it took til the last ten minutes for Hellas to shake themselves out of the stupor they found themselves in and started turning up the pressure on the Vicenza goal, wasting a few good opportunities, before scoring with 88 minutes on the clock.
Spoke with my good friend Alessandro and he was still a bit despondent about only getting a draw against Vicenza, the board went up showing 5 minutes of added time, told him not to worry, 5 minutes is enough for anything (wonder where I got the idea from?!)
Hellas continued to attack but Vicenza still looked dangerous on the break, the winner finally came on 95 minutes, a really good finish it was too, ball crossed in from the right and a perfect volley into the far corner to start delirium on the Curva Sud, it was absolutely mental, the noise, the sights, the only things I can compare it to was Sergio's goal, the home derby with Kompany scoring, or when Yaya scored in the cup semi-final, it was brilliant.
Sadly it reminded me of how football used to be in this country, before it became sanitised and diluted, I loved every minute of it, something that doesn't happen nearly enough at City matches lately. It's probably because I don't go there every game, but I will certainly be going back, maybe to a couple of their away matches next season as well, hopefully they will continue as they are and get promoted back to Serie A.
Met and spoke with many new people on this trip and all love that foreigners go to see them, they have friendships with a few teams, Kaiserslautern being one, and a couple from within Italy such as Sampdoria, they go to each others games once or twice a season. I was asked if we have any friendships with other teams and the question stumped me a bit, I know there is a small link with Torino, but are there any others?