Jump to content

  • Sign up for free and receive a month's subscription

    You are viewing this page as a guest. That means you are either a member who has not logged in, or you have not yet registered with us. Signing up for an account only takes a minute and it means you will no longer see this annoying box! It will also allow you to get involved with our friendly(ish!) community and take part in the discussions on our forums. And because we're feeling generous, if you sign up for a free account we will give you a month's free trial access to our subscriber only content with no obligation to commit. Register an account and then send a private message to @dave u and he'll hook you up with a subscription.

Inter Milan banner in San Siro tonight

Guest Ulysses Everett McGill

By Guest Ulysses Everett McGill,
in FF - Football Forum

 Share

Recommended Posts

Guest Ulysses Everett McGill

Guest Ulysses Everett McGill

Posted
Posted (edited)

Pinched from the rattle

 

"La madre del John Terry ama il rubinetto de Liverpool"

Edited by Ulysses Everett McGill
Link to comment
Share on other sites
milky Proficient

milky

Posted
Posted

They had a banner up in English, didn't mention us though. Irish tv doesn't cut straight to an ad after the game, and the camera was panning round the stadium, and there was definately one saying something about 'John Terry pussy'.

 

Good to know his cuntishness doesn't go unnoticed in other countries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 months later...
Mel Wood Rising Star

Mel Wood

Posted
Posted

They're cracking on with the banners, Inter.

 

ept_sports_sow_experts-393958577-1274158164.jpg?ymVB7JDD3HR7VUVi

 

Beating Roma in a tight Scudetto race and in the Coppa Italia final apparently wasn't enough for Inter Milan, so they literally tied one final insult specifically aimed at Francesco Totti to the bus they rode as they paraded around the streets of Milan.

 

What appears to be a fan-made banner below Zanetti and Cambiasso in the picture above references Totti's signature thumb-sucking goal celebration in a not so nice way. In English, it goes something like this:

 

"Totti, instead of a thumb in your mouth, put the middle finger up your [pooper]."

 

Nnnice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hermes Grand Master

Hermes

Posted
Posted
Ha ha, i love the way europeans are allowed to jibe their rivals.

 

 

A classic case of that, by Gabrielle Marcotti:

 

“My enemy’s enemy is my friend” is part of the fabric of football and being a fan. But what happens when it moves beyond active schadenfreude into virtual self-destruction?

 

The Stadio Olimpico, where Lazio hosted Inter Milan on May 2, provided one of the most bizarre spectacles you could see. Both sets of supporters cheered Inter’s goals as they rolled to a 2-0 victory, which helped José Mourinho’s side to maintain their lead over Roma — Lazio’s bitter rivals — in the race to the scudetto.

 

There was a natural parallel with the Barclays Premier League and Chelsea’s visit to Anfield, where the home supporters knew that anything other than a defeat could enable Manchester United to win their nineteenth league title, thereby eclipsing Liverpool. The difference was in the build-up and the atmosphere within the ground.

 

Threats were made to Lazio players via the web, warning them not to help Roma to win the title, lest their car or home should suffer “an accident”. When Fernando Muslera, the Lazio goalkeeper, made a string of stunning saves to keep Inter out in the first half, he was roundly booed and insulted. So too were Alexander Kolarov and Mauro Zárate, who had the temerity to make crunching tackles and runs into the opposing box.

 

 

When Walter Samuel put Inter ahead just before half-time, Lazio supporters celebrated before displaying a sarcastic banner that read: “Oh, noooo!!!”

 

After the game, many were incensed. Not so much with the Lazio players — it was not an overt or grotesque capitulation and, in any case, there was some sympathy given the threats received — but with the supporters. You have to be pretty twisted to prepare banners beforehand in anticipation of celebrating your team’s defeat — particularly when Lazio were still not technically safe from relegation.

 

And what is most galling is the way that a loud but powerful minority of Lazio fans effectively decided for everybody else that this game was to be lost. What gives them the right to bully players and other fans into advocating defeat, something that is antithetical to the very notion of competitive sport? And what of the rest of the league? Isn’t there some kind of social contract that compels you — simply by participating in a competition — to put out maximum effort?

 

In the eyes of some Lazio fans, evidently not. And as for the “social contract”, they probably could not care less. This, of course, goes way beyond relatively benign things such as not supporting rival clubs from your country in European competition. It veers into self-destruction.

 

In the 1999-2000 season, Lazio were second, one point behind Juventus (then coached by a certain Carlo Ancelotti) who had a game in hand. Juventus were playing mid-table Roma (with another familiar face, Fabio Capello, at the helm).

 

Lazio supporters in Rome celebrated when Juventus took the lead, groaned when Roma equalised and again celebrated when their title rivals went on to win 2-1. Never mind that it was entirely nonsensical to do so. To them, their rivals — always and everywhere — are Roma. Any defeat is to be celebrated, even when it goes against Lazio’s interests, even, it would seem, at the potential cost of winning the league.

 

It is easy to condemn this attitude as unhealthy and irrational. But then, by most standards, die-hard fans are by definition unhealthy and irrational, if only because they offer unconditional (and, often, unrequited) love based on little more than colours and a club crest.

 

That’s the part that casual fans don’t get: why you would obsess all week over a group of men you don’t personally know and why would you sacrifice weekends, money and emotion to follow them.

 

Sociologists would probably reply that it’s about belonging, a sense of community, a ritual that makes fans part of a greater whole. Die-hard supporters would probably speak of the buzz that comes from loving something so much. Yet deep down they would probably concede that it is, in fact, irrational. And maybe that’s what makes it so special.

 

This profound, irrational bond linking supporters to clubs suits everyone. It adds excitement and intensity, it pleases sponsors and marketing men who flog club brands, it works well for broadcasters and the media. When it spills over the way it did in Lazio-Inter, however, everything falls apart. It’s not just that hate, the flipside of love, emerges to cheapen and make worthless a football match. Nor is it simply that the whole premise of competitive sport is subverted. It’s the revelling in subverting it, the joy at blowing up the natural order, chastising and threatening the men you are supposed to support. It’s one thing to sit on your hands and privately rejoice at your team’s defeat costing your rivals dear. It’s quite another to wear that celebration and those threats as a mark of pride, a sign of your supposed being “different” and “special”.

 

Football is a big and inclusive tent in which everyone can live their “fandom” in their own way. But when that interferes with the basic rights of others to live their lives, it’s time to draw the line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...