One away fan to see his team win

mitosis

Only one ticket was sold by the visiting club and the lonely figure in the vast Marassi stands has been identified as 37-year-old wine merchant Arrigo Brovedani.

http://www.football-italia.net/28324/lone-udinese-fan-speaks-out

Italian football may be fecked, but it can still raise a smile. Great story.

Rekop dog

Toto gave him a wave after his goal.

The_Kew_Tour

Cool story in fairness:)

Leiva

If he wasn't a local and travelled alone then he deserves a life time ticket

Nuri Sahin

Leiva wrote: »

If he wasn't a local and travelled alone then he deserves a life time ticket

Ha, said the same thing myself earlier. Definitely deserves something.

Fuzzy_Dunlop

Leiva wrote: »

If he wasn't a local and travelled alone then he deserves a life time ticket

“I was in Genoa for a work meeting and usually take a trip round the area around this time of year, but it was pure coincidence Udinese were playing there at the same time. So I took advantage and organised a ticket,” he told udinetoday.it.

Not quite the same but still. Fair play.

wandatowell

Rekop dog wrote: »

Toto gave him a wave after his goal.

Awe

carlop

At Atletico Madrid - Real Sociedad last season I'm fairly sure there was only 1 away fan, at least there was only one in the away section, there may have been more mixed in with the home fans.

Must be a weird experience!

LuckyLloyd

Sounds like he was a real bore about the whole thing. A night on the absolute piss where he wouldn't have had to put his hand in his pocket awaited and he...headed home early because of work commitments.

Where To

Udine to Genoa 505km

St Petersburg to Vladivostok 9788km

http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/nevermindthebolsheviks/archive/2012/03/23/far-east-and-far-out-russia-s-remotest-derby-on-the-sea-of-japan.aspx

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Apparently Di Natale asked him to go down and warm up with the team before the game.

He's been invited to the next home game by the club.

dfx-

Was there some boycott by Udinese fans, a ban or was it a hastily arranged game?

Even UCD bring 3 or 4 away fans..

Pinturicchio

dfx- wrote: »

Was there some boycott by Udinese fans, a ban or was it a hastily arranged game?

Even UCD bring 3 or 4 away fans..

No, no and no.

AgileMyth

dfx- wrote: »

Was there some boycott by Udinese fans, a ban or was it a hastily arranged game?

Even UCD bring 3 or 4 away fans..

You're in the same city. They often come up to Sligo with no fans.

GavRedKing

Where To wrote: »

Udine to Genoa 505km

St Petersburg to Vladivostok 9788km

http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/nevermindthebolsheviks/archive/2012/03/23/far-east-and-far-out-russia-s-remotest-derby-on-the-sea-of-japan.aspx

Now thats dedication by the Zenit fans.

Six years ago, a hardy trio of Zenit St Petersburg fans climbed into a 20-year-old Honda to drive to a league game in Vladivostok – 4,000 miles as the crow flies, more like 6,500 miles as the road wends.

Although they managed to see their club record a 2-0 win, the car died, leaving them stranded in Vladivostok. They were forced to take the train all the way back to St Petersburg, making it home just in time for Zenit’s next match the following week, whereupon the club rewarded their loyalty by presenting them with a new car. Today, the clapped-out Honda is on display in the Zenit museum.

:pac:

Neil3030

GavRedKing wrote: »

Now thats dedication by the Zenit fans.



:pac:

Fantastic story

GavRedKing

It's meant to be 9 hour flight from Moscow to Vladivostok, imagine doing a week on a train to get home?

I seen the Idiot Abroad epsiode on the Trans-Siberian railway and it looks a lot more appealing then it sounds TBH.

Still, the dedication by the fans is insane.

homerjay2005

great story. i counted 19 fans one day in the away end when i was at an inter toto cup game between aston villa and fc zurich and i thought that was a bit strange, but this takes the biscuit!

shows a huge problem in the italian game if a club that size, can have an empty away end.

SEPT 23 1989

I was at the Ireland V England U21 match in Dalymount 1995,place was jammed on three sides apart from two brave English fans with the whole Shopping Centre end to themselves

Hammer Archer

AgileMyth wrote: »

You're in the same city. They often come up to Sligo with no fans.

We had just 7 in Tallaght two months back but managed more than 20 in Dundalk.
Think just one made the trip to Turners Cross this season.

Think a similar thing happened in Norway a few years back. When the team scored, they all went over to their only fan and shook his hand.

Neil3030

homerjay2005 wrote: »

shows a huge problem in the italian game if a club that size, can have an empty away end.

Ah it's just the lazy Friulani, weren't arsed making the road trip :P

dfx-

Pinturicchio wrote: »

No, no and no.

They just didn't bother?

Mars Bar

GavRedKing wrote: »

Six years ago, a hardy trio of Zenit St Petersburg fans climbed into a 20-year-old Honda to drive to a league game in Vladivostok – 4,000 miles as the crow flies, more like 6,500 miles as the road wends.

So they basically drove from the west coast of Ireland to the east coast of America and back! And that was just their journey from Petersburg to Vladivostok!!

GavRedKing

Mars Bar wrote: »

So they basically drove from the west coast of Ireland to the east coast of America and back! And that was just their journey from Petersburg to Vladivostok!!

Thats the jist of it ya, here it is on Goggle Maps. :eek: :pac:

129 hours suggested, thats mental, imagine running close to the empty around the Ural mountains or Siberia.

It would want to be one carefully planned journey.

dfx-

GavRedKing wrote: »

129 hours suggested, thats mental, imagine running close to the empty around the Ural mountains or Siberia.

It would want to be one carefully planned journey.

For the Rovers game away to Rubin Kazan last year, there were a few Rovers fans who went by train from Moscow to Kazan and back instead of the club charter flight - 14 hours each way I think...you wouldn't want to miss a connection. :eek:

Envious in a way, but then personally I was glad to have the immediate charter flight home instead once the game finished..

GavRedKing

dfx- wrote: »

For the Rovers game away to Rubin Kazan last year, there were a few Rovers fans who went by train from Moscow to Kazan instead of the club charter flight - 14 hours each way I think...you wouldn't want to miss a connection. :eek:

Envious in a way, but then personally I was glad to have the immediate charter flight home instead once the game finished..

14 hours? :eek:

What kind of numbers did Rovers manage for that game out of curiosity?

carlop

homerjay2005 wrote: »

great story. i counted 19 fans one day in the away end when i was at an inter toto cup game between aston villa and fc zurich and i thought that was a bit strange, but this takes the biscuit!

shows a huge problem in the italian game if a club that size, can have an empty away end.

Travelling away support is just not a very common thing in Italy or Spain, and fluctuates massively depending on the importance of the game. Atletico Madrid - Valencia in the league last season had about 20 in the away section, in the Europa League semi-final a couple of months later there were at least 2,000.

Also, Udinese are not a particularly big club, they have just had a couple of decent seasons. Combine this with the winter, the distance and the day and kick-off time and it's not that big of a surprise. If the match had been in Palermo or Catania I'd imagine the fact 1 away fan had even gone would have been news in itself!

Oat23

Didn't Pats have 1 supporter in Russia a few years ago to watch them beat Krylia Sovetov? That guy goes everywhere!

kksaints

Oatesy23 wrote: »

Didn't Pats have 1 supporter in Russia a few years ago to watch them beat Krylia Sovetov? That guy goes everywhere!

Think it was 3 that we sent over. Had 1 or 2 in Karagandy as well I think.

dfx-

GavRedKing wrote: »

14 hours? :eek:

What kind of numbers did Rovers manage for that game out of curiosity?

It's about 600 miles south east of Moscow, so 14 hours by train sounds about right.

About 150 or so:

http://www.rubinultras.ru/media/fotografii/2011/rubin_shemrok_rovers_liga_evropy/

GavRedKing

dfx- wrote: »

It's about 600 miles south east of Moscow, so 14 hours by train sounds about right.

About 150 or so:

http://www.rubinultras.ru/media/fotografii/2011/rubin_shemrok_rovers_liga_evropy/

Thats good numbers for that kind of trip, hardcore supoprters.

Darkglasses

Me and my father were the only away fans at a game away to Finn Harps, as well as a few cup games I'm fairly sure.

bijapos

On a slightly different note: In 1992 Hannover 96 won their first German Cup and first trophy (apart from Div 2) since 1954. They entered the draw for the then Cup-Winners Cup and as a reward to fans the club offered a one off ticket for (IIRC) DM750 (€380) for an all expenses return trip to any team that they might be drawn against, be it English, Portugese, Greek etc. etc.

In the first round they were drawn against VfB Bremen, a mere 60 miles away! Bremen were in it because they were the holders, having won the ECWC a couple of months previously. A train to Bremen at the time took about an hour and cost about €15 return at the time, it's well under an hour by car.

This was in the days of open draws, before "seeding" and the nonsense where clubs from the same country can't meet until later in the competition.

shanec1928

dfx- wrote: »

They just didn't bother?

no to travel to away games in Italy you need to get a football passport as such off the police and then apply for tickets. That's why most groups in Italy don't travel. Inter are one of te exceptions.

Hidalgo

shanec1928 wrote: »

no to travel to away games in Italy you need to get a football passport as such off the police and then apply for tickets. That's why most groups in Italy don't travel. Inter are one of te exceptions.

Is it a return to fascism or what with football passports?? :pac:

Are they for crowd safety or something, to ensure fans can't mix??

dreamers75

3 pats fans went to Samara in 2009, home fans applauded them usual "ahh look little pixie fans" type ****, tv crews, journos interviewing them, made to walk by the home fans.

Then we beat them and they had to walk past all the home fans again, awkward

Xavi6

Pretty cool of the former Championship Manager hero -

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/swedish-footballer-rewards-club-one-traveling-supporter-match-001140160.html

Swedish footballer rewards club’s lone travelling fan at match

When Brommapojkarna travelled to Mjallby for their Swedish Allsvenskan match on Sunday, there was just one supporter there to back them in the away section. Though Brommapojkarna lost 4-2, that one fan offered vocal support that was so appreciated by his team that midfielder Bojan Djordjic, formerly of Manchester United, decided to reward him for his efforts.

"When I saw him, in his shirt, singing and cheering by himself, I decided I had to do something. So I'm going to pay for him to travel to a game of his choice and he'll get to meet the lads," Djordjic told Reuters.

The fan in question, Ander Ung, used to coach one of Brommapojkarna's junior sides, before moving 660 kilometres from Stockholm to Ystad in southern Sweden 20 years ago. He has not been to a home game since.

"You have to lift up people like that," Djordjic said. "I got his number last night and called him from our bus - the warmth and the joy in his voice was unbelievable. He deserves this."

Ung declined Djordjic's offer at first, but the player insisted. Brommapojkarna won promotion to the first division for the third time in the club's history last season.

Earlier this season, Udinese's single travelling fan delighted the world with his presence at their match against Sampdoria, but he didn't get a free trip out of that.

applehunter

RIP

Donnielighto

applehunter wrote: »

RIP

??

LiamMc

Never count the away end attendance as the only away fans. The tradition is the tickets can be higher, poorer views of the pitch and poorer quality facilities than parts of the Home end. especially around the half-way line in the Main Stand/Tribuna One.

The bureaucracy in place in Italian Football or at least Serie A may be preceived as a deterrent for some travelling fans to avail of the application process and make choices to seat elsewhere in the ground.

If an away fan(s) are aware of a significantly better accommodation elsewhere in a ground, then away fans will be found there.

There is also the Away Fans who despise Fans of their own club and wish to spend time away from them.
I've noticed Fans of a few Dublin LoI clubs in the Home End for this primary reason.