Expat supporters going to watch tonight’s quarter-final clash with Ukraine in Rome are hoping to “revitalise the impression of England football fans abroad”.
While UK residents are being urged to stay at home, Brits who live in parts of Europe that enjoy looser travel restrictions with Italy have been able to make their way to the match.
Joe Ashton, an English middle school teacher in Milan, managed to buy tickets on Uefa’s website for €145 (£125) and took a three hour train down to the Italian capital on Saturday to attend the game with four friends.
Hooliganism has marred England’s participation in big tournaments in the past, including at Euro 2016 five years ago when English and Russian supporters caused mayhem in Marseille, France.
Mr Ashton, 36, told i he was expecting “committed, dignified and passionate support”, from the expat crowd who have snapped up the 2,560 tickets for the game, which were only available to England fans who live abroad.
He said: “I’m absolutely buzzing, it’s a dream. It’s going to be a really unique crowd for an England match.
“We’re talking about only people who have made a decision to live in Italy or in Europe. If you talk about the nature of the fans it’s quite a different group of people, they will be equally passionate about the team but maybe we’ll see them supporting in a different way, you’re perhaps not going to see so many people peeing in fountains.
“We want to revitalise the impression of England football fans being abroad, because you don’t necessarily have to go and drink 12 pints before lunch, roll around in the dirt and kick some tables over.
“It’s a whole new experience for me, if I start with the best intentions maybe I just can’t help it, we’ll see what happens. But I certainly do intend to support the team in a passionate and dignified way.”
Italian authorities have vowed to crack down hard on any rule-breaking fans who have travelled from England for the game. Mr Ashton said: “I think the Italian authorities are going to take a serious approach to that. Not only getting in the country but also getting into the stadium. We know they can implement a serious approach to restricting movement which they did in the spring last year in lockdown. I was afraid to walk down the street 200 metres because there were police going round giving irrational punishments.”
Mr Ashton, a Torquay United fan who has only ever been to one England game before, said: “I’m going to sing my heart out just like I do at every Torquay United match.”
Other Brits living on the continent have also made the trip.
Rhys Morris, Richard Curl and Danny Crutch work for Nissan in Paris and flew into Rome on Saturday night.
“Security has seemed very lax so far. We breezed through the airport without having to even show our passports,” said Mr Curl.
When they found a pub in which to watch last night’s Italy-Belgium game, the trio discovered that a big contingent of Brits living in Spain have made the trip. “The pubs are full of leathery old boozers with tanned skin,” Mr Curl said. “You hear them shouting in gruff voices ‘I’m from Malaga’.”
Matthew and Michael Mehrtens (27 and 25) have English parents but grew up Germany. They drove from Berlin to Rome by car with Niko von der Burt, a 25-year-old German, arriving at 3am today after a 13 hour drive. Von der Burt bought a ticket to the match after England knocked out his national team on Tuesday and today he is wearing an England shirt. “I’m putting money on England. If you can’t beat them join them,” says von der Burt.
In a shaded street off the buzzing Piazza di Trevi, David O’Donoghue, a 58-year-old former BBC Five Live producer who has lived in France for 15 years, is enjoying his first trip to Rome. England fans residing in the UK will find a way to breach Italy’s defences, he says.
“England fans are very resourceful. I remember covering the Japan World Cup and the place was swarming with them. Some had even travelled overland. England fans always find a way. And the England team needs them. The die hards are the ones who make the noise.”
Some fans have spent big on getting to Rome. Rob Smith, 37, works in Dubai and took advantage of the UAE and Italy’s travel corridor to make the trip. His ticket for the match cost €140 via the UEFA site while travel, accommodation and Covid tests have brought total spends to around €1200 so far. “Tickets were very cheap because English residents couldn’t buy them so there was lots of availability. All things considered, this trip is a bargain,” he says.
Others were amazed at how light security checks have been so far. Ken Toomey, who is 64 and lives in Minorca, expected watertight checks when passing through passport control in Italy. “Nobody has asked us to show them anything,” said Mr Toomey at Rome’s Trinity College Irish pub. “Its bloody astonishing”.
According to Mr Toomey, his son, who lives in the UK, had considered buying a match ticket and travelling to Italy via Spain. “In the end we decided against it. He could have been caught. It’s for the best he’s not here.”
Some England fans have been more reticent about their places of departure for Rome. Four men with Tyneside accents knocked back pints at an outdoors table at the Trinity College Pub. Asked where they’d travelled from, one shouted “bugger off”.
The party was getting started early on Saturday afternoon at the Scholars Irish Pub. Shouting to make himself heard over roars of “Football’s Coming Home”, Sander Gerbrandy from Holland (22) explains why he has come to support the England team.
“I f***ing love England. The food, beer, the football. The weather’s shit. But the culture is brilliant.”
The Stadio Olimpico will have a total capacity of just 18,000 at the game, as per government restrictions. Its full capacity is 70,000, and attendees must either be double vaccinated or show proof of a negative coronavirus test.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3heAIx5
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