I became Roman
ITALY | Monday, 28 April 2014 | Views [95] | Scholarship Entry
Rome is a bustling city filled with locals, tourists and, although they may deny it, it was also occupied with other Italians wishing they were Roman.
It is a city where people walk in the middle of the cobbled streets, eat ice-cream, sit on the Spanish stairs and can smell the empowering scent of a perfectly made 'café' from a barista around the corner.
Besides it's archaic yet classic architecture, the lovers on the sidewalk and the mystical lights at night, Rome is a footballing city.
Divided between the strict colours of red and blue, you either support Roma or Lazio. There is no happy medium.
I, an ardent Milan fan, was fortunate enough to find myself in Rome at the time of the Coppa Italia final last year and it couldn't have paired two more passionate teams.
The final, was at best, one that could've destroyed the city in two. It was a Roman derby.
Being a football journalist I had attended a fair share of matches, but this, this was my first in Rome and my first 'Derby della Capitale'.
People had been brutally injured, even killed, while being a spectator at a league encounter let alone a cup final. And I? I was a 24-year-old girl on her own in a stadium packed to a capacity crowd of 82 000 people.
They say people go to the Eternal City to find love, while I went and fell in love with the Beautiful game all over again.
Granted, Lazio's scrappy 1-0 win wasn't the most entertaining of matches, but the atmosphere was captivating. I found myself in the Giallorossi (Roma) section of fans, and upon hearing the club's anthem echo in the Stadio Olimpico, through the corridors of the stadium and across the river running by, I was simply bowled over.
The flags were waving, the song was catchy and even the jumping up and down with the local supporters got me going. Heck, even the toxic smells of the flares being let off onto the field got me rallied up.
On any other occasion, one would feel that their life was at stake upon seeing the flares set sail from one end of the ground to the other. As the 100-man security wall tripled in a matter of eight minutes and the feeling that the concrete floor at my feet may collapse. No, I felt secure in this mass frenzy of hyper-adrenlined Roma fans.
If one man went down, we all went down.
Aurelio Andreazzoli's side may have lost that evening, but as a I walked along the bank of the River Tiber that night, I felt like I had become a Roman for those passionate and colourful 90 minutes of football.
Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip
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