Arrigo Brovedani walked alone so that his team Udinese didn’t have to when they played Sampdoria in Genova on Monday night. ‘Walked’ is used in a figurative sense here. Because Brovedani actually drove.
“I just got in the car and went,” he said, as if a 500km, five-hour trip from his home in Spilimbergo in the northeast corner of Italy near the Slovenian border, all the way across to Genoa in the northwest was like venturing out to the corner shop to get a carton of milk.
In truth, Brovedani had to be there on business. He works for a wine company and had meetings to attend to in the area. That they just happened to coincide with an Udinese game couldn’t have turned out any better.
As an away fan, obtaining a ticket without the much-maligned and controversial tessera del tifoso identity card wasn’t easy. Many would rather not go and watch football than get one and forego their civil liberties and be treated with suspicion. Yet Brovedani was undaunted.
He got in touch with his local Udinese fan club for advice, tried to clear a few bureaucratic hurdles, tripped over a few of them, but still got back up again and contacted Sampdoria to see if they might help him watch his team. They were only too happy to oblige. Why? Because Brovedani was the only Udinese supporter coming.
“Usually away from home there are about 80 of us. A lot of us,” he told Rai Sport. “I honestly thought I’d find myself among at least five or six.”
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