Mentalità Ultras

[Giovanni]

Guys and girls, it's a long time i plan to oopen this thread because this forum lacks a deep insight into the world of Ultras, the organised groups of supporters who basically occupy the Curva Sud, for non -milna experts, Milan's End.

This is a very interesting world, with their own rules, many of them not openly explained, but when you're there you can feel them, you know, or learn them, and how you have to behave if you want to stay in Ultras home to watch matches.

I point out i don't claim to be one of them, even if i attend the matches among the Ultras Groups, between Brigate and Vecchia Guardia, because being Ultras means to live almost all for the team, spend almost all your moneys to watch football, which is something very extreme.

Obviously it's a particular world, and i point out that there are many negative aspects, especially for those wjo are very far from this way of thinking, who have never dealt with these people, and conceive sport just as a show to enjoy in the weekend.

I think , despite the many negative aspects, there are many positive, like the amazing coreographies, which is something we all are proud of, and the songs, and the colours our beloved San Siro has so many times. I think this can be a palce were many of you can find comments about of Ultras groups, reports of bad or nice events Ultras-related, our supporters history, and, why not even different sview from other teams supporters and organised groups who are always welcome on this board (i won't dare to say they will be welcome at the San Siro's Ultras Bar because it'd be a lie) .

I will look for old away match (trasferte in italian) reports and maybe, if they aren't too long, translate part of them.

Pontecurone in 1992 is an hell of a story and i will look for it, even with the help of someone, because i believe not many people know these stories.

That said, i wanna point out that everyone is free to blame Ultras movement or point out the good aspects in order to start a good debate , which is the reason why this thread has been open. Tell your experience, your views,media comments or reports even within your own countries borders, with comparisons with hooliganism (which was pretty different IMO).

Ps. i open this thread with an Italian title( it means "Ultras way of life and thinking ") b/c i believe Ultras movement , among the top leagues in the world (with the exception of Southern America) is basically settled in Italy IMO.

[Franco6]

My experience is that when entering the curva, you are like entering in another country where the rules are those imposed by the curva bosses. I.e. you have to sing only chants launched by the boss and behave well during games e.g. not throw any thing on the pitch , obviously if they tell you to throw you can throw objects.

One have to say that many of them have no ambition in their life expect to see the team in all matches and wherever they play.

[Golden]

Nice thread Giovanni
Although mentalita ultras originates from Italy it has become popular in other parts of Europe.Here,in Balkan we use same italian term.
Some of good sides of ultras are organisation,atmosphere,terrace look.Italians are pretty good at these things.I was impressed by Fdl and Brn when I was in Milano.Every banner is at its place,leaders start chants and other follow and fireworks are done in organised manner.
I am coming to Milano in May for Juve game just to see supporter aspect of that game.It should be good.

[Giovanni]

I must tell you that among the most respected organised supporters in Italy we consider the Balcan area!

I said "among the top leagues" meaning Italy, Spain (which hasn't a proper Ultras movement ASAIK) and England

But in smaller leagues there are a lot of excellent organised groups.

The last story i heard is about the Basel Ultars that came over Milan for the CL match this season, and a bunch of them went to the Inter Ultras Bar and taken it by storm..
In facts during our last derby a banner of our Curva took the piss out of them

In Italy there are some smaller clubs with tough supporters, one of them is Atalanta, one of the few Curve coming to San Siro and being able to challenge with songs our Curva

[Golden]

Giovanni,last year I was in a pub outside Curva sud.5-6 Milan ultras were there and then a group of Udinese fans went in.They greeted each other and nothing happened.Are they friendly group?

[Giovanni]

Originally Posted by Golden

Giovanni,last year I was in a pub outside Curva sud.5-6 Milan ultras were there and then a group of Udinese fans went in.They greeted each other and nothing happened.Are they friendly group?

It depends on the relationships..when Milan and Juve fans meet they fight every time

There's an armistice between Milan and Internow, the Ultras groups avoid to fight eachother

[almilan]

Originally Posted by Giovanni

It depends on the relationships..when Milan and Juve fans meet they fight every time

There's an armistice between Milan and Internow, the Ultras groups avoid to fight eachother

I have always wanted to know what fans Milan Ultras have good relationships with or bad relationships with and the reasons for this.

Ok good realtionships I know exist with Bresica and Inter.
Bad with juve, roma, samp, genoa, liverno

What are the reasons for these relationships?

Gio, could you please explain this a little more to me, being a 'newbie' ...lol The Ultras are a group of fans that basically set the tone for the behaviour at a match ? Is that it ?

[Giovanni]

Originally Posted by Staci

Gio, could you please explain this a little more to me, being a 'newbie' ...lol The Ultras are a group of fans that basically set the tone for the behaviour at a match ? Is that it ?

The Ultras are hardcore organised groups of supporters, and they have a particular code of behaviour.
They are so dedicated to a team that everything is second compared to teams' stuffs, even work or other important things, and going to matches home n away, friendlies, and care of coreographies at the stadium comes first.

They are tough people basically, and they believe in open challenges to other teams' Ultras.

Their realm is stadium's End and our Milan's End is called Curva Sud.

Cheers baby

Ps. our biggest groups are Fossa dei leoni aka FdL, founded in 1968, and Brigate Rossonere, aka BRN founded in 1975

[Giovanni]

...I was seated in the Fossa dei Leoni section. A Sicilian had a long streamer ‘Razza Rossonera’ its colours where orange and grey, he put it in front of the Milan Club Malta streamer. Then one of the curva bosses came up asking for the owner of that banner. The boss told the Sicilian to remove his banner because it was not red and black, the words razza rossonera could be interpreted as of extreme rightwing (Milan ultras always keep politcs out) and because it was covering our banner. We had the permission of the Baron (he is the boss of all Milan ultras) while this guy didn't. The Sicilian did’nt want to remove his banner and then came the Baron, Ultras chieftain, and told him : remove it now or else we will remove it by ourselves, and after 3 seconds the banner was thorn apart by the fossa guys

Staci this is a quote from Franco6 about the Ultras..read, it can be interesting for you to understand some rules, codes and hierarchy (spelled?) of Ultras groups

Thanks for the info Gio.....you're always very helpful. Hmm this can get very serious I see, I had no idea. Although I do love the passion the fans have for the game, that is part of the thrill for me. The level of intensity that one feels during a game, is amazing....Forza Milan !

[almilan]

very interesting thread gio, i would like to know more about the ultras

[Franco6]

The ultras also hated to be skipped or ignored. I.e. you canno go in their section and launch your chants if you skip them they are likely to come and talk to you. If you insist and do not obey them ,then your life is in danger. (Belive me ITS TRUE).

Yesterday there where maltese that did'nt know these things and they where pissed off, me and my friends went to stop them because I know the consequences. But finally the bosses know that especially when we play away many people do not know these rules, so they tend to be more tolletant

[Giovanni]

WHY MILAN ULTRAS SING YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE

ITALIAN:

c'è una canzone inglese che noi facciamo che è l'inno del Liverpool che è Walk on una canzone degli anni 60 che è stata presa dai tifosi del Liverpool come loro inno col ritornello che dice


Walk on walk on
with hope in your heart
and you'll never walk alone
you'll never walk alone

c'era uno di noi che aveva il disco con questi cori che lì da loro non c'è nessuno che li dirige col microfono partono spontaneamente parte questo Walk on che sembra un urlo che viene da lontano e così noi abbiamo cercato di impararla abbiamo dovuto fare i foglietti con su com'era scritto perché molti dicevano Welcome cioè benvenuto invece di Walk on camminiamo abbiamo spiegato che cosa voleva dire e tutto quanto finché siamo riusciti a impararla questa canzone e ci ha resi famosi in tutta Europa perché l'abbiamo fatta quando sono morti i tifosi del Liverpool schiacciati contro le transenne a Sheffield è successo al sabato e noi domenica avevamo la partita col Real Madrid di Coppa dei campioni che abbiamo vinto 5 a 1 una partita memorabile

avevamo preparato uno striscione con scritto SHEFFIELD YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE c'era il minuto di silenzio e noi eravamo pronti per fare la canzone e mettere fuori lo striscione invece l'arbitro uno svedese ha fatto iniziare subito la partita noi mettiamo fuori lo striscione ma la cosa sembrava finita li poi però di colpo lui ferma il gioco e si mette la palla ai piedi per il minuto di silenzio cazzo io lì in quel momento non avevo neanche il microfono sono salito sulla transenna e senza microfono come fanno loro siamo partiti con questa canzone c'ho il video a casa ogni tanto lo rivedo e mi viene la pelle d'oca tutti i giocatori sull'attenti poi si sente tutto lo stadio in piedi a applaudire si vede l'arbitro che guarda verso di me perché sente il coro si vede benissimo il coro che sale And you'll never walk alone anche adesso che lo dico mi emoziono l'hanno fatto vedere per 6 mesi su tutte le reti inglesi almeno una volta al giorno lo facevano vedere sono arrivate tante di quelle lettere di tifosi inglesi voi siete dei veri amici e per tutta la vita noi saremo sempre vostri amici

[Giovanni]

" There's a english song, that we currently sing in Curva Sud, which is the Liverpool traditional anthem and it's from 60..It says:

Walk on walk on
with hope in your heart
and you'll never walk alone
you'll never walk alone

There was a guy, in our group (tells the narrator) that had a record with all these songs, and he was froma group which isn't used to use magaphones: the songs in that group starts spontaneously..In this record there was this *You'll never walk alone*, which is a very emotional anthem and we liked that so much that we tried to learn it, but due to our bad knowledge of the language we had to write it down the lyrics ; the guys at the beginning said *welcome* instead of *Walk on*, so we explained the guys what was the meaning of the words until we learnt it.
This song made us famous all over Europe because we sang it when the Liverpool supporters died in Sheffield. It happened by saturday and we had the match against Real Madrid on sunday (that we won 5-1, a truly memorable moment)


We prepared a banner "SHEFFIELD: YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE" and we waited for the minute of silence, and we were prepared to sing the song and put the banner our, but the referee whistled the sudden start of the match. We put out the banner believing it was over but the referee suddenly stops the players and tributes 1 minute of silence in honour of the victims. I (narrator) was there, without even a micro but i standed up on the barrier and we started with this song *You'll never walk alone* without micro. I have the video at home and all the players are there standing up and you see the whole stadium standing up, and clapping.
You can clearly see the referee staring at me because the song can be clearly be heard by the pitch and the whole Curva starts the song with great powerful voice. When i tell this i'm still proud and emotive; on english telly they shooted it for 6 months and we got bags of letters from England: "you're friends of us and you'll be forever"



Tales from Brigate Rossonere

http://www.nannibalestrini.it/furiosi/furiosi.htm