I'll admit I haven't followed Serie A as much as I've wanted to, I will be more hardcore this coming year, but my one goal is still to attend a game in Italy. I've watched the YouTube videos of the atmospheres and some seem amazing! Anyways, I was just wondering who are considered some of the best tifosi (or is this a highly argued point? ) like - most clever/funny - biggest size or most loyal stuff like that?
in my unbias opinion - ASCOLI However not of late, due to the ultras caring more about their personal agenda's than supporting the team. But back in the day Ascoli's supporters were are feared bunch in terms of singing, we only see snipits of that currently. Also which other club in Serie A have had 75% of their city population rock up to a game??? And still with the stadium capacity restricted to 25 000, Ascoli in big games got half of its city numbers to attend. This is a club where they don't even hold provincial support, as loyalties are split between Fermana, Ascoli, and Sambenedettese. I can tell you no-one from San Benedetto supports Ascoli. A club where almost the whole city attended the funeral of the clubs president Costantino Rozzi in 1994. Whats that old saying - Its not about the size, but the way you use it . Thats Ascoli's supporters in a nutshell. [youtube]DWhRjvhUo0s[/youtube]
my top 10 - genoa - sampdoria - atalanta - fiorentina - as roma - napule - torino - ternana - livorno - palermo most pathetic: - verona - ac milan - inter - juve - lazio
Well going by this forum.... the Napoli section is the most active, with Roma behind it. F**k knows where most of the Inter, Juve, Lazio, Palermo, etc fans are. I don't think I've seen a Bari fan here at all.... and they have a bigger stadium than most Serie A teams. In terms of actually in Italy, Juve get a lot of s**t because most Torinese born and bred people support Torino, while lots of Juve fans are "immigrants". But when playing at the better side of the country (the South) Juventus have fans in quite big numbers.
Interesting, so it soudnds like (kind of like sports teams here like the Yankees), the big famous clubs are considered worse because they have more of the bandwagon casual type of fan?
Napoli got crowds in excess of 50k when they were in Serie C and regularly got crowds in the mid to high 30k. Last year they had a season ticket base of almost 20k and were the fourth ranked base in Italy in terms of overall attendance (behind Roma, Inter and Milan). Now obviously I'm biased but...
Like Joe said we are biased but the numbers speak for themselves. Napoli has set attendance records in Serie C ... our fans are die hard. Napoli has fans in Australia, America, Canada, Argentina, Iran, all over Europe, Japan, and even India.... check out my thread of fan locations https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=568229 and not even close to a 1/4 of the people in Napoli's forum have answered it yet. So to answer your question about bigges size and most loyal .. Napoli by far. Lets see Milan, Inter, Juve, or Roma get 50,000+ in Serie C. Funny or Clever is hard because I don't see fans as either.
Ultras are the true spirit of football! what i love about Italy is you can have a team in Serie D with better fans than some in Serie A... i'd say the best are (in no order) Roma Atalanta Ascoli Lazio (when they're not doing silent protests..) Reggina Barletta Napoli Genoa Sampdoria Fiorentina Cavese San Benedetto Torino Catania Palermo Cosenza ok you know what...the thing about Italian Ultras is that any groups on their day can be the best...whethers its 1st or 5th divison. the only ones that are terrible for Italian standards are: Chievo Verona Inter AC Milan Juve (has crazy Ultras but the rest of the fans...no comment)
yeah small clubs like Chievo that miraculously got to the high divisions are the worst. Sure the stories are great, but they had only a small number of fans when they were in the lower divisions that they have no fan base when they get promoted. Along with them AlbinoLeffe, Cittadella, etc.
Atalanta seem to piss a lot of people off all over the country, for a club that haven't ever been serious contenders for the scudetto.
yeah but Atalanta is one of the best supported teams in Italy i think. Not the size of their support, it's the sound. Look at Inter...huge support, but embaressing. glory to the small teams!
I think that; when you consider the size of their cities and metropolitan areas; Fiorentina and the two Genovese sides are the best of the bunch. Check this out. http://violaie.typepad.com/viola_in_english_fiorenti/2007/09/firenze-is-socc.html
The history of italian tifosi, with the demise of the last great group of a big Curva ( Fossa dei Leoni of Milan ), resides in Bergamo, Verona, Genova ( Genoa in particular ) and Torino ( Toro's side obviously ). Outside these places the northern provincial movement is in decline. South of Rome... well, honestly, it's just a mess.
Re Atalanta: They have a story. They have heart. They have love for the team. In a category of their own. I've known some of their "old guards" ( BNA ) very well, and I can say that their loyalty to Atalanta, in every aspect, is unmatched. People proud and absolutely WITH NO FEAR.