football rambles

  Following on from Lazio and my year in Rome yesterday, I spent the season that followed on the island of Sardinia. My local team and the team that I really followed were Sassari Torres. However, it was always good to have a trip to Cagliari now and again and a trip to the Sant' elia was always part of those trips. The trip wasn't that talented and the president, Massimo Cellino was universally disliked and they were ultimately relegated from Serie A. Patrick Mboma up front was probably one of the highlights.  That said, it was when the whole of the stadium was looking good having been revamped 10 years earlier for the World Cup and you did get to see some of the stars of Serie A. The first game I saw there was a 0-3 defeat against Udinese. Unfortunately, one of their rare wins during the period was a 1-0 victory over Roma with an Mboma winner, which I was also present at. The best game was probably a 3-2 defeat to a star studded Parma that included a young Buffon in goals. A...

Back in the 1999-2000 season when I lived in Sassari I went to most home games of Sassari Torres. At the time they were in Serie C2, but were on the way to a promotion. That was all well and good and I had many a good time there, but after a year of being in Rome with Stadio Olimpico in walking distance I'd got used to the heights of Serie A. Therefore my real treat was always getting on the long bus journey across the island to see Cagliari play at Stadio Sant' Elia in the top flight. At the time the team were struggling at the wrong end of Serie A and the club definitely had some desperate problems. However, Cagliari is a fine city and even if the local Ichnusa beer is pretty foul it was always a good day out and felt like a bit of an adventure. Driving through the mountainous regions of Sardinia, getting into Cagliari as the sun came out, going for a walk around the old city, lunch in a bar and then picking up tickets and watching the away fans arrive by boat. What a gre...