There's no place like Rome - Peter Doherty
Monday - Met Betty, Thirkers and Caddy at Stanstead and set the tone for
the trip by going straight to the bar. Interesting flight on the
ex-Luftwaffe Ryanair 737, lovely views of the Alps and Adriatic coast.
More beer in flight but no food - £4 for a cheese roll ! Entrained at
Ancona for Rome, changed trains in Foglino and drank the buffet trolley
dry - although seeing as he only had four beers this was not the
achievement it may seem. Arrived in Rome, checked in at the Pensione and
then straight back out into the city. Nice walk/tour under the
supervision of Boocock Tours, taking in the old city and Spanish Steps,
a "Fantastico" meal, or so the waiter kept telling us and a couple of
bars, finishing a long day with a session in every sense in a jazz club.
Tuesday - Dragged from sleep/hangover by Betty, "we're going to the
Vatican" - tour part 2. When we got to St Peters', we discovered that
we'd missed a gig by the Pope that Sunday. I use word "gig" because with
all the crash barriers, video screens and debris, the place looked like
Oasis had just finished playing there rather than a Papal Mass. Took the
obligatory pictures and did the tourist stuff. Time constraints meant
missing the Sistine Chapel so we headed off to meet Caddys' mate, Alan,
at the Trevi Fountain - put the traditional three coins and made a wish.
We got there an hour late and missed Alan, so went for a beer and some
lunch in a nearby Piazza, complete with fairground and market. Did the
souvenir shopping - those espresso cups got cheaper as soon as Betty
bought a set ! Back the Pensione, quick change and out into the dark
streets of Rome for the game. The set up for the game was much better
than at Milan, we took a tram from the town centre, walked to the ground
and there was a only a very small police presence and despite what we
had been told in the letter which accompanied our tickets there was no
problem in having a look at the souvenir stands or walking around - as
Thirkers has documented there was even beer on sale outside.
We got into the ground slightly after kick off as they'd put us in a
different part of the ground from last time against Roma and we went the
wrong way. Went through a fairly strict body search - one lad behind us
said he had coins taken off him but Caddy got his mobile and camera
through without any problems and took out standing places in the seats
for the game.
I'm afraid I'm one of those people who don't enjoy games but suffer
through them, however I can say that we thoroughly deserved the win,
Woody, Smith, Dacourt and Viduka were all on top of their game and
everyone played their part, only real thing was that Bakke is still
obviously not fully fit and struggled a bit. After the half time
interval and some ice-cream and a couple of the coffee liqueurs - and of
course the now traditional shirts off chorus of "WATC- COE", Leeds came
out full of fire, obviously the half time team talk was along the lines
of "You can beat this lot so get out there", as we came out looking like
the home team and proceeded to completely dominate the game fully
deserving the win, yes we had few lucky moments, yes, they had a few
chances - what do you expect from a team for whom the purchase of Rio
Ferdinand would be something out of petty cash - but on the night we
were the better team, capped by a glorious goals from Smith and the
jolly boys giving the Rome concrete a good shake as we literally jumped
for joy. After the usual heart-stopping extra time there we were.
As the Lazio team left the pitch to a chorus off boos from their
support, the lads came over and took their applause before disappearing
down the tunnel, a few minutes later Ridsdale came over and gave us a
wave them went down the tunnel and out came the boys for the traditional
sing song, the team ran through the full repertoire including WATC-COE,
Marching, We are Leeds, Radebe led us in a choruses of his own song, and
even Rio got in on the act with a song that he'd obviously learned from
his pal Doobs on a night out with the Massive.
The game was sensitively policed with many of the police on duty
laughing along and pointedly digging their Lazio supporting colleagues
in the ribs and there was no trouble in the Leeds area of the ground
that I saw - maybe they were on the coffee liqueurs as well.
We were released n to the night after about 45 minutes and left to out
own devices, as we walked back to the bus station we saw the only
incident when a few flares were throw at the Leeds supporters coaches
but as soon as the police stopped the local's legged it - we saw nothing
else. The Lazio team coach went past us so we gave then a friendly
goodbye wave. Onto the bus and back to our jazz club for some cracking
be-bop and more alcohol until the very wee small hours.
Wednesday - Up at 8.00 for the 9.00 train to Ancona, I decided to have
an alcohol free day (my liver and stomach were most insistent) so passed
the journey quietly with just the four of us and the Thirkill cheese
collection (60 worth of top pongy cheese!). Wander around Ancona and
another great lunch then homeward.
In summary a great time had by all who went, good food, good beer, good
jazz, good football and good mates - I love this list !
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PETE CASS (1962 - 2011) Rest In Peace Mate
