Caio Elio
my Rome Alone adventure
michael di napoli south london
FORZA NAPOLI

Paolo Barbuto <pbarbu@...> wrote:
From: "Paolo Barbuto" <pbarbu@...>
To: "michael lynch" <southsidebrickwork@...>
Subject: Re: Roma v Napoli
Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2006 23:14:13 +0100

Hey, are you planning to became a journalist?
Great article. If neapolitan people could read english, I would
publish it integrally.
good job. I'll let you know when my newspaper will write your story.
Ciao
Paolo
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:southsidebrickwork@...>michael lynch
To: <mailto:pbarbu@...>Paolo Barbuto
Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2006 9:27 PM
Subject: Re: Roma v Napoli

Ciao paolo,

On my flight to Rome i was contented enough with the thought of not
even seeing the stadio olimpico as Napoli would be playing to no
spectators and the thought of roma fans outside the stadio shouting
for their team so i arrived at my hotel which i chose because of
diego maradona the hotel was called the king in via sistina,after
checking in i decided to have a look at the spanish steps as they
were only at the top of the street. Once there i carried on walking
looking in shop windows and came upon a sports shop at the end of via
del babuino at the piazza del popolo ,
i went in for a look and to my amazement hanging up on the left hand
side was the Napoli 3rd shirt the blue and white stripped one from
this moment i knew i had to go to the stadio , i asked the girl in
the shop if i could try the shirt on she said they didnt have any
changing rooms but i could try it on in the stock room , so i did
then came out into the shop to ask for a mirror , i was so proud to
look in the mirror the only fan in rome wearing a napoli shirt and
what made it even better was that the shop assistant said the shirt
looked good on me ,i thought to myself of course it does it's a
napoli shirt and not a roma shirt ,but i knew she only said that to
try to make me buy it .
As i was in rome for only two days i didnt think i would be coming
home with a napoli shirt so had not budgeted for the 75 euro shirt
so gave it back to her and said thanks.
By now my mind was racing and i knew i had to go to the stadio and
try and get in ,i knew that if i didnt try i would always be
thinking would i have got in to the stadio or not . so with a plan
i headed for the metro to flaminio then the tram no 2 to the stadio,
once of the tram i headed for the stadio across the bridge it was a
funny feeling soon there would be a big game on and the area around
was so quiet ,no ticket touts no flag and scarf sellers and a few
people , so different to my trips to St Paolo.
As i approached the stadio i saw roma stewards walking from my left
towards the right
hand side of me and thought i wonder along the way maybe there might
be a gate open and with slim chance i might be able to enter so i
kept walking but no gates were open ,i watched from a distance to see
where the stewards were going and decided to follow them , a sign
said curva nord and i thought wow thats near where i would have been
if fans were allowed and decided that it was a good omen , so i took
a deep breath and started to walk towards a gate that was open and i
could see the roma stewards going through it all i could do was keep
walking because there was no way i was turning back now so i walked
through the gate the roma stewards were collecting thier photo passes
from a wooden board to my left handside , it was at this point i was
stopped and told in italian no spectators i replied i dont understand
do you talk english they said they couldnt so i just said english
journalist so they directed me to the security office to my right
hand side and once there i said the same thing english journalist no
one could understand me , the gaurd asked my name so i made a name up
i didnt want them to know my surname was di napoli they might get
suspiciuos and turn me away , he checked a list of names and said no
then said to me acceridta so i thought it would be good to answer him
back with a yes , then he telephoned somebody to see if they knew
anything about me because i was not on his list ,while all this was
going on there were other tv reporters arriving and cars and vans
turning up so he was kept busy backwards and forwards into his office
,roma stewards around talking and joking with each other and another
security gaurd outside the office quite near to me smoking ,i
decided to call my wife and tell here that i was trying to get in and
that i might be lucky but whilst talking with joy in my heart i put
a look of dispair on my face so the gaurd smoking might think i was
meant to be there.
when i finished the call to my wife i noticed that the first gaurd i
talked to was still away from his office sorting some problem out
with other people and thought now is the right time ,it has been a
while and he's probably forgot about me so i asked the other gaurd if
i could use the toilet he just said yes and pointed towards the inner
gates to the stadium.
So off i went looking for toilets until i came to the steps leading
up to the stand, had a look over my shoulder to see if i was being
watched, to my surprise i could not be seen from the security office
because of the inner fence I climed the steps untill they brought me
out into the middle of the curva nord officals were on the pitch, can
you belive how happy i was the only napoli fan in the curva nord i
took my camera from my pocket and took a couple of pictures with the
flash off so i did'nt attract attention then looked for the toilets
because by now i really needed them by now.
That night we did'nt loose because with Napoli in my heart I beat the Romans.
FORZA NAPOLI.
Michael Di Napoli.



Paolo Barbuto <pbarbu@...> wrote:
Hi Mike, I'm here again.
The sports editor of Il Mattino saw your mail, and asked me about
your story. He'se very interested about how you can get inside the
stadium of Rome. outside there were hundred of policeman, how can you
go inside?
Please, write me everything about your adventure, maybe tomorrow (on
the newspaper printed for the monday edition) we'll tell your story
to our readers.
I'll wait for your answer.
Thanks
Paolo


----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:southsidebrickwork@...>michael lynch
To: <mailto:pbarbu@...>Paolo Barbuto
Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2006 2:19 PM
Subject: Re: Roma v Napoli

ciao paolo
When i was in rome i thought i would try my luck at getting in to the
stadium and to my delight i pulled it off , i must have been the only
napoli fan not including any reporters from napoli inside the stadium
.igot my photos of rome developed today and i have attached two
photos which i took secretley with no flash , you can see the
officals are in the centre of the pitch , well we lost but at least i
can say i was in the stadio olimpico .
ciao
michael di napoli ,london

Paolo Barbuto <pbarbu@...> wrote:
I'll do my best. wait for a mail this evening. There is only a 1%
possibility that you can come inside the stadium but we'll fight
ciao
Paolo
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:southsidebrickwork@...>michael lynch
To: <mailto:pbarbu@...>Paolo Barbuto
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 9:11 PM
Subject: Roma v Napoli

Ciao paolo
You done a piece in the paper about me at stadio st paolo, the guy
who changed his name to di napoli for the love of naples, I know it's
a long shot but here goes .
Back in october when the draw was made for the Roma-Napoli game i
booked my flight ticket and hotel in rome so i could watch my mighty
Napoli play at the stadio olimpico , the date for the game changed
four times and with these date changes I had to change my travel
arrangements at a cost , now the game is being played behind closed
doors and i will be in rome trying to find somewhere to watch it on tv.
I was wondering if you are going to report on the match in rome and
if possible there would be a way of watching it with you , maybe i
could be your helper for your equipment or something ,I know it's a
shot in the dark but i had to ask .
Grazie
Michael di napoli of london