A report of a supporter of the other side .............

*Napoli bring a whole new world to Upton Park*
*Phill Jupitus*
On
Saturday I did something that I haven’t done in 20 years. “Was it
eating salad?” I hear you cry. No, no dear reader, I attended a
football game on my own, and a curious experience it was.
The Bobby Moore Cup is an
annual opportunity for fans at Upton Park to squint and pretend we
qualified for Europe. This pre-season friendly against continental
opposition is a benefit for The Bobby Moore Fund, which raises funds
for Cancer Research UK. Our European guests this year were SSC Napoli,
who finished twelfth in Serie A last season.
While collecting
my ticket, I heard the familiar throaty roar of hundreds of voices.
Then it dawned on me that some things were not quite right; it wasn’t
in English and they were singing in tune. I looked down Green Street to
see 500 vocal Neapolitans marching towards the ground. Around me,
Hammers fans stared with grudging admiration.
Inside the stadium the
away end was absolutely rammed. The Naples faithful who found
themselves in the sun, stripped to the waist, so half of the stand was
a sea of olive skin. I dare say if the chaps in the chicken run
reciprocated in kind, the resulting blue-white glare would be seen from
the moon. As good as the game was, I often found my eye drawn to the
Napoli end. It soon became apparent that their chanting was actually
being conducted. A little bald bloke in a white T-shirt at the front of
the away enclosure was waving away like Simon Rattle on steroids. My
favourite involved them crouching and humming en masse before
simultaneously leaping up in a frenzy of arms and voices.
Meanwhile
back on the park, an opportunistic if slightly flukey header from Fabio
Quagliarella settled matters. On the radio Blowers and Tuffers bemoaned
their own disappointing day. As I listened to them chatting I felt
quite jealous, I had nobody to ask how Savio missed that open goal.




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