Napoli Away

[Birmingham_Jack]

Evening all,

Swansea fan here hoping to pick your brains:-

I'm planning to travel to Naples for our Europa League game there in February. As you are fresh from the experience I thought that I would post here to see if anyone had any decent feedback. Is it really as bad as some say?

I hear that the special buses that were put on from the port area got stuck in traffic and didn't make it in time for kickoff?

I'm really keen to go, but some stories over safety etc make you think twice.

I'd be interested to any stories / advice etc from anyone that made the trip (and apologies for invading your board!)

Cheers in advance.

[I Hate Hleb]

Hi mate. Saw this post on our own Napoli Away match thread (page 16) which seems to give a good lowdown on what it is like.....

I went to the game and I think there were about 700ish fans (so i have been told). In general Naples is a dive and I never felt safe out in the open, but following the clubs instructions I always felt safe, which was the most important part of the trip. Pre-drinks were in a secluded part of the port away from any locals and with a strong police/steward presence in the vicinity and we were ushered onto the coaches from 6pm onwards (for an 8.45pm kick off and a 30-45 min journey). I got onto one of the coaches at 6.15pm, after having my ticket checked against my passport and a thorough search by the Naples police. All coaches were at a standstill until 7.30pm when we eventually started making our way to the stadium with a police escort surrounding the coaches-. After taking what seemed like a very odd route (according to google maps). We were close to the stadium about 15 mins prior to kick off but started just circling around the stadium until 15 mins after the game had kicked off, this got a lot of fans very wound up as they had been over 2 hours and yet found themseleves still late for the game. Once we did arrive there was an inevitable rush for the entrances is where we were held up again and by this point most fans were furious, although we did all eventually get into the game (albeit 20 minutes late).

After the game I spoke to a few fans who had heard that there had been trouble around the ground prior to the game and a few fans were injured and taken to hospital, which helps explain why we were circling the ground for 30 minutes. It was quite frustrating at the time but from my point of view our safety was the most important thing to me. I still feel it was poorly organised and that the coaches should have left earlier and the Italian authorities should have done a better job of ensuring a safe entrance for the away fans.

I have been on a fair few european away trips and it always seems that we get treated poorest by the authorities in Italy, which is very disappointing and frustrating as I dont feel our authorities would get away with treating away fans that visit the Emirates the way that they do. The most upsetting thing is I take 2 days off work, spend a fair amount of my hard earned cash to go and support the team I love in a foreign country and like to feel safe enough to explore the city, make my own way to the ground in good time to soak up the atmosphere in the build up to kick off and I just didnt feel that was an option in Naples.

I'm sure others will also post their experiences and advice. Good luck.

[dPmunky]

also check out another thread that popped up the week of the game!

safe travels!

[DB10GOONER]

Just reading that travel report. The reason the Italian police treat fans of Ingerlish clubs so poorly is down to Heysel.

To the Swansea fan OP - hope you have a safe trip, mate. I'm sure you know anyway but a couple simple rules help;

Don't wear colours. Don't wander off or get seperated from your mates/travel group. Don't rise to the bait of locals. Don't get overly shitfaced. Keep a low profile. Respect the locals.

And don't fuck their women.

[MK Gould]

I know two people who went and both said that they followed the guidance that had been issued and any threat of trouble was more from the police than from the Napoli fans.

Inside the ground the atmosphere was very intimidating - but more aimed at the players than travelling gooners. That said, we only took 600-700. Maybe if you took 2000+ then you would attract more attention?

In summary...I think you'll feel safer in Napoli than you would in Cardiff! Good luck, and enjoy!!

[MK Gould]

Just received email from Arsenal:
We are writing to underline our disappointment about the problems experienced by our travelling supporters for our recent match in Naples.

Our supporters' safety is of paramount importance to the Club and we did everything possible to ensure supporters were escorted safely and on time to the stadium by the Italian authorities. This had been planned and agreed in advance but did not happen on the night.

Reports of the events have been made by Arsenal Football Club, the Football Association and the British Consulate, and have been sent to UEFA. We now await UEFA's response to the reports and the Club will be making every effort to ensure there is not a repeat in the future.

In addition, the Club will be making contact with our counterparts at Swansea City FC, in order to share our experience, before their Europa League tie in Naples.

Once again we are sorry about what happened to our supporters in Naples and thank you for your continued support.

[Ryanswannell]

Just received email from Arsenal:
We are writing to underline our disappointment about the problems experienced by our travelling supporters for our recent match in Naples.

Our supporters' safety is of paramount importance to the Club and we did everything possible to ensure supporters were escorted safely and on time to the stadium by the Italian authorities. This had been planned and agreed in advance but did not happen on the night.

Reports of the events have been made by Arsenal Football Club, the Football Association and the British Consulate, and have been sent to UEFA. We now await UEFA's response to the reports and the Club will be making every effort to ensure there is not a repeat in the future.

In addition, the Club will be making contact with our counterparts at Swansea City FC, in order to share our experience, before their Europa League tie in Naples.

Once again we are sorry about what happened to our supporters in Naples and thank you for your continued support.

The club shouldn't be apologising for anything, if those tits at UEFA would kick those bastards called Napoli out of the competition we wouldn't even have these problems.

[MK Gould]

The club shouldn't be apologising for anything, if those tits at UEFA would kick those bastards called Napoli out of the competition we wouldn't even have these problems.

Same old story really that what would be considered totally unacceptable behaviour here is condoned in Southern Italy, Istanbul etc...

[northbank123]

Same old stitch-up. Platini will happily label English clubs 'cheats' for prospering from wealthy foreign owners whilst staying comparatively tight-lipped on the match-fixing scandals and constant incidents of serious violence against travelling fans that is rife in Italian football.