Solo contro tutti – “alone against everyone” – is the isolationist slogan famously linked with the Ultras of Hellas Verona. Their fanbase is renowned for an extremist element, the now dissolved Brigate Gialloblu group even having formed ties with the Chelsea Headhunters back in the 1970s. The list of Italian clubs with whom they have a rivalry is extensive to say the least, but this Sunday versus Fiorentina the atmosphere will be entirely different.
The concept of gemellaggio – ”twinning” – is alien to fans of English football, however in Italy it is relatively common. Some clubs have this official friendship which has often spanned decades, with groups of Ultras from both sides usually organising special dinners and events both before and after the match.
Such a friendly atmosphere sees Italian police relax their usually stringent rules as opposing sets of supporters freely mingle in both the home and away sections of the stadium. This particular twinning between Hellas and Fiorentina is accurately described in Tim Parks’ fantastic book named “A Season With Verona.”
“That is to say where normally there is the theatre of hatred, here we have a theatre of friendship and even brotherhood. Where normally we shout ‘Juve merda, Vicenza vaffanculo’, today we chant ‘Forza Viola’ for Fiorentina play in purple. And the authorities are aware of this different charade. They know we are friendly. So instead of being kept rigidly separate by lines of riot police, the fans are allowed to freely mingle with each other outside the ground. Little boys run in and out of the crowd, asking if you will swap your Hellas scarf for their Viola scarf. There are smiles and embraces.”
Of course, this fixture provides a strange atmosphere indeed, one so totally alien with the normally edgy feel that is so clearly present at most Italian matches. However, it was not always this way. In the early 1970s there were many fights between the Brigate Gialloblu and the Fiorentina group simply named ULTRAS. These scuffles usually occurred in the Porta Nuova train station in Verona, continuing to both outside and inside their Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi.
Perhaps such tough battles strengthened the respect between the warring Ultras and soon a non-aggression pact was formed. Both teams had also strengthened their friendship with Sampdoria, another factor in the peacemaking. Throughout the following years there have been numerous displays of affection between the sides, the Viola fans agreeing to put aside their political differences for the sake of friendship in football.
Fiorentina fans have a strong anti-fascist movement among them, a sentiment often at odds with the often extreme views of the Veronese. They are also determined to keep their Curva as a temple of football, banning politics of any kind from inside the stadium. This may explain why they are able to put opposing views to one side, and in the 1991/92 season the Curva Fiesole put on a display of choreography to mark the dissolution of the famous Brigate Gialloblu Ultras group.
This gemellaggio is often felt with good humour and irony, as displayed when Hellas were already relegated to the second tier when they faced Fiorentina in 91/92. The Curva Sud displayed a banner to their Viola amici which read: “If you were really our friends, you would come down with us to Serie B!”
The joke was not forgotten by fans in the Curva Fiesole, who – when they themselves ended up in the second division for the 1993/94 campaign – held a banner aloft that read “sorry for the delay!” T-shirts were also recently produced emblazoned with half the Florentine lily and half the Veronese ladder originating from the Scaligere family. “Those who haven’t felt it cannot understand our passion,” reads the inscription on that t-shirt.
Perhaps such a friendship between two clubs may seem alien to us, but for these two sets of fans that passion and spirit of friendship between them is real.
