davieG Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 The real story about the (second) Roman invasion of Leicester By Leicester Mercury | Posted: May 13, 2016 Italian fans singing a Leicester City chant in Victoria Park Comments (0) They came by coach and car, an army of 1,100 young Italian football fans; a 21-hour trek across Northern Europe to be in a city they had not heard of a year go. They came to Leicester to be in the home of the Premier League title winners on the day they werecrowned kings of English football. They came for Claudio Ranieri, their fellow countryman who had led this unfancied East Midlands club to arguably the most import coveted league trophy in world football. But they came, mainly, for the story and the romance and the celebration, to be part of history, to say they were there on the day 5,000-1 outsiders Leicester City were crowned the champions of England. Most of them had nowhere to stay. They slept that night, sitting upright on the coaches they travelled in or in their cars. Some of them slept under the cover of Leicester market.They didn't have showers. They washed in the storm which soaked them on Saturday afternoon. It didn't matter, says Edoardo Magro, an AC Milan fan from Venice. "What mattered is that we made it," he says. "We were there." Edoardo was the man dressed as Christ; long hair, long robe, a crown of thorns and a Leicester City shirt with 'Drinkbeer' on the back. "I dressed as Jesus because I already had the costume and, well, it's a miracle isn't it?" he says. "It seemed right. The Leicester City story is a miracle." Read more: Italian fans celebrate Leicester City's success in Victoria Park with brilliant new chant He lost count of the number of people who shook his hand and offered to buy him beer. "The atmosphere was brilliant, it was an all-day party on the streets of Leicester." Before November, Edoardo didn't know where the city of Leicester was, or anything about the city's football team." But then Leicester started to make the news in Italy. Vardy's goals. Leicester City, this small team who managed to avoid relegation the season before, at the top of the Premier League. It captured the imagination of a football-loving nation. Leicester City became everyone's second favourite team.The City game against Swansea in April was pay per view in Italy. It was watched by an audience of 650,000 people. Only the Spanish El Classico – Real Madrid vs Barcelona – attracted a larger audience. Italy's biggest morning radio DJ, Deejay Chiama Italia, started one of his shows last week promising listeners he would not mention Leicester City. This would be a first, he said. He always mentions City. It didn't last. Instead, his listeners called in, talking about Leicester City. The show was a full-on Leicester Fiesta. Back in December, when Leicester City sat at the top of the Premier League, the Italian Facebook group Calciatori Brutti (translation: Ugly Footballers) made a joke about taking a convoy of Italian fans across Europe to Leicester for the last game of the season if City had a chance of winning the league. Like a lot of pundits in England, they expected Leicester to fall away. They didn't. The joke became a reality, says Edoardo Magro. On Thursday night and Friday morning, young men and women across Italy packed their bags and headed for England. Samuele Maffizzoli was one of them. Samuele lives in Milan and writes for the Calciatori Brutti website. Read more: Leicester City's story is the greatest ever. Can you name a better one? "What I like about Leicester is that they are a normal team, no big players, no big signings, they haven't spent a lot of money - there is a real team spirit there," he says. It's a fascinating lesson for all teams in how to achieve success, he says. Camaraderie and resolve, team work and effort - beats all the Galacticos and the superstars. "We didn't think it would continue," says Samuele, "and everyone said the bubble would burst. But it didn't. And we wanted to celebrate with you." The date was set – Everton at home, the penultimate game of the season, Leicester City already Champions after Spurs choked against Chelsea. A big day. A big party. "We like a big party," says Edoardo. Samuele and three friends left Milan at midday on Friday, travelling 1,200 miles across three countries in a Hyundai estate. "We didn't drink. We took it in turns to drive," says Samuele. "It's only fair. It is a long drive." The mammoth trek was given its own social media hashtag: #machinatattaignoratne, which in English translates to "ignorant car tripper." " Yes, we're really doing this," wrote Samuele on his Facebook page."The #Macchinataignorante is reality."We don't know how it will end, but a coach and a team that deserve our support no matter what. Check the oil, we're going to make history. We're going to Leicester." The #Macchinataignorante pilgrimage numbered 40 cars and seven coaches. Some came by plane too. Two thousand years after the first Roman incursion, Leicester was about to be invaded again. They gathered around midday at Leicester train station; fans who came by plane, train and automobile, singing all the way up London Road to Victoria Park, where more Italians swelled their ranks.They played football on Viccy Park and filmed clips of them singing a memorable new ditty called 'Oooh Leicester City." The clip of them singing this new anthem - starting slowly, quietly, and then descending into pogoing, beer-throwing chaos featuring a man in a Fox mask, a onesie, another man in a blue gimp mask, all conducted by a man dressed as Jesus - has now been seenby 1.1 million people. "It's an old Rosenborg song, I think. They are a team from Norway," says Edoardo. "We had to play around with it a bit, and work on the melody. But we liked it and other people seemed to like it, too." None of the Italian fans had tickets for the match. The plan was to watch the game in the city centre with the Leicester fans. "I was wearing a Leicester City shirt," says Samuele. "The reaction was incredible - people were so kind to us, so welcoming."We told them we drove here, that we wanted to celebrate with them, to mark their achievement." They loved that, said Samuele. "People kept offering to buy me drinks all day. It was brilliant." Edoardo used to follow AC Milan. "But I fall out of love with them a little bit," he says."I read about Leicester City and Claudio and their players and their spirit and how they kept beating the big teams and I fall a little bit in love with them. "I have never been to Leicester before. I liked it. It was a quiet English city, in some ways - but we bring a bit of noise. We helped to get the party started. "They came with us, they sang with us, we celebrated with them. The atmosphere was unforgettable." In the early hours of Sunday morning, as City fans drifted back to their homes, and the council cleaners moved in to start sifting through the empty beer bottles and detritus, the Italian fans returned to sleep in their cars and coaches, a few taking their chances under the awnings of Leicester market. They woke with happy hangovers, proud to have played their part in a little bit of English football history. "I didn't know Leicester but I never forget Saturday," says Edoardo. "A small part of my heart is with you forever." Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/real-story-second-Roman-invasion-Leicester/story-29265549-detail/story.html#ixzz48WvEg6FQ Follow us: @@leicester_Merc on Twitter | leicestermercury on Facebook There's some videos in the linked article.
Hungry Hungry Fox Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 I thought this was going to be about Roma Gypsies
kushiro Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 Wow. Click the link in the article and you get this: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Italian-fans-celebrate-Leicester-City-s-success/story-29249417-detail/story.html Jeez I wish I was there on Monday to hear 50, 000 doing that.
foxy boxing Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 they want to join claudio and the leicester empire. now we have thousands of roman legions joining the foxes on the march upwards and onwards .general claudio is leading the troops on behalf of the emperors of the kingpower.we have already slain the members of the premier league now we will take on the continent of europe in the champions league but before that we will celebrate are victory with a parade around leicester with the banners of those we have slain lying shredded in the gutter and replaced by the banners of the victorious blue army.
kingcarr21 Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 Is that Jesus on the right? Knew he was a Leicester fan
Biggus Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 Perhaps we should call them the Ratae Club? From Wikipedia: "Ratae Corieltauvorum or simply Ratae was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Leicester, located in the English county of Leicestershire."
EverybodyDannsNow Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 I thought Abramovic was after Claudio for a minute then with that thread title. Phew
steveherbe Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 What a quality vid, and fair play to our Italian brothers
boots60 Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 The arrival of the Italians last week was a joyous bonus to the celebrations. They were cheering with us for all the right reasons & I for one was immensely proud of their attitude to football & life & also the way every Leicester citizen embraced their presence. Hoping for Roma or Napoli in the champions league.
promised land Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 Saw this great video yesterday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs2c9_JtfkE I was chatting to that plod at the start of the video getting them chanting, he loved it. He said all they want to do is sing and it was easier walking with them than actually being around the ground. I hope we get an Italian team in the champions league now. Home and away will be awesome.
coolcol Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 The arrival of the Italians last week was a joyous bonus to the celebrations. They were cheering with us for all the right reasons & I for one was immensely proud of their attitude to football & life & also the way every Leicester citizen embraced their presence. Hoping for Roma or Napoli in the champions league. Either would be a mammoth game...either way I think all Leicester fans who wanted tickets would get them
lcfc old boy Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 they want to join claudio and the leicester empire. now we have thousands of roman legions joining the foxes on the march upwards and onwards .general claudio is leading the troops on behalf of the emperors of the kingpower.we have already slain the members of the premier league now we will take on the continent of europe in the champions league but before that we will celebrate are victory with a parade around leicester with the banners of those we have slain lying shredded in the gutter and replaced by the banners of the victorious blue army. brilliant
Great Boos Up Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 Didn't have a ticket either so was walking round Leicester pre match. Met up with a few and those guys are gloriously mental about football. I didn't see them with any alcohol till it got dark, then they went for it. I got the train in from Sileby and went straight to first pub I could get in and couldn't keep up the pace through the night. Still I'll always remember a part of me is Lestoh Azzurra. PS still smile that they were saying Leicker ciiey. Obviously they don't serve T in ITALY ??
Torten Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 Saw a guy with a Cambiasso Inter Milan shirt so I hugged him.
Chester Dontlie Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 Great read and videos, that Victoria Park one (the chant) gave me goosebumps. Buddha was first, now Jesus supports Leicester too
ScouseFox Posted 13 May 2016 Posted 13 May 2016 there was fu cking loads of them in morrisons car park outside the local hero pre game. drinking beer from the keg and prosecco from the bottle just continually shouting jamie vardy's name.
The other Ollie Posted 14 May 2016 Posted 14 May 2016 They are beautifully f...ing mad. Love em more than the Belgians
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