Getting Back Into Football, Writing And Specifically Italian Football
I have just dusted off my keyboard (literally).
It astounds me that I haven’t written a blog on here since 2022. There are numerous reasons for this; my love for modern football has dipped, I probably felt a bit burnt out after writing prolifically for over a decade and my time became scarce as I became a full time bookseller.
Another big reason was my mother’s death in August 2023.
I have always written because I loved to write, I didn’t have any real ambitions in doing it professionally. I did have a few different writing gigs in the past but they were always as a freelancer and I was given a lot of autonomy. Personally I don’t believe I’m a great writer, I feel I am a great ideas man and I have the ability to find points to cover that might not come naturally to others. My mum was always my biggest fan though. She would read most of my stuff and critique it. She didn’t have a passion for football but she loved that I loved it. She also enjoyed the fact I could express my passion through the means of writing. I believe subconsciously her death kind of also felt like a natural time to give up, as it was the death of my audience.
That kind of gives you a glimpse into my mindset. I’ll always put hurdles in front of myself. I would get stressed because I wasn’t getting enough numbers, I would berate myself for not being good enough and I would look back at chances missed when the blog was at it’s peak. Now if you go on social media you’ll find a host of writers or content producers will say the exact same thing, as a society we are probably too hard on ourselves and struggle to just enjoy the moments that we are in.
In the last twelve or so months, I have done a lot of reflection and I am at a point now where I am thinking ‘just do what makes you happy’. Writing about football made me happy and just typing on the keyboard feels like a cathartic exercise.
Also in the same timeframe, I have rediscovered a love for the beautiful game. I especially like travelling and have visited Italy, Spain and Germany in 2024 to take in games in each of those countries.
Turning forty, meant that my brother took me to Italy to catch a Serie A game in March as an early birthday present. My earliest footballing memories stem from my first World Cup, which was Italia 90. Due to that I chose to go to Genoa to see Genoa CFC versus AC Monza at the iconic Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
It turned out to be a classic encounter with the away side winning 3-2. The atmosphere was electric, the goals were stunning and I felt at home.
Then in May, my actual birthday month, my wonderful wife took me to see Real Sociedad take on Valencia. That too was a great experience, I got to see a Scot (Kieran Tierney) play in a foreign league and once again the atmosphere in the terraces was tremendous.
Earlier this month we travelled over to Munich and were lucky enough to catch the Round of 16 tie between The Netherlands and Romania. It was another superb game with a joyous spirit was released from the crowd.
Those three games made me fall in love with the game again.
As I mentioned earlier, the Serie A game felt like me coming home. That match in Genoa allowed me to go back to being a kid in the 1990s who would watch Italian football on Channel 4, who would buy the Football Italia magazine and who would almost blow up a video recorder because he rewatched the best goals of Serie A season 1990-91 so many times.
In that period I felt the most alive when it comes to football. I wanted to learn everything I could about the game in the peninsula, even though it was just a two and a bit hour flight away places like Florence, Milan and Perugia seemed like they were on a different planet!
Before being overrun by the internet, the world did seem to be a much bigger place. Italy and Italian football to a Glaswegian kid just seemed magical. It’s where all the best players gravitated towards, the football kits looked special and the stadiums were exciting and unique.
Now over the years, I have always kept an eye on the goings on in Serie A but never to the same degree as I did in the 90s. So I’ve challenged myself to try and immerse myself in Calcio and learn all I can about the current game in Italy and look back at some of that nostalgia that made me fall in love with it in the first place.
Along the way I hope to go to a few games there and write more and more about Italian football. I doubt I’ll be as prolific as I used to be with my writing but the aim is to just write when I am passionate about something. I hope to learn more about the Italian culture, history and it’s current affairs along the way too.
Ultimately I am doing this for myself. To enjoy football once again and to learn and adapt to what’s new within the game in 2024.
In tribute to my biggest fan!
Posted on July 25th, 2024 by scott
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