Off The Italian Coast, Fandom Runs Deep

It felt like Thanksgiving in Brooklyn. Other than the food and the company and stories of a part of my father’s family I had known of but never met on the Aeolian Island of Lipari, there was a TV…and football.

Not the kind we watched on Turkey Day, but the global kind which I also grew up with, this time on a May Sunday of Serie A, with the big screen flipped around so that the supporters could watch, and eat, at the same time.

The moment in time served as a reminder for me of the values of sport…what transcends time and languages, and the quirky things we do to care about athletes running around in short pants hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away. The Monte/LoSchialvo household is one divided in loyalty…most to Juventus, but the senior…literally former football…my cousin by marriage of eightysomething years… Filicino…supporting Inter Milan, and both clubs were on DAZN back to back on this beautiful Sunday over looking the sea as dinner unfolded around the table. Juventus dropped their match to Fiorentina, which didn’t sit well, Inter had a big win that followed.

However, the result wasn’t what matter to me, it was the why. Filicino, who was captain of the little Lipari club in 1955 and followed his father as President (with his cleats still proudly hanging on the wall from his time as a center back) told me his Inter support had little to do with wins, it had to do with family. It was his dads club and his cousins and that’s just what you did. Likewise my young cousin Matteo, and his five year old cousin, were deeply Juventus fans despite the club’s literal up and down fortunes during his lifetime…because his father supported the club…one which he has never seen in person…but would never switch allegiances.

That loyal following is literally foreign form many Americans I explained, who move their loyalties more and more to the athlete, or the city where they live, more than the club of their family, no matter where they are. In America for many, the marketing dollars outweigh the blood oath. Now Matteo did admit that in his 26 years some friends have switched loyalties because of a new superstar, or gasp…winning…but those changes were few. It remained more about the club you shared with your family, and clinging on to championships past (just like Mets fans holding on to 1986) and suffering of the present.

That’s not to say that Americans don’t hold some blind loyalty to teams, especially at the college level. It’s just not as present, and as focused, as it is in the rest of the world. I did ask about MLS as well, and Matteo admitted he still enjoyed watching the American teams, but he enjoyed watching the American stars…especially his young Juventus midfielder Weston McKinney more…pointing out that MLS is still not generational. Juventus and Inter  followings transcend decades in this house on the coast of this Island off of Sicily…MLS clubs are still babies.

As far as the World Cup goes…the head shaking and hand wringing were present given The Azzurri missing the field yet again…but all admit they will watch. After all that event will be the opposite for them this time. They know the stars of elsewhere playing for their clubs now and in the past, so World Cup fandom in southern Italy may be more “American” than when they dial in for Serie A year after year. It will still be the best of the best, Italy on the sideline or not.

While the soccer discussion did not dominate the days in any way, it was a nice touch point for crossing generations, before we went back to the food.

Sports is never far from the table, even on a beautiful, multigenerational Sunday of family…just like Thanksgiving in Brooklyn.