IN ANTICIPATION OF this trip to Rome your correspondent sat down last Sunday night to watch Conclave, the Oscar-nominated film based around the selection of a new pope.
What we didn’t expect was just how true the viewing experience would be to our own stay in the Eternal City. In Conclave, the film does an excellent job of bringing you inside the situation by showing you as much of Rome as the cardinals themselves would see during the conclave process. Not a single swooping shot of the Vatican. No fly-by aerial views of the Forum. The Colosseum? Don’t even think about it.
To work as a sportswriter has many upsides but the nature of a working trip is that you always leave a city wishing you were able to see a bit more of it. This somewhat sheltered experience is perhaps the one trait shared between the clergy and the sports media. Well, that and a love of gossip.
And this week, more than any other, there are a few prayers being said because if Ireland are to end today as Six Nations champions then we’re going to need a bit of help from above along the way.
Advertisement
Last weekend’s defeat to France took the air out of Ireland’s title charge but it won’t stop the travelling supporters from enjoying themselves in this great city. And how they are travelling. The 42 departed from Dublin on Thursday morning and it was fascinating to watch the many wearing green – and usual sizeable contingent in Munster red – dispersing toward various departure gates. The blessed ones flying direct to Rome. The adventurers confusing their fellow travellers on the departure gates for Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. The latest estimate is that around 30,000 Irish supporters will descend on the Italian capital.
Ireland fans at the Trevi Fountain. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
It was Thursday evening by the time The 42 had the hotel keys secured and the laptop closed, early enough to stretch the legs but too late to make the spin out to the Stadio Olimpico, where Lazio were taking on FC Plenz in the Europa League. A roar down a side street led us to an Irish bar where Roma supporters were bunched on the pavement around a TV, watching their side losing away to Athletic Bilbao. A few Irish tourists were welcomed as Roma fans for the night.
Our street boasts an eclectic mix. There’s a knife shop, record shop, African food shop, some sort of religious supplies shop, and the usual souvenir shops selling trinkets adored with the two holy Francs of Rome – Pope Francis, and Francesco Totti.
Even on a Six Nations weekend, this is a soccer city. The WiFi password at our hotel is simply ‘ASROMA’. Our nearest supermarket has super-sized Totti Easter eggs in the window and an afternoon coffee run was greatly improved by the large Italian jersey over the door, Vialli on the back. Ange Capouzzo and Co have a bit of work to do if they break into the general consciousness.
At the time of writing, The 42 has yet to spot a single person on the street wearing any form of Italian rugby merchandise. Not so much as a baseball cap. The Cavan GAA crest has been more common than the lesser-spotted FIR emblem.
That will change today, with this game long sold out. We took the scenic scooter ride out to the stadium yesterday for the Captain’s Run press conferences, with something worth stopping and admiring on every turn. We negotiated the bustling streets (apologies to the two nuns who received a fright from our navigator on a tight corner) and whizzed through stunning Piazzas, before the final stretch along the Tiber.
At the ground, the evidence of Thursday’s Lazio game had been quickly washed away as stadium workers rebranded the entrances and concourses in Azzurri blue. They’ll be quickly torn down tonight as Roma host Cagliari on Sunday. The rugby rolls in today and then the city switches back to his true love.
The 30,000 will be finding their ways home by then and likely ruing what might have been for their team this year. Today’s rugby might not be the climatic event we had hoped for but for anyone lucky enough to be in Rome this weekend, the faint feeling of hope still lingers. They’ll expect an Ireland win and they’ll celebrate it as they should, before anxiously awaiting the white smoke from London and Paris. The supporters will be doing their bit to boost the local economy as those games play out while the Ireland team watch on at their post-game banquet. Hoping.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Postcard from Rome: Totti, scooters, and lots of green jerseys
IN ANTICIPATION OF this trip to Rome your correspondent sat down last Sunday night to watch Conclave, the Oscar-nominated film based around the selection of a new pope.
What we didn’t expect was just how true the viewing experience would be to our own stay in the Eternal City. In Conclave, the film does an excellent job of bringing you inside the situation by showing you as much of Rome as the cardinals themselves would see during the conclave process. Not a single swooping shot of the Vatican. No fly-by aerial views of the Forum. The Colosseum? Don’t even think about it.
To work as a sportswriter has many upsides but the nature of a working trip is that you always leave a city wishing you were able to see a bit more of it. This somewhat sheltered experience is perhaps the one trait shared between the clergy and the sports media. Well, that and a love of gossip.
And this week, more than any other, there are a few prayers being said because if Ireland are to end today as Six Nations champions then we’re going to need a bit of help from above along the way.
Last weekend’s defeat to France took the air out of Ireland’s title charge but it won’t stop the travelling supporters from enjoying themselves in this great city. And how they are travelling. The 42 departed from Dublin on Thursday morning and it was fascinating to watch the many wearing green – and usual sizeable contingent in Munster red – dispersing toward various departure gates. The blessed ones flying direct to Rome. The adventurers confusing their fellow travellers on the departure gates for Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. The latest estimate is that around 30,000 Irish supporters will descend on the Italian capital.
It was Thursday evening by the time The 42 had the hotel keys secured and the laptop closed, early enough to stretch the legs but too late to make the spin out to the Stadio Olimpico, where Lazio were taking on FC Plenz in the Europa League. A roar down a side street led us to an Irish bar where Roma supporters were bunched on the pavement around a TV, watching their side losing away to Athletic Bilbao. A few Irish tourists were welcomed as Roma fans for the night.
Our street boasts an eclectic mix. There’s a knife shop, record shop, African food shop, some sort of religious supplies shop, and the usual souvenir shops selling trinkets adored with the two holy Francs of Rome – Pope Francis, and Francesco Totti.
Even on a Six Nations weekend, this is a soccer city. The WiFi password at our hotel is simply ‘ASROMA’. Our nearest supermarket has super-sized Totti Easter eggs in the window and an afternoon coffee run was greatly improved by the large Italian jersey over the door, Vialli on the back. Ange Capouzzo and Co have a bit of work to do if they break into the general consciousness.
At the time of writing, The 42 has yet to spot a single person on the street wearing any form of Italian rugby merchandise. Not so much as a baseball cap. The Cavan GAA crest has been more common than the lesser-spotted FIR emblem.
That will change today, with this game long sold out. We took the scenic scooter ride out to the stadium yesterday for the Captain’s Run press conferences, with something worth stopping and admiring on every turn. We negotiated the bustling streets (apologies to the two nuns who received a fright from our navigator on a tight corner) and whizzed through stunning Piazzas, before the final stretch along the Tiber.
At the ground, the evidence of Thursday’s Lazio game had been quickly washed away as stadium workers rebranded the entrances and concourses in Azzurri blue. They’ll be quickly torn down tonight as Roma host Cagliari on Sunday. The rugby rolls in today and then the city switches back to his true love.
The 30,000 will be finding their ways home by then and likely ruing what might have been for their team this year. Today’s rugby might not be the climatic event we had hoped for but for anyone lucky enough to be in Rome this weekend, the faint feeling of hope still lingers. They’ll expect an Ireland win and they’ll celebrate it as they should, before anxiously awaiting the white smoke from London and Paris. The supporters will be doing their bit to boost the local economy as those games play out while the Ireland team watch on at their post-game banquet. Hoping.
Did we mention Conclave ends with a twist?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
eternal city Rugby