This is a dark and light purple number. It immediately made me think of Fiorentina in Italy a team whose nickname is Viola and good old Wikipedia provides more information about that football club here ==> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACF_Fiorentina
There was a time when I used to love watching football from Serie A and Fiorentina used to feature sometimes. If not live then during the highlights in the Saturday morning magazine show with one Mr James Richardson a cool looking English dude who spoke Italian and could read all the Italian football papers whilst sipping on an expresso in some cafe (well, he shared the headlines with us viewers so I assume he could read the articles as well). Football dailies! How amazing! We had The Sports Mail published weekly on a Saturday evening (an excellent publication that still sells today one of the few surviving football 'pinks').
I'm sure Football Italia (as the show was known) was some of the only live football you could see on terrestrial TV, but I might have that wrong.
I recall many a happy Sunday afternoon settling down on the sofa watching Italian football on Channel 4. They had big clubs, big crowds with passionate fans waving impossibly huge flags and big stars; some of the football was scintilating, full of solid defending mixed in with exquisite skill (well that's how I remember it anway). The best British players had moved to Italy in the past: Joe Jordan, Trevor Francis, Ray Wilkins, Mark Hately and Luther Blisset all played in Italy following in the footsteps of players like Jimmy Greaves and John Charles in the 1960s. Gazza was the latest export, moving to Lazio. David Platt was another.
And goodness me! Don't you know it Wikipedia has a page on this TV show as well, here ==> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Italia
Today, Italian Football is shown on ESPN. Occasionally, when I'm 'doofing' through the channels, I'll come across a live game which 15 or so years ago I would have gone out of my way to sit down and watch. But no more. I 'doof' past it briefly noting the scoreline in the top right hand corner of the screen...or is it top left? Why I don't watch anymore I don't know. The Italian Clubs are still big (Inter Milan are the current European Champions afterall) and they still have some big stars. There are at least two Serie A Clubs with former Pompey players (Sulley Muntari at Inter Milan and Kevin Prince Boateng at AC Milan), so even some 'personal interest'. Is it because there are now more star names plying their trade in the Premier League? Possibly...even the best Italian managers are here too (Capello, Ancellotti, Mancini).
Whatever the reason, Italian football is sadly a thing of my past not my present.
And so back to Fiorentina...surely there's not another tenuous Pompey link here I can pull out of the bag?
Oh yes there is!
Back in December 1993 Pompey played Fiorentina at Fratton Park in the Anglo-Italian Cup. Pompey lost 3-2 in front of a paltry crowd of 2,338 fans. It wasn't a vey well supported competition although I was there that night with some friends from work. What a contrast to the next game I saw Pompey play against Italian opposition at Fratton Park: AC Milan in the UEFA Cup...but that's a story for another time.
BlueThruAndThru
