Editor’s note: Our buddy Sergio is traveling around Europe and has decided to change things up a bit when it comes to his contributions to the blog for the next couple of weeks. With that said, Sergio’s posts will not necessarily be solely about Juventus, but also about his travels abroad and what kind of football-centric things he gets into during his time in Europe.
I’ve taken a cheap shot or two at the lower-tiered European competitions over the years.
The Europa League and Conference League are significantly less glamorous competitions than the Champions League and whenever Juventus has had to play in one of them — just the Europa League so far, thankfully — it feels a lot like slumming it for a team that has been at the pinnacle of the sport.
So, when I was making the plans for this trip, I tried to be in a city with a midweek Champions League matchup to see if I could catch a game. Unfortunately, because plans had to be made way in advance, my only shot was Slavia Praha, the Czech entrant in this season’s competition.
However, when the tournament was announced, Slavia played away when I visited the city and I thought my European matchday dreams were dashed. That was until the Conference League calendar was announced and the other team of the city, Sparta Praha, hosted Shamrock Rovers last Thursday.
Tickets were always going to be tough to get, and thanks to the Byzantine — though sometimes necessary due to violence — rules about ticketing I couldn’t really get a ticket in a good area due to me not having a passport from the European Union.
It was Conference League, though, right?
Two middling European squads slugging it out in cold weather when a city like Prague has a ton to offer to the nightlife enthusiast?
I wasn’t necessarily heartbroken to miss it.
However, once the day started, I quickly regretted not being in attendance. You can make whatever argument you want to make about the “importance” of these competitions, especially the Conference League which is the newest one. But if you look at football as a pursuit of entertainment and community, it’s hard to say that this game didn’t matter to the people who were in Prague.
There were tons of people in green kits supporting the Rovers going down en masse to Pragues gorgeous old town, getting a few beers in already. Sparta supporters chanting back and forth in bars all over the city, a packed stadium once kickoff started and a trouncing for the home side that left the home side happy and their fans right back into the busy night life.
Yes, more games and more competitions mean more money and it all feels a bit cynical at times. I get that, but those drunken rowdy Sparta fans felt at the top of the world and despite losing, the Rovers followers also looked pretty happy to take in the sights and have a pretty amazing away experience.
Sometimes football is just supposed to be fun. In that case, mission accomplished.