Goodbye to the San Siro
A stadium like no other.
Italia 90 changed how football was seen in the UK. The rise in 80’s fanzine culture and magazines like ‘When Saturday comes’ had paved the way for the rebirth of the national game. No longer the sport of hooligans and associated with trouble, now it was possible to be a football fan without being tarred with the thuggish brush of the National front. The performance of England, and to a lesser extent the Scots in Italy played it’s part but for those of us for whom that World cup was the first one they can really remember it was the peeks into Italian culture that gave us a window into a different World.
The stadiums constructed or renovated for Italia 90 seemed like they were a glimpse of the future. Bari’s series of concrete shells, the beauty of the Luigi Ferraris in Genoa, Rome’s vast Olimpico and the Stadio Delle Alpi in Turin were all highlights.
They made the old fashioned English grounds of the time with their ‘sheds’ and open terraces seem hopelessly outdated and coupled with the interest in the next few years in Serie A through Gazzetta football Italia, made me long to make a football pilgrimage to Italy.
All those stadiums were impressive but the one which stood out was the San Siro. Used for the opening game of Italia 90, Cameroon’s shock defeat of champions Argentina, and the home of giants AC Milan and Inter it looked like a spaceship had landed on earth. I had seen nothing like it on TV or in person and maintain to this day that it’s the most iconic ground in the world.
However until you visit in person nothing can prepare you for it.
I first went to Milan in 2003 to see Inter play Udinese. By then the Italian league was losing its allure as the top one in Europe and the San Siro along with all the other grounds hadn’t been updated since 1990. This wasn’t on my mind as we approached the ground from the Metro station, passing the stalls selling scarfs and the hippodrome with its equestrian statue outside.
Visiting a new stadium has always been as nerve wracking for me as a job interview or exam. A nervous excitement that becomes impossible to steady (and unbearable for anyone I'm with) until tickets are secured (easier now with online purchases) and I’m standing outside the ground.
In Milan that cold February day all of these emotions swirled around inside me as I took in the sight in front of me. A sea of fans in Blue and Black, and rearing up above us the stadium. The iconic roof with its distinctive dark red struts, the unique striped ramps and stark, concrete exterior.
As you enter and ascend skywards up the ramps, with glimpses of the concourse outside it was like climbing a castle tower, knowing the best is to come at the top. The view from the stands with its steep tiers of seating and green foot way around the pitch was undoubtedly, along with my first view of the Nou camp the most thrilling stadium experiences of my life.
The game itself saw an out of sorts Inter lose 2-1 but it didn’t really matter. My two subsequent visits to see Inter beat Livorno and AC Milan defeat Lazio were equally average games. What I remember is the second tier literally bouncing after a goal, the incredible Tifo displays and the feeling you were sitting on layer upon layer of football history.
The day after he Udinese game we revisited the ground to go to the club shop. The charm of many Italian grounds is their lack of commercialism. However closing the main club shop on match day seemed a strange idea. So having bought souvenirs on the Monday morning we walked once more around the San Siro only to discover a side gate was open for the ground staff. As no one was around we went in and spent 5 glorious minutes standing on the parterre next to the pitch and taking photos until the aforementioned workers threw us out.
Now this is all coming to an end. The Milan clubs have agreed to buy the land and demolish San Siro. A new stadium will go up, and the designs look modern and sleek, with the whole area being regenerated. A small section of the old stadium is even being preserved as part of a Museum. There’s no doubt that financially this is much needed for Serie A to compete with the Premier league and La Liga. San Siro when I last visited was looking tired. Dingy walkways, not enough toilets, hardly any food or drink and other modern necessities. In contrast most English top flight teams have moved to purpose built modern grounds or totally renovated existing ones. Real, Atletico, Athletic and Barcelona have done the same in Spain along with many others. Italian football has lagged behind in this and many other of the aspects needed to make money in the modern game.
However much this is inevitable it seems a shame that this cathedral of football couldn’t have simply been renovated with at least the iconic exterior being preserved. If you get a chance to visit then you have three years before San Siro is gone and with it a hundred years of sporting greatness and the memories of millions of fans.