Celebrating Passion – The Juventus Stadium

What is religion or faith? Is football or other spectator sports the modern day faiths for us suffering human beings? We need an outlet to pour out our passion towards something great, and the ancient religions are facing new challenges from spectator sports. The fanatical, be it for religions or sports, are willing to defend their faith, belief or passion with their body and soul. While the more logical though still passionate crowd who are the majority will still put aside their logic to savor the glorious or passionate moments as a way to comfort their worn out souls.

 

Passion, for me, is the keyword. As I have fallen victim to the temptation of football for almost two third of my life, I have been longing to meet the gods of football in the holy land of Turin. There lies my revered temple of passion and pride with the warrior gods which eternally bound to fight against their enemies in calcio universe. With the ever-growing power of the dark dominion  of Internazionale, the warrior gods comes and goes through decades of battles to bring glory and salvation to their followers. Some of them are elevated to a higher status of legendary gods and remembered for eternity.

 

Paolo Montero

Those are the recipe for a cult, and football had established itself as one. It offers everything that conventional faiths have and added many modern twist. Emotional roller-coaster, sense of belonging, camaraderie, rivalry, hatred, the fight against injustices, heroes, villains, light, darkness, glory, disgrace, and finally all of these are coagulated into passion.

 

Passionate Juventino!!

And to reach a new height, individuals like me and my “pilgrimage” companion visited the center of our passion, the newly built temple of football in the outskirt of Turin, the Juventus Stadium. Though the process of obtaining the ticket was to a certain degree frustrating, but finally we managed to get two tickets for ourselves. The build up towards the game was excellent; the frustration of the ticketing experience rapidly changed into elation and grew into euphoria, while some even mentioned the word “better than orgasm”. The difficulty and weariness to find Mondo Juve, the training ground was erased when we saw Juventus players arriving at the facility. Antonio Conte himself came out and spares his busy time to mingle with the fans for some picture and autograph sessions.

Antonio Conte - Giving Signature at Mondo Juve

The excitement didn’t die at all. The next day we visited Juventus Store at via Garibaldi in the center of Turin to get our gears ready for the night. We arrived early at the stadium and although admission were two hours before the game, we saw many happy-faced-fans touring the outer vicinity of the stadium, taking picture, buying souvenirs and admiring the gorgeous new stadium from four different corners.

 

The Stadium - Pride of All Juventini

The best is always reserved for the last. After we had an excellent Italian authentic pizza with red wine just nearby the stadium, we decided to get into the stadium one and a half hours before the game. It was truly an amazing sight from within the compound of the “temple”. We were greeted by a couple of juventini girls and “Buffon” for a photo session. The guardians of the olden days were being displayed everywhere. Paolo Montero, my personal favorite was also there, together with the heroes of the most glorious days in the history of the club. Many entertainments were being provided to keep the fans busy before the game. We even got our cheeks drawn to boost our warrior spirits.

 

Face Painting While Waiting for the Game

The game itself was the crowning moment. We were seated just next to the Fiorentina fans, another old rival of Juventus, almost as fierce as Internazionale in terms of rivalry. From competing to be the loudest to the abusive chants to each other, the equalizing goal by Fiorentina and the reply by Matri and the excellent atmosphere inside the stadium. I still felt dreamy three days after the game. But at the end of the game I knew, that the passion will not die until my end, and I will keep coming back to the temple to celebrate passion and life.