Serie C

When your kids play soccer and are missing a year of "training" because you choose to travel instead of driving to practices every day, then finding an outlet for the soccer itch is a bit of a requirement. While we were in the UK and Ireland, it was before the new soccer seasons had started, so we contented ourselves with visiting stadiums and collecting scarves (See here and here and here).

But our visit to Italy coincided with the start of the new season, so we have been looking for opportunities to go to a match. The top-level matches are expensive, like NBA or NFL games in the US, but European soccer has many levels of play, and every village (seemingly) has a team playing at some level or other. In Italy, there are three professional national divisions (Series A, B, and C), a semiprofessional national division (Serie D). Then there are regional leagues that feed into the higher levels.

In Tuscany, there are two Serie A teams, in Florence (Fiorentina) and Empoli, one Serie B team (Pisa), and six Serie C teams. So we decided to attend a match. This is easier said than done--the lower divisions don't really sell tickets online, as far as we can tell, and the higher-division clubs only play a few matches and sometimes on the road. During our two-week stay in Lucca, the local Serie C team, Lucchese 1905, was scheduled to play a match with Gubbio.

Our first challenge was to purchase tickets. A few news reports in translation said the public could get tickets from "Lucchese Point" at a few times over the few days before the match. It wasn't clear where the "Lucchese Point" actually was--the news reports didn't offer that information. After a few searches on Google Maps, I concluded that maybe? it was at the club office at the stadium in Lucca. So at one of the appointed times we hopped in the car, drove over to the office and discovered that, indeed, this WAS the "Lucchese Point" mentioned in the article.

Next, we had a parenting problem. Alex, who on some days is the most enthusiastic soccer fan, had a bit of a tantrum on the way to the stadium (something about someone promising something about some type of gelato), and announced that he was not going to go to any stupid soccer match with any stupid people that he was stuck living with on this stupid trip. After a few threats, a few enticements, and an ultimate decision to ignore him, we decided that we'd just purchase five tickets and figure out the details later.

Then there was the purchase itself. The stadium offers tickets in three sections, each at different prices. There are pricing tiers, males over 15 cost one amount, over 60 another, and ALL women and children cost something like half price. We didn't want to run into any hooligans (do they have hooligans in Serie C soccer?!?) so we decided to buy tickets on the middle-priced sideline rather than the low-priced but maybe rowdy endzone. The "Lucchese Point" is a guy with a computer in a little office at the side of the stadium, who takes your ID and types your names--including the kids names--into the machine, and then spits out some printed tickets. EUR 44 later (16 for me, 7 for the woman and children), and we had five printed tickets for Tuesday night's match.

Alex got over whatever it was he was mad about and we voted to let him go to the match.

On match day, we found eventually found parking, and we brought passports and our tickets and queued up for entry. There was a threat that they'd check IDs--this didn't actually happen, but there was security wanding for metal at the gate. Then into the stadium and to our seats right on the mid-field line.

The match itself was great. We were close to the action--there were maybe 3000 people there. We avoided the hooligans--there were a lot of rowdy people in the endzone, but no actual fighting. And we saw a pretty exciting match with lots of chances for scores--as exciting as a 0-0 final score can be, I suppose. There were no tantrums at the match--at least none in the family, some of the players got a bit upset--the weather was a perfect 70F as the sun went down, and the whole experience was delightful.

Next goal: try to find reasonably priced tickets for a top-level match while we are Naples or Rome. But for a first game, Lucchese 1905 hit the spot.

Kids with the hooligans in the background.

The match had a certain minor-league baseball feel to it. Which is what it was, generally.