600 stadium and 1000 adventures: interview with a groundhopper

Being a groundhopper means spending a large part of one's life visiting stadiums, collecting them as if they were stamps. Going around the world, driven by the desire to live new experiences, not making differences between tiny stadiums and temples of modern football. This phenomenon, born in the UK since the 80s, is totally different from tifo, it is something distinct that is more related to cultural diversity, the stadium atmosphere and love for architecture. Attracted by his profile on Footballgroundsmap - it's one of the biggest stadium websites -, we had a chat with Marco Panunzio, who spent most of his life on a 'pilgrimage' between one continent and another, always looking for new stadiums to watch a match in. A globetrotter before a groundhopper: in its curriculum more than 400 different stadiums. Just enough to trigger our curiosity and try to make us travel with imagination.

Hi Marco, tell us simply how and where your passion for stadiums is born.

First of all, I have to make a clarification, at the moment I've been in 617 stadiums because many pitches in which I have been are not present in the list that you have consulted. I was born in England, even though my father is of Italian descent. But it was not he who transmitted this passion to me: it all started with the 1986 World Cup in which I 'fell in love' with Michael Laudrup. When I took the driving license I started traveling a lot, and almost always alone.

Well, that says a lot about your fanaticism: what was your first game? Do you have a favorite team?

I was eleven years old when I entered in The Camrose, the stadium of my hometown, Basingstoke. Then, influenced by a friend, I started to support for Manchester United. In the early days I used to organize to go and see the games with a group of friends, it was all very funny. It was at that moment that I decided to become a groundhopper.

When did you make your first European game?

Actually, I have followed rarely Manchester United in European cups, because of the difficulty of buying tickets for the away sector. But I consoled myself with home games: in 2003 I reached 22 games in one season. Therefore my first time out of England was in 1998 for the World Cup in France. Precisely, in Montpellier for Italy-Cameroon and in Toulouse for South Africa-Denmark.

But we know you've gone a lot farther. How far have you arrived exactly?

Between 2004 and 2005 I lived for work in New Zealand, their championship had recently been launched and so I had the opportunity to visit all the 8 different stadiums, even though, most of them, really tiny. I remember very well when I flew from Auckland to Christchurch only to see a match, while during a Waitakere United game I was attending, the match was interrupted because a woman was walking with her dog in the middle of the ground.

After France '98 have you seen any other prestigious international competition?

Of course! 4 World Cups, 4 European Championships (also the final of Euro 2000!) and many more. It was on the occasion of the 2012 European Championships that something really unusual happened to me: I drove from England to Ukraine, after seeing two games (in Kharkiv and Donetsk) I went back to Lviv (for the third game I had scheduled) when I crashed my car, also due to poor road conditions. I span from one side of road to other then rolled down a ditch, the car was on its side and I climbed out the broken drivers window, and an ambulance came to my rescue. But it did not end here, because the next day I ended up in court according to what is a local practice: I was like a celebrity with the local police force in the town of Pavlograd who never met Englishman before. I have also great memories from my trip in Korea, in 2002: it was not Europe so the ticket touts were cheaper. Korea was difficult as the language is so different, but the people were so polite and friendly. The day after I arrived in Ulsan I had knock on a door, there were two tournament helpers checking if I was ok, the owner of Inn was concerned because I had not left my room.

I wonder how many other adventures you have lived around the world! Is there any other extreme story that comes to mind?

I happened to be in Bogota and plan to go to a match in Venezuela, so I had to travel 16 hours by bus. But beyond the borders, I had problems with the local authorities because of my passport: I was still allowed to stay only for one night, the time needed to watch the game. But that night in San Cristobal was so windy that a floodlight at the stadium was blown down and caused damage, the game was postponed. A great football journey without seeing a football match!

Have you got to go around South America too?

I have been living in Argentina for four years, but my debut was in Ecuador during a very important World Cup qualifying game against Argentina won 2-0, in Quito, the day after my 30th birthday. It was the day after my 30th and I was extremely hungover, but I remember when Ecuador scored they threw colored powder into the air. Bad day to wear a white T-shirt for me! I traveled a lot also in Mexico, Chile and Colombia, even in Belize. All I remember about Belize game is the walk back to the hotel afterward I was robbed in the nicest possible way. The guy said sorry man but I need to take your money. I had about $8.

Well, then you can definitely make a comparison between the atmosphere that you live in Europe and the one that lives on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, especially in Argentina.

Of course, a far superior atmosphere. I've seen hundreds of stadiums here (there are only 70 in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires): even when you happen to find yourself attending a competition with just 50 spectators, they will still have drums and trumpets to make a deafening noise. Sometimes I am sitting listening to the drums and the singing and not even watching the game. I've experienced something similar only in Turkey.

And what about Italy? What games have you seen in our country and what do you think of the level of our stadiums?

The problem is that damned running track around a lot of them which ruins the atmosphere. San Siro is amazing as the crowd jumping up and down makes it sway. I found that Italian fans did not travel too much to away games. My first game was a Lecce-Milan in which he scored Weah, then in 2003, I watched both Champions League semi-finals: Inter-Milan and Juventus-Real Madrid.

How many games did you manage to concentrate within a few hours/days?

Sub20 Tournament in Paraguay: I watched 4 games in one day, taking advantage of the fact that they started at 9am.

Some other dry question is obligatory: more beautiful and uglier stadiums? And the most dangerous one? Most beautiful match you've seen?

Among the best, I say Wembley, I also really enjoyed the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon and Donbass Arena in Donetsk. Among the worst without doubts Manor Ground in Oxford. The most dangerous is located in La Isla Maciel, a very dangerous area of Buenos Aires where San Telmo plays. The best game was a Manchester United-Arsenal of 2011 finished 8-2, we missed a penalty and hit a crossbar.

I understand it's hard to ask, but do you have any regrets?

I've never seen a Champions League final: in 2011 in Milan a few minutes before the start I discovered that my ticket was false and I could not get in.

What have you already planned for the future? Russia 2018?

No, I have already decided for a while not to take part in the competitions organized by FIFA. It will seem strange to you because I had the 2014 World Championship so close to me, but the latest 'issues', the allegations of corruption and the various recent scandals meant that I took this decision. If I can I would like to go see the Copa Libertadores final, then definitely the Copa America next year. If I had to go back to Italy, the stadium in Genoa intrigued me a lot. Of course, I will start taking my son with me to the stadium soon. Then, as friends have long asked me, writing a book on all my travels could be an idea. Because 50% of the games I've seen are not great, but what's left are the experiences.

Photo credits: Marco Panunzio