This article recollects a trip to Italy that was undertaken in January 2009. Comments about which division teams play in were correct at the time the article was penned.

The trip was planned and the fixture list checked. Yes, there was a game to see during my flying visit to the Mother country just after Christmas It meant going to Gander Green Lane on Saturday 3rd January 2009 to see the Terrors take on Sutton Utd. It was a three-and- a-half hour drive from Ross-on-Wye to meet a friend who was coming up from Burgess Hill for a pub lunch pre game. The bad news was that half way through the second pint, the GGL pitch was deemed unfit and the ref didn’t want to risk damage to the home team after a bout of frost overnight. Bugger! All that way for nothing! Still meeting a long time friend was good. The last time I had been to GGL I saw Sutton lose 0-6. Well, it was against Leeds United! Perhaps the weather Gods were being kind to me, for whilst I hoped for a similar result for the away team, recent results had suggested that the Pools Panel might go for a home win. (As I look back some 11 years later, the records show that the game, when finally played, ended in a 0-0 draw).

But there were more possibilities of tracking down a game to see whilst on the next leg of the trip. To the continent dear friends and in particular to Italy where, in case many of you did not know, Tooting and Mitcham have very strong links and good support. Probably most of you had no idea of these connections and passion for the Terrors in the land that gave us Julius Caesar and straight roads. Let me walk you along these straight roads and introduce you to The Terrors – Italian style!

The first stop was Rome. Roma to our Italian friends. Roma were due to play AC Milan on Sunday 11th January 2009 and the fixture was all lined up. Then one former East End lad decided to join AC Milan from the LA Galaxy and that made it a different prospect. Here is the first link – AC Milan play in Tooting’s away strip! (Back in 2008/9, the Terrors away strip was a more sedate combination of Red and Black stripes!) Bet you hadn’t thought of that link had you? But because Roma play in red, tonight Becks and the boys turned out in all white. As I got to the ground, (I won’t even bother to tell you how stressful it was to get a ticket nor the fact that the World Bank had to bail me out with a loan to secure the cheapest ticket), there were scarves of the home side hanging on display for sale and there in their midst was a Tooting and Mitcham scarf. I felt the passion! The heart beat with pride! The connection was here right before my eyes.

Before the kick off, the Roma fans as one stood and sang their club song. It made the hair stand up on the back of the neck. Pretty emotional stuff. The result was 2-2. The Roma crowd at their equivalent of the Bog End in the Olympic Stadium did their best to cheer on the home side and to boo Beckham. The louder they booed the better he played. He did have a good game – another player to slip through Tooting’s scouting network!

So the next day I set out to check the local scene for links between football in Italy and the Terrors. At the Colosseum there was a Terrors scarf on display. The T & M beanie was seen in numerous places nudging aside beanies of some of the lesser-known Italian clubs such as Inter Milan. The pride was immense! And the connection is there as well. Inter also play in black stripes. They just so happen to have changed their white stripes to blue, but it’s plain for all to see. The connection is there!

Next stop Florence. Firenze to the locals. But Firenze United didn’t quite seem right so the locals called their team Fiorentina. They play in purple. They play in purple. The forward thinking locals were playing in what was to become The Terrors away kit some seven or eight years later. In town there is a Fiorentina club shop selling shirts and the usual merchandise. The shop manager though is a real Terror’s fan. I managed to snap him proudly waiving his Tooting & Mitcham scarf in the shop. Brilliant! Will the rib cage contain my proud and pounding heart? Whilst Fiorentina play in purple, it should be pointed out that there is one team in Serie A that plays in pink. This link to The Terrors was yet to come. The Terrors change kit as they headed towards the aborted 2019/20 season was Cadbury purple and then that was replaced by Turkish Delight pink. So even those sides that weren’t touched by Black and White stripes had the foresight to play in The Terrors change kit, albeit at the time of my travels, all Bog Enders were unaware of this future link. As for the team that play in pink, that’s Palermo who play in Sicily – home of the Mafia. Enough said on that subject, I think!

From Firenze, (in case you can’t recall back a paragraph – that’s Florence), a side trip to Siena. Siena also play in Serie A and the link to Imperial Fields is stronger than ever. Whilst the old medieval town atop a hill was not the right place to locate the stadium for the local heroes, they do play in – wait for it – black and white stripes! It should also be pointed out that Udinese who hail from the north east of the country, (that’s top right for the geographically challenged), also play in black and white stripes! There’s a South London link with Udine as well. Roy Hodgson, now at Selhurst Park, was Udinese’s coach at the start of the 21st century. In the industrial north, in Turin to be precise, there’s that most famous of Italian clubs – Juventus – and yes, you know their colours. Black and white stripes of course! The word has been spread! Go you Terrors!

Prior to heading back home to Australia, the train trip to Pisa (from where the first homeward bound plane left from) enabled me to check out the current status of Pisa who play in Serie B. Because of the abundance of Black and White striped team strips in Italy, (those Tooting pioneers did a grand job), the locals had to change their white stripes for blue.

Pisa’s stadium is almost in the shadow of its most famous landmark. The ground is unusual in that it has five floodlight pylons. Only four hold lights. The fifth has such a lean on it that it isn’t very reliable in the lighting stakes. It’s also poorly positioned away from the ground. That said, the view from the top is great. On the other hand you need a loan from the IMF to get up the fifth floodlight pylon to start with!

Ascoli, currently in Serie B (in season 2008/9) also play in Black and White stripes. Sassuolo, also in Serie B (yes I know, I’ve never heard of them either), also play in Black stripes whilst the white stripes have been coloured green. Finally, Vicenza, (Serie B), play in white stripes with their black stripes being changed to red in order to avoid a total colour clash with Ascoli!

Having seen the impact made by the Terror’s pioneering forefathers in their endeavours to spread the game to the continent, I left the land of pasta and spag bol knowing that they had succeeded in ensuring that the T & M legacy would be there for all to see.

Those Black and White stripes are everywhere and the Tooting and Mitcham name is revered wherever you travel throughout the land that was once home to Julius Caesar! "Et tu, Dulwich" - Oops, I mean, "Brute!"

(Details relating to divisions and strips were accurate as at January 2009.)