Napoli Greek Fans: “I was 16 years old, obsessed with the team – One night I created the Facebook page and since then I have dedicated an infinite amount of time”

Vincenzo
Creator of the Napoli Greek Fans page on Facebook

Dimitris Rapidis
Grants Officer & Political Researcher - ETERON

How did your love for Napoli arise?

I was born and raised in Corfu, but my father is a native Neapolitan. We traveled to Naples several times over the years, but my first time at the -then- San Paolo stadium, was the one that made me a fan of the team. Timing also played a role, as I was in my teens at the time and Napoli were in the “Renaissance” years.

Do you have a special memory associated with Napoli? A specific game, a player or a moment?

My first game at San Paolo I will never forget it. It played a decisive role. It was a Napoli-Albinolefe. It was a few matches before the end of Serie B, May Day 2007, with Napoli in second place behind Juventus. There was intense excitement in the city, with the Neapolitans seeing the team one step away from returning to the top flight. That game had ended 1-0 with a goal by the Argentine “El Pampa” Sosa. In fact, during the celebrations, he took off his shirt and he had another shirt dedicated to Diego Maradona. I was sitting in Curva B, right above where Sosa came to celebrate. Definitely my most intense moment on the field, even if I have been to much more important games.

When and what prompted you to create the Facebook page?

It was 2012. I was 16 years old, invested in the team. I remember, for every Napoli goal, I made a post on my personal Facebook account. There was no response, apart from some relatives. On the contrary, my classmates told me that I had stunned them with my posts about Napoli, so the solution was a one-way street. One night I created the “Napoli Greek Fans” page and since then I have dedicated an infinite amount of time to it. I haven’t stopped at all for thirteen years and the page is active every day. With the exception of very short periods of time, no other has managed the page.

How much has the page grown over the years? What would you like to add? Is there something you say you would like the page to have that it still doesn’t have, e.g. some trips to Naples so that the page’s friends can see the team live in the stadium?

The page grew slowly, but in the right way. I never paid attention to the numbers. What’s the point of having a lot of followers, sometimes fake, and no one comments on your posts? In general, I’m very satisfied with the audience that comments on the page every day. It’s also been my motivation all these years.

In previous years, we had tried to create a club in Athens, but for various reasons we didn’t succeed. We had also asked for help from the team. Not financial. I had spoken with a high-ranking member of Napoli administration, but there was no response. Napoli is very slow in this area and I have a complaint about it. I see that other teams, mainly from the UK, but not only, are helping their fans abroad a lot. We had to do it completely on our own, without any formality, so our task was quite difficult.

What I would like to do at some point is a show about Napoli. Nothing too big, just a two-hour weekly live broadcast via the internet, where we would have the opportunity to talk to our fans, tell the news of the team and answer their questions. If there was a proper collaboration, we could do a show about Serie A in general, together with fans of other teams.

How politicized are the Napoli stands?

Napoli fans sit on both sides of the stadium. There is Curva A and Curva B. Then there are even smaller groups. I will mention a few. In Curva A there are the Mastiffs, Masseria, Vecchi Lions and in Curva B there are the Ultras 1972, Fedayn EAM, Secco Vive 1991, etc.

I can’t say that the stands are politicized. Each group is independent and there is no common stance, especially when it comes to politics. The city votes for left-wing parties anyway.

What is Maradona’s legacy in the city and the team?

I don’t think there is another city that has been so associated with a footballer. The fact that he was not Italian played no role at all. On the contrary, most Neapolitans feel that they have something Argentine in them because of Maradona.

Diego was not just a player. Diego represented Naples and the Italian South with dignity. He fought the establishment of the North. His following sentence says it all: “We were welcomed with a banner, which helped me understand that the battle I have to fight with Napoli is not only football. ‘Welcome to Italy’, it read. It was the North against the South. The racists against the poor.”