perhaps Roma knew ......................................................................................................................................... a story of how I would become a Liverpool fan

Dundee United's Jim McLean and Walter Smith walk past
hostile winning side Roma players after their 1984
European Cup semi-final clash (via Reuters/DailyRecordUK) ©

so there I was in Liverpool 

in 1987 stumble bumming visiting 

dharma spilling style through out Europe 

an ignorant and naive budding American poet...

well on that hot day 

in thee wee ye 

jolly old England 

Summer sport 

seemed only 

Wimbledon and the 

Tour De France 

where were the baseball fans 

I asked of my train mates 

this is England they said 

what's baseball here no one knows 

and besides Liverpudlians will be  

itchy for fighting you, they said 

if I were to continue wearing 

that shirt ...

we arrived, during the business 

part of morning and I was 

wearing an AS Roma kit top 

I had found in France 

traveling here from Nice 

I liked its USC Trojan colors 

the maroon and gold 

somehow reminded me of home

but ... I did not know of course 

any of the recent history 

between Roma and Liverpool 

and their fans 

(the 1984 Euro cup final) 

won by Liverpool in Rome 

was marked by horrific violence 

involving rival fans while 

it is alleged, riot police looked on 

but did not assist the visiting fans 

from marauding ultra 

fanatical Roma supporters ...

so as I meandered in and about Abbey Rd. 

a bobby or whatever colloquial term 

I thought Brits used 

for their virtually unarmed police officers 

spotted me and relayed dismay 

with a bit of an edge in his voice 
at my shirt but it was still 
a rather polite manner 

that he held onto 
while he told me 

the story of 1984's final 

and suggested the wounds 

were still fresh here 

for these folks 

who are red 

all the ways 

and through 

and it might be wise 

to start wearing 

a shirt of a different 

color or hue ...

so he went to a gift shop and 

bought me a Beatles shirt

(hard days night) and 

he took no money in return ... 

and he said, as he left, 

" ... there you go Mr. Rinaldi, 

a proper tourist 

to this part of England you be ..."

and I have been a Liverpool fan ever since ...

mind you before this trip I had no idea 

about European football  

just how huge it is 

what football means to Europeans 

let alone the denizens 

of this big port city 

where the Mersey 

on one side red 

and the other side blue 

empties into the sea bleeding-ly

from the northwest of England ...

EJR ©