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Bologna
v Hearts UEFA Cup
November 1990
Score 0 - 3 (Agg 3 - 4)
Bologna was my first European trip, so I was really excited about it before I went.
We went by bus for this one, me, my boyfriend at the time (Craig) and my pal Gary. We met at St Andrew's Square about 3 in the morning, Gary was pissed having just left the pub. As it was my first trip and I was dead naive (I was only 20), I'd stayed in the night before and had a wee sleep.
Anyway we got on the bus and I had prime seats just outside the chemical toilet (disgusting smell). We were all very well behaved till we got out of Edinburgh then all the beer was pulled out by the boys at the back. It was only about 6 in the morning so we decided we'd wait a bit ......
Later in the day, once we were in England someone asked me if I wanted a drink of what I thought was juice but turned out to be an extra strong vodka and coke so I thought what the hell and decided to get stuck into the drink, only problem being I hadnae taken any on the bus ..... but there was plenty to be had and it wasn't long before we were all good pals, telling stories and talking crap.
We had quite a long wait at Dover until we actually got on the ferry so al ot of the boys got off and had a game of football in amongst all the waiting cars and buses - that went down well.
Once we were on the ferry we all made a mad dash for the duty free and bought hundreds ofd cases of beer, then went to the bar and sat and got steaming. we were all buying drinks for this old German guy and taking photos of him wearing a Hearts scarf etc., and he was very pissed so it was quite distressing when he got off the ferry and dived straight into a big lorry and started driving it !
We travelled all through the night, some folk crashed out after our big bus party and some of us stayed up all night talking (talking rubbish that is as we were all plastered). Every service station we stopped at the boys would play football or sometimes they would just play at trying to hit me with the ball, and of course they were chatting up every bird in site whether they were nice or not - not that any lassies would be impressed with our lot - 'Eh, aw right darlin', fancy comin' tae a Herts game ....' and the like. At one stop in a french cafe, we were trying to find out the time difference so I bravely went up to the counter and said to the woman 'Kell oor et tiel' and she replied '12 o' clock darling' in better english than me !! Oh well.
Anyway, that bus journey took a day and a half but it was excellent, we had such a laugh and were continually drunk, we were all great pals by the time we got to Rimmini, which is where we were staying. When we got to our hotel, we all got showered and changed, met in the bar then straight out. We found a nearby hotel where another bus load of Jambos were staying so we went in there and got a bottle of wine each (about 45p or something) then had a sing song and stuff, but we left there when the other bus load started singing anti-Catholic songs and then one of our guys was arguing with him and a big rumpus started. I saw an amazing sight when a tv got pushed over and simply bounced back up again, I thought for sure it was going to smash.
After that we done what you'd expect us to do in Italy - went for a chinese meal. That was a great laugh, the usual getting photos of the chinese folk with Hearts scarfs on etc. Gary slept through the whole meal so we woke him up at the end and demanded a few thousand lira of him for his share !! I think after that we just went back to the hotel and drunk until they had enough of us. We'd redecorated the place with flags and scarfs but luckily enough our lot were the only people on the bus.
The next day we all woke up early and went to breakfast and had a laugh about the night before, then some folk were starting to have a roll fight so a lot of us went a big walk after having a few at the bar. Gary went up the bar and asked for a pint of lager and a pint of red wine, so there I was at nine in the morning with a pint of red wine (again, about 40 p or something). We were on the beach in the rain and stuff, then we stopped for a bit pizza out this wee shop and all the guys were chatting up the wee school girls, the boys were getting desperate now !
In the afternoon we went to San Marino, what a laugh. we basically wandered about from off license to off licence buying cheap bottles of wine. One wee shop was giving you tastes of all the different flavoured vodkas so every was coming out of there half cut. Gary done a pee against a wall outside this shop and the woman came out and poured a basin of water over him, then he went into a trendy clothes shop with his carrier bag of bottles and a plastic cup full of wine and tried to chat up the glamorous assistants. I was wetting myself laughing. He'd already been nicknamed Rab C by everyone else on the bus and coming from all they piss heads ..... well, tells you something about the man.
Anyway, we had an excellent time in San Marino and I'm sure that day trip prompted a lot of the boys to go back when Scotland played there a few years later.
When we got back to the hotel it was another few drinks before we went out again to this english pub someone had found called the Rose and Crown. It was full of Jambos so it was all singing and dancing and a brilliant time until, again, there started some arguments and fighting cos a group were singing the sash and all that rubbish. we left and got someone in a nearby posh hotel to phone us taxis. One of the boys had left ages before us but arrived at the hotel much later than us so we had to listen to his tales of the 'professional' woman he'd bumped into on the beach and what she was willing to do to him for a fiver. A few of the other guys left shortly afterwards..... There was an old woman with us who'd come along for the shopping, and we had to sit and listen to her singing al the old songs (we were all to scared of her to make a sound while she was singing). We were sort of doing a cabaret thing and at one point there people were riding bikes round the bar (??) and all sorts of strange things. It was an excellent night and I've never laughed so much.
So eventually I crashed out in bed, after having to endure the toothpaste that someone had stuck on everyone's door knobs and light switches, ho ho ho.
The next day was the day of the game, so after everyone had applied their face paints and stuff, we had a few drinks in the bar but not to much as we were expecting more in the pubs in Bologna but we weren't allowed near the town. We were stopped for ages outside the town with a police escort, and we were all hung over and starving. eventually we were put in with all the other Hearts fans in a sort of pen area just outside the ground, none of us had our tickets yet then a guy came along and was basically just handing them out to anyone, why bother paying ???
The ground was huge and we had a tiny section all to ourselves but it looked liked there were quite a lot of Hearts fans, everyone I met had their own wee stories of what they'd been up to so far and it was a good laugh. The only things they had to eat were these hot dog buns filled with some disgusting ham stuff, yuk.
Anyway, the game, well we got hammered and knocked out of the cup, I'd been very optimistic as we had a 3-1 lead, but I guess that goal they got at Tynecastle killed us off. I was really disappointed, a lot of people shrugged it off and went back to their party but I was quite subdued. We had a police escort out of Bologna so we just went back to our hotel, we went for another Chinese meal (oh what a waste) then back to the hotel bar. We still managed to have a good night but it was awfie quiet compared to the mayhem of the nights before.
Then the next day we were off home. The bus journey home was still a good laugh but not as mental as it was going there, we were starting to burn out. I felt I had the flu so I was being quite stroppy so everyone told me to go to sleep - which I did. By the time we got to the ferry I felt better so we had a good laugh home.
That was an amazing trip, and despite the disappointment of getting beat, it gave me a taste for going to Europe with Hearts so I knew I'd go back.
