VENEZIA FC and AC MILAN Fans Engage in Naval Warfare

The Wonton Don1/12/2022 4:10 PM

(DAILY MAIL) AC Milan and Venezia ultras became embroiled in a bizarre battle at sea on Sunday as the two sets of supporters shot fireworks at each other's boats ahead of their side's Serie A clash.

This is AWESOME. Normally soccer hooliganism is a little too much for me, especially at matches like the Belgrade Derby where people have gotten straight up murdered in the name of sports.

I don't think you should ever have to resort to violence just to demonstrate your fandom. But soccer hooliganism on boats?? Sign me up! I'm a huge nautical guy and even dabble in the piracy game from time to time.

A little backstory on how this naval battle came to be: Venice is an island, and its football stadium is at the tip of it.

As a result, fans coming to the match who don't live in Venice, normally take a ferry from the mainland to the stadium. There's even a moat around it that's attached to the ocean so the biggest ballers can charter a boat to drop them off directly at the front gate.

I've been to one match there and had a helluva time.

Anyways I see no problem with two ferries of opposing fans shooting fireworks at each other on the way to the match. Seems like good clean fun with only a small chance of one of the boats going up in flames and everyone on board having to choose between being burnt alive or drowning. In any case neither group of fans managed to hit their target but at least they tried.

My dream video would be to stage a naval battle between two groups of Barstool employees. I was thinking the Rediscovering America crew (on a boat sponsored by Labatt) Vs Barstool Chicago (on a boat sponsored by Miller Lite). THE BATTLE OF LAKE MICHIGAN. Seeing that will never happen though here are some other interesting facts about Venzia FC.

They have three Americans on their team this year. Tanner Tessman, Jack de Vries, and Gianluca Busio (who is one of the team's best midfielders). It's rarity for Americans to play Serie A football in Italy so if you're a patriotic American looking for a European soccer club to root for, Venezia FC is the team for you! (Disclaimer: They're currently ranked 17th in a 20 team league but might as well buy their stock while the price is low!). Tessman said he'd be down for me to interview him about what it's like being an American playing professional soccer in Europe so be on the look out for that.
Believe it or not Chief's uncle used to OWN THE TEAM. Yes Barstool Chicago's very own Chief has an uncle who used to casually own Venice's soccer team. The only thing crazier than that is the fact while his uncle owned the team, Chief NEVER made it out to Venice for a game. I find that preposterous but I'll try not to go too hard on him as his family is his business. All I know is that if I had as much as a second Cousin who owned a minor league cricket team in Bangladesh, I'd be at a couple matches every season. But hey, I'm a travel guy.
I have received countless DMs from fans asking me to send them a Venezia FC jersey as it seems to be widely accepted fact they have the freshest kits in all of European football. What do you guys think?