Newcastle, PSG, Real Madrid… full kits and a London park

On the way through Russell Square, Kieran Duff, who is still groping because he has forgotten his football socks for the big game, says, “There are lots of people in London, but it can feel like a lonely place. Hopefully someone will have spare pairs.

A warm-up group of Newcastle-supporting team-mates donne black and white jerseys in the changing rooms as they reflect on their early-season defeats against Juventus and Inter Milan. No one brought extra socks.

It’s silly to say, but playing with different colors and kits feels different, according to captain of the Newcastle Supporters’ Club.

Your mind says, “I’m playing for Newcastle here,” in your opinion. You become more connected to the team than I have any other football team I have played for.

Old-fashioned claret and blue lads start stepping out next door and getting warm up. At Coram’s Field in central London, the final embers of the fall are clinging on as a groundsman tries to remove leaves from the pitch, but it’s a pleasantly mild Sunday lunchtime in November when Newcastle take on their Aston Villa counterparts.

On any given weekend, you can find Paris St-Germain, Real Madrid, Lyon, Roma, Monza, or Panathinaikos in this action-packed afternoon of London Supporters’ League action, which also includes AC Milan, Fiorentina, Genoa, and Lazio. All in club uniform, complete with all club attire.

Ludo Romagnoli, who was born in Modena before moving to Brazil and then attending London for school, exclaims, “We won the league last year, and we finally managed to win it after eight years. “It’s so exciting to represent our club.”

Real Madrid, London’s Pedro Aguilar says, “People who feel the badge, the colors, and have that passion for the club they are representing are more enjoyable to face.”

You learn why they support the team, why they love it, because everyone has a story behind them.

In fact, one man’s motivation for it all started with a desire to watch his football team.

Before leaving Rome in 1998, Massimiliano Ciccone held a Lazio season-ticket. He laughs after two years when Lazio won the league for the first time in almost 30 years.

However, when he arrived in London in 2013, it was difficult to locate a place to watch Lazio games; once he found one, more and more fans joined him.

There were many people with a reality like ours who, he says, followed their team closely in their own country, some ultras, going home and away, or being passionate about it.

Then they move abroad, sort of losing their relationship with their team, and instead attempt to recreate it by collaborating with other teammates who support the same team.

When Ciccone’s group, the Lazio Casuals in London, became friendly with supporters from an AS Roma UK club, they suggested playing a derby match.

The London Supporters’ League was born as rumors began to spread. The eight-a-side competition, which is now in its ninth year, has grown to 14 teams. Ciccone has requests from other fan groups, but pitch availability limits it. It would love to grow.

The league also made the decision to forbid London teams, citing the desire to give fans who weren’t originally from the city a chance to meet and enjoy their favorite team.

They check whether new clubs are legitimate supporters, and Ciccone makes sure not to schedule games with their “real” clubs in action.

They hold end-of-season awards ceremonies and collect stats from each game, including the best goalkeeper, best goalkeeper, and man of the match.

You need to make everyone happy, Gianni Infantino, I feel like a little version of [Fifa president] Infantino! He chuckles.

Because the players were all new and the policy was “you support this team, I support my team,” I’ve learned over the years that it is kind of a social experiment.

The real success has come from the league’s ability for players to interact with fans and feel at home. According to Newcastle captain King, it was a “common passion.”

After the Covid pandemic, he was just looking to relearn his game and discovered the London Mags, or Newcastle United Supporters’ Club in their native language.

The fan group as a whole has 500 members and has been active for 60 years. In the supporters’ pool league, Plymouth and Exeter compete against Real Madrid or PSG, but they also play darts, golf, and pool.

They also hold Christmas dinners, Christmas parties, and other events. Some spend time together on off-days, attend each other’s weddings, and make lifelong friends.

It made it easier for me to understand who I am, says King. When you travel to London, especially if you don’t have a pre-existing group, it can be quite lonely.

As Milan captain Romagnoli puts it, “When I moved here and found out about the club, it changed my life, because I had people from all over the world who had the same passion,” which is perhaps only heightened when I relocate from abroad.

Real Madrid’s team, on the other hand, has a truly global feel.

Our goalkeeper is an Albanian, according to Aguilar, who was raised in Venezuela and plays for the Los Blancos. “We have players from South Africa, India, Colombia, Ecuador, Romania, one guy from the UK, Spain obviously, and we have one guy from Albania,” he says.

It’s amazing how we can share a passion for Real Madrid. We celebrate birthdays together and hold barbecues; that’s the whole purpose of our beginning.

In a close game between the only English rivals in the league, Villa defeats Newcastle 2-1.

Lloyd Perry, a Villa supporter, traveled more than an hour across London to watch his teammates and said, “We had a good side out.” Everyone vowed to confront the Geordies!

Both players head to The Dolphin Pub, a regular fixture for the London Mags, after a pitchside post-game debrief.

King of the friendship between teams says, “It’s nice there are a group of lads in a similar position to you.” There is a genuine camaraderie between us, he says.

Before the women’s Tyne-Wear derby premieres on the big screen, a huddle of players gather around the pub to examine where the tactical battles were won and lost.