One of the passions that drives me above all else is my love of sports (you may have noticed from the title of this blog). Despite being Canadian and loving my Toronto sports teams there is a special place in my heart for my favourite team Serie A's Juventus. I have been a fan since a I was a young lad and have followed the team in large part because it's my father's team.
I have gone great lengths to see them, literally. Back in May on a long, grueling trip to visit my relatives in Italy I made an initial stop in Turin to watch the Derby Della Mole against city rivals Torino. It was an incredible experience that will be described in a future post. On this side of the Atlantic Juventus were preparing for their North American tour when I decided to join my friend Rocco on a road trip to Boston.
Rocco and I are members of the Toronto Juventus Club DOC, one of two officially recognized supporter clubs in North America. With the membership we receive perks such as access to face value tickets for all Juventus games as well as merchandise discounts. The most important perk is the access to exclusive events run by the club. One of these occurred on Saturday July 29th. Rocco and I had already purchased our tickets for the game at Gillette Stadium against Roma but we were invited to a special closed practice for Juventus club members. In addition to this there was a slight possibility for a shot at a rumoured meet and greet with the players.
When we got there we chatted up Juventus's staff in Italian making small talk and discussing the practice and team. We discovered that our names weren't on the list for the meet and greet because it was exclusive to the Jeep Group (Juve's main sponsor). They told us to reach out to them at the end of the practice to see if there was a couple of open spots. Juventus's media and PR team were superb by the way, professional but very approachable. Sure enough there was enough room for the two of us. Our group lined up as the players made their way to the dressing room and signed autographs and took pictures.
Admittedly I couldn't get everyone's autographs. Some players by passed us because of the rush of people, others just weren't in the mood for autographs. Luckily for me I was able to get autographs of the two players I admired the most, Giorgio Chiellini who's jersey I brought and the legendary Gigi Buffon. After this event I now have much more respect for these two men than before. I was star struck as Gigi came walking down from the field. The tall but gentle figure signed everyone's stuff and took a picture with every single person including myself. In Italian I told him he could sign on the side where I had my phone underneath. He then replied that it wasn't necessary to have my phone underneath and that it was easier for him to sign while stretching the shirt. I asked him for a selfie and he obliged immediately. I was speechless. One of the greatest players to ever step foot on the pitch took a picture with me. I was side by side with a legend.
Chiellini was another class act. He also signed everything for everyone and took pictures with the whole group and every time he had a beaming smile. Since my jersey was the black 2012/13 shirt I brought a silver metallic marker. But Giorgio the gentleman that he was took a black marker and told me he would sign it in black on the number 3 (his number). I then thanked him and told him that I really appreciated all his work with the Insuperabili, a charity that helps physically disabled children play sports. Chiellini is very involved with them.
I received other signatures notably from future superstars Daniele Rugani, Federico Bernardeschi and Paulo Dybala, as a well as Alex Sandro, Juan Cuadrado among others. As a Juve fan I was in 7th heaven. That morning will forever be etched in my memory. Even as I type this the hairs on the back of my neck are still standing. Fino alla fine FORZA JUVE!
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