Are half-and-half scarves acceptable at football?
YES
JAMES ANDREWEDITOR
@JamesAndrew_
In March 2010, a friend and I were walking along Corso Vittorio Emanuele II in Turin ahead of Fulham’s Europa League last 16 first leg against Serie A heavyweights Juventus, en route to meet other supporters in a bar.
As we strolled down the busy road, a bloke in a black car spotted us, started beeping his horn and shouted things in Italian. We opted to keep our heads low, not engage and walk on, but the driver continued to bellow at us before eventually swerving across the road and pulling his car up onto the pavement. He jumped out and said, “You English?” At this stage there was little point trying to pretend otherwise, so we sheepishly nodded our heads. “Wait there,” he said as he went round to the back of his car, opened the boot and whipped out a large duffle bag.
He brought the bag to the front of the car, plonked it on the bonnet and opened it. To our great relief and surprise, he brandished a Juventus/Fulham half-and-half scarf, gestured towards the pair of us and asked, “You want to buy?”
Now that my heart had stopped racing, I was more than happy to part with €10 for a half-and-half scarf. Once we’d both bought one, we told him the pub we were heading to and that there would be plenty more Fulham fans there for him to flog the contents of his duffle bag to.
But the point is that Fulham were facing the mighty Juventus – all these years later and that still blows my mind. Fifteen years prior to that showdown, Fulham were knocking around the Third Division, losing to Scarborough, Doncaster and Leyton Orient. So, I make absolutely no apologies for the fact that I revelled in every second of the Cottagers’ European odyssey by hoarding half-and-half scarves, pin badges, programmes and anything else being touted to mark this significant achievement in Fulham’s history.
And so whenever football fans are dismissive of half-and-half scarves, sneer at them and claim they’re solely for ‘football tourists’, I don’t buy into that.
Oh, and if you’re wondering what I did with them? Well, they’re now sewn together and draped across a big chair in my flat.
NO
MATT KETCHELLDEPUTY EDITOR
@Ketchell
In 2024, you could argue, anything encouraging harmony should be supported. However, we need to draw the line at half-and-half sc
