Club Atletico Belgranp - Los Piratas Celestes de Alberdi (The Sky Blue Pirates of Alberdi)
Argentinian organised fan groups are known as 'Barra Bravas', recognised for the colourful, passionate and at times violent way they follow their teams. The most outrageous name of these comes from Cordoba’s First Division outfit CA Belgrano. The mouth-watering Sky Blue Pirates of Alberdi (which is their home ground) sounds more like a Psychedelic Hippy-rock band than a flag waving, confetti throwing bunch of fanatical football supporters, but take a look at those banners. Glorious.
AC Milan - Gruppo Barbour
Italy’s hardcore Ultras demand the same passion from those players deemed good enough to don the jersey of their beloved club that they display in the stands. Milan has been home to scores of such crews, with one of the nastiest being the 'Gruppo Barbour', coined because of their love of designer British waxed jackets. They gained infamy on a worldwide scale when in 1995 one of their number stabbed to death a young Genoa fan, Claudio Vincenzo Spagnolo, before a game at the Luigi Ferraris Stadium, forcing the fixture to be later abandoned and sending the Italian game into mourning.
FC Brno - Johnny Kentus Gang
Hibs have had Blakely’s Baby Crew named after a former manager, Sampdoria have the Ultras Tito so called after an ex player. But "Who the fuck is Johnny Kentus?" I hear you ask. Well unfortunately, not many people really know. Members of the moderately sized Czech clubs right-wing leaning group prefer not to reveal who Kentus himself actually was or is, adding further to the mystique surrounding it. He may not even exist.
Delfin Sporting Club - Los fans del Perro Muerto (Fans of the Dead Dog)
Delfin SC, from the city of Mantra, currently play in the Ecuadorian Second Tier, and are not one of Ecuador's biggest clubs. However, a section of their support has enraged both the local authorities and PETA on account of their strange and frankly quite disgusting practice of bringing sacrificed canines to matches. The South American country often mix Catholicism along with older native beliefs; they even celebrate the annual ‘Day of the Dead’, where many remember ancestors by creating altars in their homes while hanging skeletons and trinkets to mourn lost loved ones. This is all well and good but I hope the dog-murdering bastards get battered by every team they face.
Zenit St Petersburg - Music Hall
Some names are bad, some are sad, and some are so plain odd they are actually quite good. The Music Hall crew was formed in 2004 where a number of impressionable St Petersburg youth gathered in a car park next to the one the City’s classical music venues. They are less followers of Tchaikovsky, Brahms and the rest than they are fans of meeting with other head cases in secluded areas and pummelling several shades out of one another, while filming it and then flogging the brawl on DVD.
Juventus - Drughi Bianconeri
The Drughi Bianconeri (Black and White Droogs) took their inspiration from Stanley Kubrick’s banned cult classic film and were originally called Arrnancia Mechnica (Clockwork Orange) before modifying their title to a direct homage to Beethoven loving Alex and his juvenile delinquent cohorts named Droogs.
Genoa CFC - Vecchi Orsi Ramblers Crew
The Vecchi Orsi or ‘Old Bears Ramblers Crew’ is a fan group from Serie A’s Genoa Cricket and Football Club (although they don’t play much cricket these days). With a name like the Ramblers Crew, it conjures up images of pensioners walking across the countryside rocking a Berghaus jacket with a backpack full of sandwiches; they don’t exactly strike fear into the heart of rival fans. The Vecchi Orsi Ramblers are known to be a left wing leaning group, which is interesting in a world where football ultras are often politically placed on the extreme right wing of the spectrum.
Maccabi Haifa - Green Apes
Israel is not really known for their fan culture, with Ultra groups only existing at a handful of the larger clubs. Rivalries between fans can still be bitter and passionate though. Some groups take inspiration from derogatory terms that their rivals coin for them and wear it as a badge of pride: think the Ajax Jewish connection, or the "1-0 to the sheepshaggers" chants from Welsh supporters against their English counterparts. The Green Apes of Haifa took their moniker from their staunch enemies Maccabi Tel Aviv who abused their counterparts with the accusation that they copy or ape Tel Aviv chants.
Fortuna Dusseldorf - Chevignon Fighters
Say what you want about the Germans; they aren’t exactly known for their great fashion sense. At one time, Teutonic fans were more about the Rudi Voller style with blonde perms or mullets coupled with sleeveless denim jackets, looking like they’re on their way to a Status Quo gig. A set of Dusseldorf hooligans did buck the trend though, and paid homage to the exclusive French brand Chevignon, known for their down and leather Jackets which were popular in back in the Panninaro phase of the late 80s and 90s.
FC Delta Tulcea - Smoked Brains
Delta Tulcea, of the Romanian 3rd tier, are not a name on anybody’s lips when it comes to the greats of European football. They have had a brief and at times troubled existence that makes Leeds United look like a stable well run business. Founded in 2005, they dissolved in 2013 and re-emerged later that same year. It is surprising they have any hard-core support at all, but they do and boast a small group with a pretty good name. ‘Smoked Brains’ is a slant against Communism, lifted from a Bolshevik poster against the dangers of smoking which stated that ‘Brains cannot smoke Nicotine’.
More...
Tottenham Hotspur: On The March With The Cockerel Ultras
Champions League Away Days: Ultras & Police Escorts At Napoli vs. Arsenal