Italy 1985
May 29th 1985 was one of the most awful days in football history. That night aggression between Juventus and Liverpool fans led to the collapse of part of the stadium and 39 Italians died. Liverpool were banned from European competition for 6 years and all English clubs for 5 years. On the 30th of May coaches containing the Beeches Ambassadors Marching Band arrived in the lakes north of Milan to do a short tour and take part in a competition. As the then partner of the mother of one of the young people in the band I was on the trip and documented it although no one in the band seemed interested in my pictures so they didn’t take much notice when I was shooting.
All the Italians we met were really welcoming and friendly but we had a Carabinieri escort just in case. It was all the more concerning as my partner was from Liverpool… In the end there was no trouble. On the first night we were apparently early and no expected so ended up staying in a Monastery for all the men and boys and a Nunnery for the women and girls.
The band did a lot of marching about in different towns including out to a hotel and restaurant where a wedding was taking place so some of the pictures show the bride and groom with the rather bizarre sight of them being serenaded by a Brummie marching band.