Football Adventures with James Rendall
My football adventures all over the world
Bisceglie is maybe not the first port of call if you are travelling in the Puglian coastal area between Bari and Foggia. As you edge south from the latter, there are four cities all in close proximity. Each one has more than just football to offer: Barletta-Trani-Bisceglie-Molfetta is the quartet, all fishing ports, some bigger … Continue reading The Old Star of the South
From Tynecastle to AZ Picerno's compact Stadio Donato Curio, it's my journey from my first cancha to number four hundred. I was doubtlessly lifted over the turnstiles as a wee lad, certainly for that first match in October 1982 for a match-up between Hearts and Arbroath. I have no idea when getting 'lifted over' stopped … Continue reading IL QUATTROCENTO
The manufacturers of the game Monopoly have missed a trick. They don’t have a Monopoli version! Given the uptick in tourism in Puglia and the increasing number of visitors to this fabulous town, it would make for a source of revenue, as well as a point of humour when buying the game or playing it … Continue reading 1,2,3 No.5- Monopoli
Regular readers will know I love Italy. I am not so inured in its ways to defend its every nuance, far from it, but if someone asked me what's your favourite country, the answer writes itself. The contrast from Northern European ways makes for a pleasant change in Italy, but it requires a mindset change … Continue reading Lower Puglia
Basilicata is one of the last four regions of Italy (20 in total) where I hadn’t watched a game. Indeed, prior to this trip, I hadn’t even set foot in any of the four missing places, let alone seen a game. Yet, like buses, you wait 38 years, and two games come along together to … Continue reading Basilicata, baby!
The poet and comedian John Hegley probably wouldn’t expect to get a name check in a story about Italian football, but because of him, Luton and Crotone are inexplicably and forever linked in my addled mind! He always said he tried so hard to get Luton into a poem, and while it’s largely a verbal … Continue reading Pythagoras Country
Back late ‘80’s I was already intrigued and sold on the Italian game. In the same summer that I saw my first game in Italy in June 1987, the southern city of Barletta was in a fiesta mood, too. Furie Rosse, red fury as the SSD Barletta are known, due to their red and white … Continue reading Jousting in Barletta
In the southern reaches of coastal Marche and the vast seaside plains of Abruzzo, which is the next region down, football is on the up. In the vanguard, and leading the way are Pescara, who successfully negotiated many a round in the Serie C play-offs last term to step up to Serie B. Indeed, only … Continue reading Border Lands- A Samb Tale
Bank Holiday Monday, that curious old chestnut that used to be the first Monday of August in Scotland, but was moved in line with the rest of the UK. My colleagues who had kids used to moan, as essentially all schools are back by the time this day off comes around. A day without your … Continue reading 1,2,3 No.4 – Darlington
Something was rumbling over the summer in the Highland Capital of Scotland. By the time league football returned, the name Thistle was attached to two Inverness club names. In the run-up to the 1994/95 bid to join the Scottish League, an acrimonious merger was happening between Caledonian FC and Inverness Thistle. It was the right … Continue reading A Tale of Two Thistles
Football Adventures with James Rendall 
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