Tuesday 12 May 2020 07:58, UK
At a time when football grounds have closed their doors, we've asked Martin Tyler to share some of his favourite facts and memories of the homes of clubs around the world.
This week, Sky Sports' Voice of Football is looking at some grounds across Europe. Today, he takes us on a trip to Rome's Stadio Olimpico.
Keep an eye on The Football Show on Sky Sports News and @SkySportsPL for some special Tyler's Teasers from Martin.
When in Rome, try not to do what many Romans do and get stuck in traffic - a problem in most capital cities. I have never been fortunate to stay in a hotel within walking distance of the Olympic Stadium, so planning local transport is a priority.
The athletics track predicament is there in Rome, but the sight lines are ok and the crowd's passion is able to generate the kind of atmosphere which can sometimes be lost in these bigger grounds.
Emirates Stadium | Villa Park | Vitality Stadium | Amex Stadium | Turf Moor | Stamford Bridge | Selhurst Park | Goodison Park | King Power Stadium | Anfield | Etihad Stadium | Old Trafford | St James' Park | Carrow Road | Bramall Lane | St Mary's | Tottenham Hotspur Stadium | Vicarage Road | London Stadium | Molineux
It is another of the rare grounds which has had the honour of staging both the Olympic Games (1960) and the World Cup final (1990).
In 1990, I had the most eventful journey of my career to cover a game of football.
After leaving ITV for the path which eventually led to Sky Sports, I had been asked by SBS Australia to commentate on the 1990 World Cup. It was a very ambitious and happily successful enterprise by one of the smaller networks Down Under. All 52 games were screened in their entirety which I think was a first for that part of the world.
The spread of the venues meant that not all the commentaries were done from a stadium. Some were broadcasts from a sound booth, "off-tubing" as it is known in the business, in the International Broadcast Centre in Rome. That meant that it was possible in the busy group stages to cover two games in the same day.
This continued into the round of 16 and on June 25, 1990, I was assigned to "off-tube" Republic of Ireland against Romania, a 5pm kick-off, and then to jump into a cab to go to the Stadio Olimpico for Italy against Uruguay which started at 9pm.
It was very doable, until Jack Charlton's Ireland team were taken to extra time by the Romanians, and then to a penalty shoot-out, which went to 10 kicks before the Irish won. I had lost track of time, but my bosses hadn't.
When I emerged from the sound booth I was told that because of the heavy traffic a taxi was now out of the question. Francesco, one of the youngsters helping SBS out during the tournament, owned a motorbike and instead I was to go on the back of that.
With less than 75 minutes to kick-off I donned my crash helmet and off we roared, but halfway to the stadium the roar ceased. We had run out of petrol. I was stranded. Francesco though was not to be thwarted. He stepped out into the road, a busy three-lane carriageway, and flagged down the first two-wheeled vehicle he could see.
Get this guy to the Olimpico was the gist of the conversation. Now riding pillion on a scooter behind a complete stranger I eventually completed the journey.
That was not the end of the drama. Forty minutes now before kick-off I approached the media entrance still carrying the crash helmet, only to be told by the security guards that I could not take it in. In those hooligan-ridden times it was seen as an "offensive weapon".
Only when I shouted "take it then, you can have it then" did they relent and let the helmet and me pass through. I actually made it to the gantry just before the teams lined up in the tunnel and just about had enough breath to find the words for Italy's 2-0 win.
Quite a day!
It is the centrepiece of a big sporting complex and with the backdrop of one of Rome's famous hills it fits in perfectly with the great history of the capital of Italy.
