Rokeby Football Tour to Milan
An enthusiastic, excited group met at school early on the morning of Thursday 29th August – and that was just the staff! The boys were more than ready to mix it with one of the superpowers of European football – Inter Milan. Three training sessions with the academy coaches, a visit to the San Siro, and, most memorably, an opportunity to watch Inter Milan (current Italian champions) play at home against Atalanta (last year’s winners of the UEFA Europa League) with 75,000 other people ensured that most boys were die-hard IM fans by the tour’s end. The tour started with a bang with an evening training session after check-in and supper at the Meininger Hotel.
On Friday morning, after a full, challenging session with Inter Milan Academy coaches on a set of grass pitches, the boys were more than ready for some downtime. They loved exploring every ride and themed pool at Acquaworld! Seated at the very top of the San Siro Stadium, we all enjoyed incredible views of the Milanese outskirts and (eventually), the pitch and match itself. Inter Milan put on a fabulous performance for Rokeby, winning 4-0 with two goals in each half. The noise that greeted each success was quite something to behold!
On Saturday morning. the whole squad explored central Milan’s many cultural and culinary delights. Gianlorenzo, our excellent Inspiresport tour guide, gave everyone a great insight into the city’s history. After lunch at a nearby pizzeria, we watched a superbly talented Inter Milan Under 19 side defeat Cremonese. The boys then played four fixtures. ASD Lombardina were truly outstanding opponents, with many of their players belonging to the Inter Milan Academy. Rokeby boys and staff learned an enormous amount from the matches.
We completed our third and final training session by returning to the Konami Youth Development Centre early on Sunday morning. The six coaches who worked with the Rokeby players were full of compliments about how hard each boy had worked and how much progress they had made. Even more encouragingly, they all commented on how polite and engaging the boys were. We returned to the San Siro for a tour of the world-famous stadium. The ground is shared with (AC) Milan and each club has its own “home” changing room. Inevitably, our tour concluded with a trip to the Inter/AC Milan store. Most boys chose the blue and black of Inter rather than the red and black of Milan! Well done boys – a great start to the football season.
