Fulham FC catch up with the Official Italian Cottagers Members' Club and their secretary Luca Rossi. 

 1)     When was the Official group formed?

The Italian Cottagers were officially formed in 2008 but made it as an official members’ club only last year. Our history is actually longer than that, as more than ten years ago a group of Italian supporters started the “Fulham community” in Italy. An internet forum was founded, “our virtual pub”, and we started building from there. Currently we have about 20 members, so we’re still a small group but growing fast. The success of the last few years on the pitch has been greatly appreciated even south of The Channel.

2)  Do you arrange any meetings or group outings to watch Fulham FC?

A few fans gathered to attend the Europa League matches in Rome and in Turin, but since we’re spread throughout the country it’s never easy to meet, so we actually prefer to meet at the Cottage. Once you have a chance to attend a match a Craven Cottage you become a Fulham fan for life. It’s the greatest place on Earth.

3)  What is your favourite part about being an Official Members’ Club?

The idea of being part of a larger community worldwide is something special and by being an official club we’re feeling closer to the football club despite living some 2,000 km away. We feel like we’re part of the family and the people at the club have always been of great support.  We’ve also been thinking about some new ideas for the future, for example we’d love to present the Italian Cottagers Award to our “Player of the Season”, who knows, maybe it’ll happen.

4)  What are your thoughts of Fulham being part of the Europa League again?

Looking forward to it. Not to mention it gave us competitive football in July!

We loved the European campaign of 2009/10 so much that just thinking of being in Europe again is something special. For a club like Fulham, playing all over Europe and even making to the Final was like living a dream and I believe we’ll forever treasure the memories of those European nights. That great season also helped the Italian Cottagers tremendously as we were able to get in touch with some new Italian fans. The games against AS Roma and the great victory against Juventus are still a matter of great pride for us.

5)  Are you going to be arranging any trips to the Cottage this Season?

We try to attend matches at the Cottage as much as possible and I think most members of the club will try to attend at least one game. My wife and I are actually season ticket holders and we have been attending almost 10 matches every season, over the last three years. It’s quite a lot of air travel, but we love every minute of it.

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