How can you explain something like this? I think and I wonder... It is hard to find your words. How can you make someone who hasn't a clue to understand something that for you is so important. Because this article is dedicated to those who don't have a clue. To those quiet spectators, to those journalists, to those parents, to those girlfriends, to the majority. To those people who don't understand us.


I will try to make a short history of this tifo item. As it would be expected, the first scarves appeared in England. Made of thick wool, under the form of simple big stripes, with the colors of the team. Then, with the birth of organized supporters in Italy, scarves and the way they were used (stretched above the head) were also present in Italy. Of course, like it always happens, things evolve. Different way of using the scarf appeared(you know how...). But the most spectacular change was made by their color and their form.. Today we meet very long or very wide scarves, or tiny ones. They are made of a variety of fabrics: wool, polyester, cotton. They use a lot of colors, not to talk about the many badges and symbols. Today they make very specialized scarves: to show your attachment towards the club, towards a player, to express your hate for a club or for a group of rival supporters. Or to commemorate a special day or a hero.


It's obvious that this item so dear to us was affected by mercantilism. The clubs gain a lot of money on some scarves that have nothing to do with anything.. -see recent examples in Germany or Spain with scarves from Adidas, Kappa, etc. More serious is that organized groups of supporters sell their materials too easy. It all started with wanting to be independent from your club. Then everything got out of hand, transforming into an industry. So that things could be more serious, also fakes appeared.. So that, nowadays, the scarf has become something ordinary and sometimes trivial. The respect and veneration from old times was lost.


Now I want to tell you what I personally feel for my scarf. I wanted to make a short introduction but ... anyway, 1 000 words are not enough to explain what I feel in one second, when I put it around my neck. In Romania the ultras movement developed very hard. At the beginning('95, '96) there were no scarves. Dinamo, my club, hadn't made any scarf, there were only some ridiculos rags, we couldn't wear those. I was in a lot of pain, especially because I took contact with SuperTifo and through that magazine with the dream world of Italian ultras and, especially, because Steaua, our rivals had some scarves. Horrible ones, just with one side, written with paint but, still, they existed. I remember how I felt when I went at some incidents at the handball arena (God, what beautiful times!) and I managed to capture one scarf. It was very very long because I had to do some serious pulling to steal it. The scarf was very ugly. But I felt really bad because Steaua's fans had scarves with their club.


I remember how much I envied the older guys from the ultra' block who had foreign scarves:Liverpool, Benfica, Bari, Koln, etc. I thought they were extraordinary but also very expensive. Then...surprise! I managed to buy one. The guy was a friend with a colleague from my high-school. I went to his home and when I saw the scarf I went mad, I paid the guy his money and bought it. I will remember it all my life: my first scarf was with BoSparen Bank. The scarf wasn't with a famous team but it was mine and, in addition, it was original. Nobody else had it. I remember how much Mihnea, an older guy, laughed when he saw it. Despite that, I was very proud of it. Then I remember somebody tried to steal it. I was at a home game, inside the ultra' block and a drunk guy came, I was very lucky with the guys from the Nuova Guardia Group, who gave it back to me.


The age of Borsallino started, a shop specialized in sporting items in Bucharest. It was one of the kind in my city and I think in all the country.. It was kind of a Mecca to us. Later, I bought (again, very expensive) a green scarf with... Werder Bremen. What a crazy boy! I got laughed at again. Then I exchanged it with a scarf of Parma and then with one of AS Roma. A red-white one, very nice. I exchanged them, I never liked to collect them, I have another hobby: ultra'.


Then, the great moment: 1999. A crossing point for me. A year full of symbols. Then, in that winter filled with hope(Dinamo was about to win a new title after a big pause). In that pub in front of the stadium, filled night and day with enthusiastic young men. Then and there a group was born that was called very simple: Boys (a group in which I am still a member).. In one of those ordinary nights. In that pub filled with cigarette smoke and with plans entered Razvan (founding member of Nuova Guardia) and from a black bag he began to take them out. I couldn't believe my eyes: bar scarves! Incredible!


I had dreamt at this for 2 years. I couldn't stand the commercial scarves made by the club, with different writings on them. I was dreaming, I was wanting some scarves that would make the aggressive and ridiculous messages written on the scarves disappear. And it happened, I couldn't believe it. It was the first time in Romania . Obviously, I didn't have money. It was kind of expensive in that pub. I was afraid all the scarves would be sold. There were made only 100, with white and red stripes, 60 on black, 40 on gray. I asked Razvan to keep one for the next day so that I could find some money.. In the end I raised money from the guys in the pub and I bought it.


I managed to have the MOST BEAUTIFUL SCARF IN THE WORLD!!! With no exaggeration, that's what I felt then and what I feel now, after 5 years. I chose the scarf with the background color black, maybe because I also liked Milan... The other guys wanted to buy gray but I liked this one.


Then many many things happened. Like my life, my scarf knew good and bad. That united us. It was very dirty, sweaty, soaked by tears, even by blood once. One time it was filled of tear gases; it was kissed many many times.. I washed it very carefully... I remember how nervous I was when I heard a guy washed it with hot water and the white transformed into pink...


What more can I tell you? That I even had sex with him at the neck, that I take it everywhere, at the mountain or in other places where it is cold. That I prefer it instead of other bigger and warmer scarves. Do you want to know it saved me many times by covering my face at fights? yes, all these things are true. It even sustained my broken arm once in a train.


I go crazy when I hurry to go to the game, the guys are at the door, waiting for me and I can't find my scarf. Where is it? What have I done with it? I forgot it anywhere?I scream to those from my house. When I open the closet I smile. There it was, I calm down: everything will be OK.


What can be more pleasant then coming down in front of your house and seeing your friends,waiting with sun glasses, a smile on their face and a beer? They, like you, have the same scarf. And then you understand: they think and feel the same way you do. You are with your people. You forget about everything! When you get down from the bus and it's a cold but sunny morning. You are a bit confused because of the fatigue and the alcohol. When you are on the empty streets of an unknown city. Those who have the same scarves like you begin to tell jokes, to loosen up at a pizza and a (another) beer. Is there anything else? Does anyone remember that he argued with his girlfriend, does anyone remember the nervous crises of their mother or that their boss sucks??? NO!! You are in your world.


With whom do you cry when your team has been stolen again? What makes you happy after you got beaten? "I still have the scarf....". can anyone understand that? We all know the answer.


But we also know another thing: that no matter what happens our beloved scarf will never betray us. NEVER! And I personally know another thing and tell you with all my heart:

I HAVE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SCARF IN THE WORLD!

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