He’s been to 1 995 grounds in 36 countries and his obsession cost him a girlfriend. Tony Incenzo is Britain's ultimate football fan.
London - The year is 1993 and the place is an old hotel in Albania. Tony Incenzo is the broadcaster who is surely among the most well-travelled football fans in Britain and that building hosted his strangest experience on the road to date.
‘I was covering the Republic of Ireland against Albania for Capital Radio,’ he said. ‘It was like going back in time 400 years. I checked into my hotel room and there was a 12-inch black furry rat running around.
‘The hotel wouldn’t do anything about it so I called the police who got rid of it. They turned up in full gear and were rehearsing karate kicks in the corridor.
‘They chased the rat into a huge hole in the skirting board and then smashed the wardrobe to get some wood to plug the gap. It was all quite dramatic.
‘Anyway, for some reason the three policemen took a shine to me and one asked if he could spend the night with me so I could say thank you to him. The other two wanted to watch. I told them to get out.’
It is one football tale among many. Incenzo, 52, is what is termed as a ground-hopper, a title that takes in his business and his pleasure.
He’s been inside a prison, broken a world record and lost a girlfriend in the course of more than 4,500 matches across 1,995 grounds in 36 countries. The concept is that no ground is too small; no team too obscure. His summer has already taken in 22 fixtures and the new season will take him past new milestones.
‘I’ve currently been to every ground in the top 16 divisions of English football, with the exception of FC United of Manchester’s new stadium,’ he said.
‘I was going to go to its opening match this summer, but it was the day before my wedding so I decided against it as the timings were cutting it fine.
‘I’ll certainly make it there early in the season - it might be my 2 000th ground. That would be nice.
‘I have had some obscure ones. One was at Feltham Prison. It was about three years ago, not long after the riots in London, and the prison had a few of the rioters playing in a midweek league against a few airport sides.
‘The young offenders had a team called Phoenix FC - I thought it would be good to see a game there so I went through this process of getting special permission. It took about an hour to get in to the pitch. You had to go through this whole process, taken in, a door would close behind you before the one in front opened. There were metal detectors, body searches and the rest of it.
‘I was the only spectator at the game. It was actually quite funny because the young offenders behaved perfectly, while the away team were giving the ref some dissent. The ref wanted to send someone off but couldn’t because that would mean the player would have to leave the vicinity of the pitch - that was hard considering the pitch was surrounded by a high fence and barbed wire.’
He added: ‘One of my favourite trips was a game at Hexton FC in Hertfordshire, who played in the North Home Counties Sunday League third division. They had the smallest purpose-built grandstand in the world. One of their players had died so they built it as a memorial - it holds three people and has a little plaque inside.’
It is, he tells people, purely about ‘the love of football, any football’.
Needless to say, it is not always an accommodating hobby. ‘People might not understand or think it is a little obsessive, but it’s just me. I have four spare bedrooms full of memorabilia and scrap books.
‘I take notes from every game I go to and get an official from each ground to sign it. In 2004, I was actually part of a ground-hopping trip that set a Guinness World Record by going to five games at five grounds in a day.
‘It was based around the Central Midlands League and I and about 250 other ground-hoppers started at 11am at Greenwood Meadows FC. From there, there was a game at 1pm at Pelican FC, 3pm at Dunkirk FC, 5.30pm at Sandiacre Town FC and 8pm at Graham Street Prims FC.
‘I think it was after the second game, I had a huge row with my girlfriend. I had told her I would be going to a few games but after the second she was getting quite agitated. I told her I had to stay to complete the world record and she stormed off. I’ve not seen her since.
‘There are ground-hoppers all around the world and everyone has different rules. There are some German ground-hoppers who watch 45 minutes and go to the next game. That is a different hobby from my hobby - you have to watch the whole game or what is the point?
‘You go on an organised ground-hop trip and it can be anything from 200 to 400 people. It’s a nice community and full of quirks.
‘There is one guy who has to walk around the four sides inside the ground and outside as well and there is another who would insist on touching the match ball. There were a few times when he would get desperate and run on the pitch at half time or full time and hassle the referee to touch the ball.
‘There was a game in Cornwall when the ball got kicked out of the ground on to a main road and he jumped into the road, between all these lorries and cars, to get to the ball.’
For Incenzo, the demands are balanced against work for talkSPORT and Sky Sports and his obsession with QPR.
‘I started watching the QPR of Stan Bowles et al as a 10-year-old in 1973 and have been to 1,069 consecutive Loftus Road games, including every league, cup, friendly and testimonial game since,’ he said. ‘If you had offered me £1million to miss Sunday’s friendly against Atalanta I would have said no.’ It probably isn’t an exaggeration.
Five best games:
Isle of Wight 20 Sark 0
Sark only have a population of 600 and their goalkeeper was about 15. He made a string of maybe 50 outstanding saves to prevent a world-record score.
Liverpool 1 Leicester 2
This was the day I completed visits to all 92 League grounds. Liverpool were invincible at Anfield back then, but this pulsating game ended their 85-match unbeaten home run.
Inland Revenue 6 DHSS Newcastle 4
A rip-roaring Civil Service Cup final in Chiswick. The rickety old wooden stand, which has since been demolished, shook every time someone stood up.
Hexton 4 Bushmead 1
I was sat in the smallest purpose-built grandstand in world football.
QPR 1 Derby County 0
This Championship play-off final was the best day of my life as a fan. A lifetime ambition achieved to see the R’s win at Wembley.
Five oddest games:
Albania v Rep of Ireland
Rats in my hotel room and a romantic proposal from a policeman.
Pelican FC v Dinnington
Second part of a world record ground-hopping event where 250 hoppers saw five matches at five different grounds in one day. My girlfriend walked out on me during this one.
Rangers v Hibernian
I was completing visits to all the Scottish League grounds. But my hotel burst into flames at 2am and I spent most of the night on the pavement with a blanket wrapped around me.
Caersws v Newtown
I left home at 7am but the game was called off less than 45 minutes before kick-off. I drove 400 miles to have a pub lunch.
Phoenix v Hanworth Villa
I got special permission to go inside Feltham Prison to watch this match in the Heathrow Airport Midweek League. I was a crowd of one.
Daily Mail