The spirit of Rome hit the streets of Watford on Wednesday night after Roberto Baggio twice hit the back of Bulgaria’s net to send Italy to the World Cup final.
About 100 Watford-based Italy fans came out after the final whistle and honked car horns, waved green, white and red flags, jumped for joy and went crazy.
Italy’s 2-1 defeat of Bulgaria put “the Azzurri” into the World Cup final for the first time since Paolo Rossi and company won the tournament in 1982.
Fans began appearing on the streets at 11pm, once the New York semi-final had finished.
Within minutes, car-loads of Italian supporters were driving around West Watford. Horns were merrily honked, flags were proudly draped out of windows and yelps of happiness could be heard all over the area.
An hour after the final whistle, the carnival-type atmosphere was still going strong.
Police Inspector Keith Emmerson described the celebrations as noisy but good-humoured.
He said: “There was a lot of noise in various parts of Watford.”
[From the Watford Observer of July 15, 1994]
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