Richard Hall – The Original Gentleman Ultra

Richard Hall is one of the UK’s top voices when it comes to the world of Italian football. His many writing credits include Football Italia, The Guardian, Yahoo Sports, and the website that he created, The Gentleman Ultra. Richard also works for Internazionale of Milan on their English-speaking podcast and television channel.

Painful experience

I spoke to Richard recently after the dust had settled on Inter’s painful 5-0 Champions League final defeat to Paris St Germain. He was in Italy covering the game for club’s TV channel, which made for an interesting, if painful experience.

“I was out there in Milan working for Inter, I was not in Munich for the match unfortunately. They flew me out at their cost to Appiano Gentile, the Inter training ground, to cover the final. It was weird because I have been there a few times before and it is normally a really busy place, but it was dead. There was no one there. There is a team of eight of us doing the show and we were at what felt like a little outpost. It was really weird and for me personally, I only found out the day before the final that I was going.”

Appiano Gentile

“We went out there and Elena, who is an amazing part of the team, picked me up and we went for a meal where the players normally go to eat. Appiano Gentile is in a beautiful part of Italy, just in between Milan and Como. It was brilliant, but I didn’t know when I was coming home. They said if we win, we need to do an after show. I thought ‘okay.’ And then we would have to go on a balcony in Milan and do the bus parade. So, I had two flights booked for coming home depending on who won the final. I didn’t really enjoy not knowing how long I was going to be there for, but it was fun. It was fun, but it was disappointing, obviously.”

It hurt more

Doing media work for a game as huge as the Champions League final must carry its own pressures. I asked Richard how that made him feel and if covering a game like that, when the team you support are playing, made it even more difficult.

“It hurt more being at the training ground, I think. I mean, you walk around there and there are images of Javier Zanetti, Diego Milito and all the old players from the Champions League win in 2010. Not just that, but there are also images of people like Jurgen Klinsmann, Andreas Brehme, even going back to Sandro Mazzola. All the way back, that training ground is steeped in history. I think losing the final hurt more being there, weirdly. I think would rather have been in Munich at the game in a way because if I was there, at least I would have been distracted from it a little bit. We were in the home of where Inter train and do what they do, it was a tough day to be there. It was made worse when the Milan fans decided in the middle of the night to start setting off fireworks. That was a bit of a pain in the ass but fair play to them.”

One of those games

“The final itself was one of those games. I remember being a kid watching Inter when Denis Bergkamp was there in 1993 and 1994. Inter nearly got relegated and I was really upset. But the final against PSG is probably as upset as I have been for a while about a football game. Although some of the crew are Milan fans, what was really nice is that there were a couple of us there who were Inter fans. We went through it together. It is a really weird experience for watching a match because we have got these massive screens where you are presenting everything and everyone just brings crisps and Prosecco in and you watch the game on these big screens.”

We didn’t play football

Born and raised in England, Richard does not have any links to Italy in terms of family or relations. His passion for Italian football and Inter came about after his dad travelled to Milan on a work trip and brought young Richard home a gift.

“When I grew up, we didn’t play football. I do not know why I always feel guilty to say this, but I am a private schoolboy. Hence the gentleman ultra name that I came to use. My father didn’t take me to football, the family were big rugby fans and cricket. I played wicket keeper at cricket and played on the wing for the rugby team. The fact is that I was not into the football until 1988. I am 45 now, so I was eight years old. My dad worked in Milan, and I said to him once if he got a chance to go to a football match, could he bring back a football shirt.”

Inter shirt

“It could have been anybody. It could have literally been any team. He brought back an Inter shirt and that was all it took. We were very lucky when I was about eight years old to have BSkyB. They showed Italian football and there was Gary Lineker commentating with Des Lynam, Alan Parry, Martin Tyler, Barry Davis, and obviously Brian Moore. All those guys were part of the coverage. Then obviously, we all know the James Richardson Channel 4 era that came a bit later. So, I was able to follow Inter and the Italian game from that early age. 

When everyone went to the English Premier League, I just never. I never went and I was never bothered. Also, as a child, travel was always a big thing. It is a big thing in my life, a thing in my house in the sense that my family is travelling all the time. So, the prospect of visiting Italy added to the allure. I went on to get engaged in Florence and Italy has been such a big part of my life from a young age, really. The football stuck and it never went away.”

Passionate about it

The passion for football was bedded in early but writing and media work was never really something that was on the horizon for Richard in his early years.

“I was working with my father in his company. We did travel a lot with work, but I do not think it was enough on the day-to-day to keep me occupied. I would get a bit bored some of the time. Sometimes we would go to China or Frankfurt or Nuremberg, it was amazing. But often I would sort of be tapping my fingers feeling a little bored.

I just wanted to write because I was just so passionate about it. This was way before The Gentleman Ultra. I started to write for a site called Football Italiano and if you looked for it now, I don’t think you could even find it online. It was one of those sites that had loads of people who came through who you would know. It was cool because like we were all learning our way.

Then Rob Paton and Tim Doel took over Football Italia. I was already sort of starting to work for them and they took me on. Rob and Tim were amazing for me in my development. They taught me all the way through, great guys. So that is kind of how it happened for me.”

The Gentleman Ultra

Richard would later go on to create his own Italian football related website, The Gentleman Ultra. The site features regularly in The Guardian and is one of the most popular places to find English language Calcio content.

“One day I just did this thing on Tumblr and called it The Gentleman Ultra. Then Luca Hodges-Ramon came on board and he kicked us off and we started doing stuff about the Ultras in Italy. I was going to watch Inter and I was spending a lot of time with the Ultras, that was my kind of passion. That is where the name came from because I was this private schoolboy going on the Curva Nord at San Siro for Inter matches. I remember the first time I ever went. I was dressed like I was going to Wimbledon wearing a blazer. The Ultras were like, who the hell are you and what are you doing here? They called me the gentleman of the Ultras and that is where the name came from.”

The Guardian

“The website kicked off and then The Guardian got hold of it. Later, I was asked to be on BT Sport at because they were using our articles on Ultras as references points. I did not know that but James Richardson, of all people, got in touch with me and asked if I wanted to come on. I was like, yeah, of course, I was one of the last journalists to go on BT before they got the Champions League rights. When they got those rights, they brought in Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves to cover it and they got rid of all the journalists and eventually, the rest of their European domestic coverage. 

The one thing with me is that my main job has never been in the media. It has always been in sales. So, working in corporate sales means you present all the time. 400 people, 200 people, 100 people or 10 people, wherever it was needed. For me the idea of TV was never really a big deal. I think weirdly, it fell into my remit, that is kind of where I am at my best. I am not the best writer in the world. Actually, I would say I am average at best. But as a presenter, I think I am up there and I just find that it kind of works for me.”

Not my full-time job

Richard still works a full-time job outside of the football world as he continues to be involved across different kinds of media coverage of the game. The Champions League final marked the end of his seventh season working for his beloved Inter whilst The Gentleman Ultra is still going strong after 17 years.

“I would love to do this full-time. But if you look at all the contracts in the game, even the footballers in many cases, they are all on one-year contracts. Nobody has longevity in their contract and for me, it was like, well I want to send my kid to school and I want to pay my mortgage off. I can do this for fun. That is where Inter came in because it was a nice little thing where it is not my full-time job but I still get to be there and do the stuff I enjoy. I think that is the real key to it for me because you have to make a transition and for me, you either go all in or not. It was not going to work for me going all in so I keep it like a hobby. A hobby sounds wrong given the number of hours I put in. It is still my passion.

It’s only because of the efforts the contributors that has kept The Gentleman Ultra going. It is difficult because I cannot put as much time as I want into it. I am just really proud of it and that it is one of the sites that is still going. It is about 17 years old now so fair play to it!”