Villa in Lille: Stella, Balti, Baguettes

Words: Pete Hitchman

Images: Pete Hitchman

When my team Aston Villa returned to European competition this season for the first time since 2010, I wanted to embrace the chance to experience different football cultures.

The memories will last for years, seeing up close what a European away day means to fans from across Europe as they came to Birmingham en masse.

I’ve shared drinks with Scottish, Croat-Bosnian, Polish, Dutch and French supporters in Birmingham, talking about everything from ticket allocations to darts, travel and the Royal Family.

I joined Lille OSC’s corteo across Birmingham – the impressive procession that symbolises European away games for many teams from the continent, as shown brilliantly in this article by Guirec Munier.

©Pete Hitchman/ Terrace Edition. Aston Villa FC in Lille.

I’ve even stood on the tribune with Zrinjski Mostar’s Ultras, as part of an unforgettable trip into the heart of the Balkans that took me right to the soul of football.

And after all these experiences, I saw first-hand – for the first time in my lifetime supporting the Villa – what a classic English away trip looks like too.

When I joined around 3,000 other Villa fans in making the short trip to Lille on a crisp Thursday afternoon in April, there were no ultras or corteo, no fireworks or flares - simply because that’s not the culture on these shores. Instead, the bemused locals going about their day in Lille’s beautiful old town saw how English football supporters do it in the 2020s.

The most noticeable feature was the masses of personalised flags around the city’s main square. They will have meant nothing to Lille’s residents, even those who do speak English - ‘On the Piss My Lord’. ‘Black Country Villa’. ‘VILLA, STELLA, BALTI’ - but they meant everything to those who proudly hung them.

The excitement grew through the day, fuelled by a heady mix of sunshine, (particularly strong) beer and the chants directed at Ian Taylor and Stan Collymore, two boyhood fans who lived the dream to play for Villa in the 1990s. There were claret and blue hats, retro shirts, Villa tattoos all on show.

There was a football, of course. One rapidly deflating football, kicked high into the air over and over again, to a chorus of “HEAAAADDDS!”, until the Police Nationale confiscated it.

Taking a camera to the football has given me a new perspective on matchdays. I spot the little things, like the Lille fan dressed in a tricolore beret who joined in with the chants led by Ian Taylor. I wondered if he had any idea who Ian Taylor was, despite the obvious adoration from the rest of the crowd.

The match came later, and Villa got the result we wanted. But this is not about the 90 minutes (or 120 plus penalties, in this case). It’s about how football brings people together like nothing else, with a common purpose and a sense of belonging - whatever that looks like in their own country.

There’s a good reason we call it the beautiful game.

©Pete Hitchman/ Terrace Edition. Ian Taylor in Lille.

Pete is on X and Instagram: @_pete_hitchman_

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