Liverpool FC fan Mark Radley talks about his brush with Silvio Berlusconi

10:38am Thursday 11th February 2010

By Melanie Dakin

Being a football fan, as those of us who know only too well, is never easy. One minute you’re tearing your hair out, screaming “oi referee” and the next you’re on a high, punching the air and hugging everyone in sight.

For lifelong Liverpool FC fan Mark Radley, his greatest high point was during the 2005 Champions’ League Final but it wasn’t just because of the score.

He took a wrong turn in the Attaturk stadium in Turkey and ended up sitting in the AC Milan Directors’ box. His account of what followed is so dramatic and unbelievable it’s been adapted for the stage, and the show, Beating Berlusconi, is calling in at Hemel’s Old Town Hall this month.

With glass of bubbly in hand, Mark settled into the only free seat in the VIP area to watch the match, completely unaware he was sitting next to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

“I saw the opportunity and took it,” says Mark. “I could see food and Champagne and thought it was some kind of communal hospitality area, so I just followed them in. I had no idea who this man was. At first he was really patronising, taking the mick completely, and I was pretty deflated as they was three nil up.

“Then our first goal went in and I tried to grab someone to enjoy the moment with, but there was no one there. After the second goal Berlusconi’s face changed and by the third I’m standing on my feet, jumping up and down. Then I feel this prodding between my shoulder blades and Berlusconi’s going mad, shouting at me in this machine gun Italian.”

Feeling his luck was out, Mark was bundled out by Berlusconi’s men and handed over to Turkish security. Then they mistook him for a Liverpool VIP and escorted him to the Liverpool hospitality suite where he happily watched the penalties go in, while being in the company of Ian Rush and many other of his boyhood heroes.

When Mark, who runs a shoe repair shop in Allerton, was back on home, he regaled customers with his adventure and ex-Hollyoaks actor, John Graham Davies asked if he could develop it for television.

John picks up the story: “Mark and I used to chat about football. I was always going in there to have keys cut as my lodgers from the cast of Hollyoaks were always losing their keys. When Mark told me the story, I thought it was a fine example of a bizarre yarn.

“Then as an outsider, Liverpool has always interested me as a city. I saw his story could be the climax of something bigger that traced the life of an avid Red from childhood in the ‘70s through to the ‘90s, with the ups and downs of the club and the city. It’s also a love story about a man and his wife and whether she’s prepared to be a football widow.”

Both John and Mark give praise to actor Paul Duckworth, who takes on more than 40 separate characters in the play including Kenny Noonan, a character based on Mark.

Now 29 and a father of two, Mark regularly travels to see the show and will be on hand to meet and greet in Hemel Hempstead.

“When I first told friends and family that someone wanted to make a play out of my story they all said “oh aye, yeah”, and my wife said “that doesn’t happen to people like you and me”. But now my life has changed dramatically. People come to meet me and ask for my autograph. They know where to find me to hear the story, and I never get sick of telling it.”

Beating Berlusconi! kicks off at The Old Town Hall, High Street, Hemel Hempstead on Friday, February 12 at 8pm. Details: 01442 228091