Since I often start these columns with quotes, I thought it would be romantic to find something that beautifully encapsulated the things we do for love.

Well, folks, I hate to break it to you: It doesn’t exist. Apparently, Internet algorithms have been programmed to associate the words “things we do for love” with heartbreak and pain and the suffering that comes with being led on and let down.

It did, however, get me thinking about love. More specifically, the effort it takes to make love work. And that’s where I found my story for today.

You see, the Juventus Club DOC in Singapore is only in our second season. Considering that the global Juventus Club DOC project began in 2004, we’re one of the youngest clubs around.

(DOC stands for ‘Denominazione di Origine Controllata’, a quality assurance label for Italian food products to certify superior origins. Likewise, becoming a Juventus Club DOC is a certification of quality for a Juventus fan club, directly from Juventus Football Club itself.)

Yet in my brief stint so far as president of Juventus Club Singapore, a number of quirky questions have come up repeatedly and regularly. And since there are many Juventus Club DOC presidents and members in the Around J network, I thought a little Q&A could be helpful so all Juventini – and non-Juventini – can get a sense of the things we do for the Juventus families in our respective cities and countries.

And most importantly, what love has got to do with it.

“So you get paid?”

I have to start with one of my favourites. With the amount of effort that goes into keeping a club active, there’s often a perception that we do this for a living. I’m extremely fortunate to be part of a hardworking and high-impact team of six, but some clubs are a lot leaner with just two or three in the organising committee.

So to answer the question: Yes, it is our alternate full-time job. No, there is no pay-cheque. In fact, many start-up Club DOCs run on the personal funds of their founding members long before they can be sufficiently established – in both membership numbers and stature – to earn the credibility for sponsorship. So if there is a Juventus Club DOC in your city or country, you know there are Juventini living among you who are sacrificing more than just time!

“If I become president, what can I do?”

I am pretty open on social media, and have come to accept that since my Facebook profile photo shows me with arms wrapped around Gigi Buffon… well… random Juventini are going to add me. It’s no big deal, and I’ve had a number of questions come that way. Just a few days ago, someone asked this specific question. I haven’t responded to that message, but I have been thinking hard about what the truth would sound like.

Juventus Club DOC presidency is not about power. In fact, it’s the exact opposite – it’s about servitude. It’s about putting club interest before self-interest. It’s about upholding the values of lo stile Juve at all hours, and in all our interactions with Juventini and non-Juventini alike.

It’s not just presidents, but all office bearers in any Juventus Club DOC are international representatives of the football club we love. Our members have paid a subscription fee, no matter how small, to be a part of the club (the fee goes directly to CCJCD in Turin) – which translates to accountability for those of us who have taken on the responsibility of running things.

We answer all questions patiently, no matter how many times the same question has been asked. We’ve booked so many match tickets in so many different sectors that we know the Juventus Stadium plan at the backs of our hands (and have the image saved on our phones for sharing). We hand-draw maps of the Turin city centre to show quaint little places that don’t turn up on Google Maps but we know will give our members a far better Turin experience that they would have found on TripAdvisor.

In an EPL and a La Liga-centric society like Singapore, we lie awake at night when membership renewal season rolls around as the season approaches its end – then celebrate like we’ve won the Champions League when the final number exceeds all expectations.

We sigh with relief at the off season, because it gives us a breather – not from the work, but to gather for marathon meetings (6.5 hours the record for us in Singapore) and plan for the year ahead; to renew with old partners and make agreements with new ones for the season to come; to sleep. Oh, for 2.5 whole months, the beauty of not having to wake up for 3.45am games just to live-update the club’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

So to answer the question: Everything. Anything. You do everything and anything it takes to give members that sense of home and that sense of family, which is the ultimate Juventus quality.

“You’re the president? That’s interesting.”

Not a question, but a loaded comment that I get a lot – mostly from non-Juventini – for being a woman and the president of Juventus Club Singapore. But did you know that the Juventus Club DOC project itself has long been led by women?

Mariella Scirea, wife of the late and legendary Gaetano, is the patron and President of Centro di Coordinamento Juventus Club DOC (CCJCD); while Fiammetta Bruno heads the CCJCD head office in Turin and manages all 500+ Juventus Club DOCs around the world.

And why not? After all, Italy is arguably a matriarchal society – so where better to place the care of the Juventini family than in the hands of women?

“Why do you do it?”

There is only one answer: Love. We do it for love of our club, and for love of our Juventini family. We do it because it makes our hearts flutter to stand back and watch a sea of black and white shirts in a downtown pub leap into the air, hug, and high-five people they’ve only known for 45 minutes.

We do it because it’s our way of bringing the Juventus Stadium to wherever we are, and enabling Juventini in our hometowns to become ‘season ticket holders’ too.

Which brings me to the final question:

“I’m already a Premium member. Why should I join the Club DOC?”

I won’t go into the list of benefits here, for two reasons: 1) Google can tell you what you’ll get in Turin; and 2) Clubs from different cities and countries offer different local benefits to their members, and it won’t do any justice to generalise them here.

Anyone can be a Juventus Premium, Premium International, or J1897 member individually. But what you get from being a Juventus Club DOC member is community. Friendship. Family. Especially in Singapore, where it’s so rare to find other Juventini in the first place, it’s wonderful to have the one clubhouse you can go where you’ll always feel welcome. Even if didn’t know anyone beforehand, all you have to do it turn up in your Juventus jersey and you’re home.

Here’s the best part: Juventus Club DOC members can register for or renew their Tessera del Tifoso through the Club DOC. You know what that means? Your card will be processed ahead of everyone else’s! (Right, I probably should have led with that. But hey, where’s the story there?)

So there you have it. On this fine, sunny Sunday, there are pockets of Juventus Club DOC representatives in various corners of the world huddling together and planning a Champions League gathering for Wednesday night (in whatever time zone they may be) and another for Empoli next Sunday. In Singapore, next Sunday’s game will have a wonderfully early and impossibly rare 6.30pm kick-off – so we’re taking advantage of it with a full-on, never-too-late, start-of-season party at our clubhouse. It will be a busy, busy week ahead indeed.

Send love to your Juventus Club DOC representatives today, Juventini!

Farah Bagharib-Kaltz

Juventus Club Singapore

https://www.facebook.com/JuventusClubSG/

Find your local Juventus Club DOC here: https://www.juventus.com/en/fans/club-doc/find-a-juventus-club-doc.php