A history of Roman football 1900-1927. Part one 1900-1912
- Simon Basten
- 15 hours ago
- 15 min read
In these series of articles, we look at the history of football in Rome prior to 1927. The first part looks at the evolution of the football movement in the capital leading to the first appearance at national level for the 1912-13 season.
The birth of football in Rome
Compared to the North of Italy, football in Rome was a slow starter.
Lazio had been created on January 9, 1900, with the name Società Podistica Lazio as an athletics club but very soon swimming, water polo and rowing were also added. At that time in Rome there was the Società Ginnastica Roma which apart from gymnastics had also sections dedicated to athletics, tennis, target shooting, and soon after Lazio was formed came the Audace Club Podistico, founded in September 1900.
Football started to be played when Bruto Seghettini, founder of Audace Club Podistico, on January 6, 1901, went to the Lazio offices in Via Valadier 21 and asked whether they played foot-ball at Lazio. Nobody knew what he was talking about, so he produced a ball and kicked it. According to the Mario Pennacchia book “Lazio Patria Nostra”, following this first demonstration the ball shattered a window.
When the winter was over the Lazio members, by now around thirty, started playing this strange game in Piazza d’Armi. The Piazza d'Armi was a vast rectangular field on flat terrain, bounded by what are now Viale Carso, Viale Angelico, Viale delle Milizie, and part of Lungotevere delle Armi. Its perimeter measured 3,884 meters, and the stretch of Viale delle Milizie between Viale Angelico and the Lungotevere was exactly 1,000 meters long. In the mornings, the area was used for military exercises, while in the afternoons it was frequented by athletes practicing a variety of sports. The Laziali instead created a football pitch and played amongst themselves in endless battles with the approaching nighttime the only cause to stop.
Elsewhere in Italy
By 1901 however three scudetti had already been awarded in Northern Italy.
Football had started to develop in Genoa thanks to British sailors and commercial presence. The first known football club was Genoa Football and Cricket Club founded in 1893. It initially was created to represent Britain abroad, and mainly to play cricket and practise athletics. It was for Brits only and the Italians were not allowed to join. In 1897 the football element was added to the name. In Turin there had already been the first merger between Torino Football and Cricket Club and Nobili Torino to form Internazionale Football Club Torino.
Genoa, Internazionale Torino, Ginnastica Torino (founded in 1844 and had opened its football section in 1897) and Torinese (founded as a football club in 1894), competed for the first scudetto in 1898. Two semi-finals and a final, all played on the same day, May 8, at the Velodrome Humbert I in Turin. Genoa won beating Internazionale 2-1 after extra time. The team had six Italians, four Brits and a Swiss national.
In 1899 the scudetto was still a Genoa and Turin issue (won again by Genoa who beat Internazionale Torino 3-1), but in 1900 the tournament opened up to new clubs: Sampierdarenese, Milan and Juventus.
Sampierdarenese was the football section of the sports club Società Ginnastica Comunale Sampierdarenese from Sampierdarena, near Genoa, and founded in 1899. The town became part of Genoa in 1926 and Sampierdarenese would be one half of Sampdoria founded in 1946. They wore a white shirt with a horizontal black band across the chest.
Associazione Calcio Milan was founded in 1899 by a group of Brits and Italians and wore the classic red-black striped jersey right for the beginning, whereas Juventus came to light in 1897 as Sport-Club Juventus founded by a group of students. They initially wore a pink and black kit. In 1905 they changed to the classic black and white stripes, inspired by Notts County.
Following the dissolution of Internazionale Torino, its players and organization were absorbed into Torinese who lost the final to Genoa. 1901, Torinese took a year off, Juventus won the Piedmont preliminary round and lost in the semi-final to Milan. Genoa qualified directly for the final but lost to the Rossoneri.
Since it was a challenge round, Milan was direct finalist in 1902 which saw 8 clubs participate: Torinese returned from their sabbatical year and were joined by Audace Torino (founded in 1899) plus old timers Ginnastica Torino and Juventus. The four Piedmont clubs played a round robin to determine who would reach the semi-final. Torinese and Juventus came joint first and were forced to a playoff which was won by the former 4-1. For the other semi-finalist there was first a regional playoff between Genoa and newly affiliated Andrea Doria, the football section of the Società Ginnastica Andrea Doria founded in 1900 (and they later became the other half of Sampdoria), to determine the Ligurian winner. Genoa won and then played against another newly affiliated club, Mediolanum (football section of the Società per l'Educazione Fisica Mediolanum founded in 1898), winning this match too. The Ligurians then beat Torinese 4-3 after extra time. They retained the title beating Milan in the final.
In 1903 the teams were six and it followed the same organization of the previous tournament with Genoa qualifying directly for the final. The Piedmontese qualifier, Juventus, first beat Andrea Doria in the inter-regional round, then Milan in the semi-final but lost to Genoa in the scudetto final. In 1904 there were just five teams. Juventus beat Milan in the semi-final but again lost to Genoa in the final.
Meanwhile in Rome …
As the battles were raging in the north, in Rome there was still nothing organised due to lack of clubs playing football. This was all gradually going to change. The first game took place on May 15, 1904 at Piazza d’Armi. Prior to this there had been matches between clubs but not football as we know it, but something called “calcio-ginnico”, a mix between gymnastics and football. One of the major differences was the fact that the goalkeeper could use his hands anywhere on the pitch and there was no offside.
But on the day mentioned earlier there was the first match between Lazio and Virtus. The latter were a sports association founded in 1903 by Lazio dissidents. The Lazio eleven was made up of: Volpi, Grassi, Grifoni, Pollina, D’Amico, Mariotti, Pellegrini, Ricci, Ancherani, Masini, Golini. The Virtus team is unknown but almost certainly present was Corrado Corelli. Lazio won 3-0 with a Sante Ancherani hat-trick.
A year later came game two. On June 15, 1905, Lazio and Virtus drew 2-2 but the Biancocelesti were awarded the victory due to having had more corners. This match is especially significant as it represents the earliest Lazio fixture—and, more broadly, the first football match played in Rome—to be recorded in the official archives of the Italian Football Federation. The game was marred by numerous incidents. In La Gazzetta dello Sport, the journalist Caesar harshly condemned both teams for their violence, unsporting behaviour, and personal hostilities, concluding that he hoped no further matches of this sort would be organized!!! This would happen time and time again in the Roman derbies.
The Lazio team was so strong that they could not find any others to play with. Virtus, probably after what had happened in the previous game, refused to play, so the Biancocelesti, who had now moved to Villa Borghese at the Prato dei Daini for their games, were forced to play amongst themselves. On October 1, 1905, Team Celeste and Team Bianco drew 1-1 an “internal friendly”.
Lazio were given the field at Piazza di Siena in the Villa Borghese to play football and in 1906 they played a few games against Roman, a club formed in 1901 with the name Foot Ball Club di Roma, but it was better known as Roman. They probably also played many matches against other teams but there are no records of the latter. Lazio Wiki, the prime source for everything concerning Lazio, underlines that many friendly matches were played by the Biancocelesti against the seminarians of several English, Scottish, and Irish colleges. These matches—including one for which we know the result, an 11–0 victory for the Scottish seminarians—almost invariably ended in victories for the future priests, who were far more advanced both tactically and technically. These defeats, however, allowed Lazio to learn a great deal from a footballing perspective, and the gap between the teams gradually began to narrow.
It was only in the summer of 1906, at Lazio's initiative, that plans were made to organize, for 1907, the first city championship officially recognized by the Italian Football Federation.
Scudettos 1905-07
While Rome was struggling to organise football, in the north the scudetto quests continued and there was an improved organisation even though participants were limited to clubs in Genoa, Turin and Mian. For 1905 the Italian Federation introduced the home and away matches for the first time. Three qualifying rounds: Genoa won in Liguria beating Andrea Doria, Juventus in Piedmont eliminating Torinese and US Milanese in Lombardy who beat Milan. US Milanese had been formed in 1902 and was participating for the first time. The three winners went on to play a round robin again with home and away games, and it was won by Juventus.
The 1906 campionato followed the same rules as the previous one. Juventus, only participant from Piedmont, Genoa and Milan qualified for the final round robin. Two play offs were needed between Milan and Juventus to determine the winner since they had arrived on equal points, Milan won the second and hence their second scudetto.
In 1907 there was a new club, Torino, formed by a group of Juventus dissidents and a merger with Torinese. So, the Italian Championship was back to six teams. Milan, Torino and Andrea Doria qualified for the final round robin and Milan retained the scudetto.
The first Roman League
In 1907 there was the first Roman League. For the first time an organised competition for the teams of the capital. It was organised by Virtus since the Italian Football Federation had no regional committee for the Lazio region, but it was approved by the Federation. Three clubs participated, Lazio, Roman and Virtus, in a round robin and it was won by Lazio.
The Biancocelesti, considered the best team of Rome, were invited to play a match in Perugia later that year against Sport Club Siena. It was abandoned after 30 minutes with Lazio winning 5-0!!!
In 1908 there were various other competitions such as the Coppa Tosti, the Coppa Viscogliosi-Baccelli for the reserves and there was also an official tournament between clubs from the north, centre and South played between May and June with Juventus, US Milanese and Naples (founded in 1905). After beating Roman for the Roman qualification, Lazio were hammered 6-0 but US Milanese in the semi-final, demonstrating that there was still a fair distance between Roman clubs and the ones playing for the scudetto.
Then came the three wins in a single day at the Pisa Interregional Tournament on June 7, something that has become legendary. Lazio arrived in Pisa the day before the game. On the next morning, while busy being tourists, Lazio were approached by the organising committee and asked to play a game against Lucca. Lazio won 3-0 just before lunch time. While the team were eating, they were asked to play a second extra match, this time against Spes Livorno. 4-0 for Lazio. Time for a rest? No, because here came Virtus Juventusque ready for the scheduled match. The players protested but Ancherani told them to stay back in the front of the goal and stop all opposition attempts (an early form of “catenaccio”?). The game was almost over and it was still 0-0. But Ancherani in the dying minutes scored from a Corelli cross and Lazio won. Ancherani sent a telegram: “Won tournament 3-0, 4-0, 1-0”. No other team in the world has ever won three games on the same day.
What had happened at Pisa and the two wins in friendlies against Naples over the past two years demonstrated that not only were the Biancocelesti the best team in Rome (in 1909 they won the Coppa Tosti and the Campionato Tiburtino) but also probably in the central southern part of the country. But they were still not up to par with the north as demonstrated once again in the second northern-central-southern tournament losing to Andrea Doria and Spezia.
But from an organisational point of view, Roman football could only progress if it could measure itself on a constant basis with the teams from the north or at least in a more classic league with all the Roman teams. This was to occur only in 1910.
Chaos elsewhere
On October 1907, the Italian Federation decided to create two different leagues, one for Italians only and one which included also foreigners. The split in Italian football was an attempt by the Federation to resolve a growing conflict over the role of foreign players in Italian football. It was not intended to create two permanent league systems, but rather to satisfy two competing visions of the sport. Many of Italy's strongest clubs had been founded or heavily influenced by British expatriates. As a result, they often fielded several foreign players, especially British and Swiss footballers. At the same time, a nationalist movement within Italian football argued that the championship should primarily develop Italian players rather than rely on foreigners. To avoid alienating either side, the Federation introduced two parallel championships for the 1908 season: Campionato Italiano (Italian Championship), restricted to Italian players, and Campionato Federale (Federal Championship) open to both Italian and foreign players. The Italian Championship would determine the official "Champion of Italy”, while the Federal Championship would preserve the higher standard of play by allowing foreign footballers.
The decision was a disaster. Milan decided to play the Federal Championship but quit in protest. This meant that there were only Andrea Doria and Juventus competing with Juve winning in a playoff. The Italian League saw the participation of Andrea Doria, Juve, Pro Vercelli (the football section of Società Ginnastica Pro Vercelli, founded in 1903) and US Milanese. Pro Vercelli won the Piedmont qualification and then in a round robin with the other two teams, came first winning their first scudetto.
The 1909 scudetto was organised the in the same manner but there was an increase of participants. In the Italian League there were nine teams and for the first time a representative from Veneto, Venezia (founded in 1907), and Inter (founded in 1908 by a group of AC Milan dissidents). Genoa won the Ligurian qualification, US Milanese the Lombardy one, and Pro Vercelli in Piedmont. What followed were practically two semi-finals: Pro Vercelli beat Genoa, US Milanese demolished Venezia. Pro Vercelli then won the final.
The other league was organised in a similar fashion with Juventus beating US Milanese in the final.
In 1909, realising their mistake, the Federation changed everything. Now not only would there be a single tournament but it would be a round robin one right from the beginning. The participants were nine, basically the ones that had played so far in the Italian League (Genoa, Andrea Doria, Pro Vercelli, Torono, Juventus, Milan, US Milanese, Inter) plus Ausonia, a Milanese club born in 1905. The tournament took place between 1909 and 1910.
At the end of the league Inter and Pro Vercelli were tied. There was a need for a playoff. Pro Vercelli had previously committed to participating in two exhibition matches on April 17 and 24 and therefore requested that the championship tie-breaker be postponed until May 1. Inter, however, opposed this proposal because it had already arranged its own exhibition fixtures for that date. The Federation initially granted the first postponement, but after Pro Vercelli failed to appear for the exhibition scheduled on April 17, it revoked the second postponement and fixed the tie-breaker for April 24. In protest, Pro Vercelli fielded its fourth team, composed largely of 15-year-old players and lost 10-3.
First Roman Championships
In 1910, the League's Regional Committee officially organized a Roman championship for the first time. Since, according to the Committee, it lacked the prestige and competitive standard of the championships contested in northern Italy, it was designated a Third Category competition (in the North it was first category). The participating clubs were Lazio, the aristocratic Roman, Juventus Romana (more commonly called Juventus Roma), and Fortitudo.
Roman was founded in 1901, making it one of the oldest football clubs in Rome. The club's full name was Foot Ball Club di Roma, but contemporary newspapers and official documents almost always abbreviated it to simply Roman. The description of Roman as "l'aristocratico Roman" ("the aristocratic Roman") was not merely a stylistic flourish. The club had close ties to Rome's upper classes since many of its members came from aristocratic and affluent Roman families and it was considered a socially exclusive club, in contrast to Lazio, which drew from a wider cross-section of Roman society. Roman's colours were red.
Juventus Romana was founded in 1905 in Rome. Despite sharing the name "Juventus" (Latin for "youth"), it had no connection with Turin’s Juventus even if the choice of colours, black and white, was inspired by the Bianconeri.
Fortitudo was founded in 1908 as Società Ginnastica Fortitudo, originally a Catholic gymnastic and sporting association. Like many Italian sports clubs of the era, football was only one of several athletic activities. Their colours were red and blue.
Lazio easily won this first Roman league, demolishing their opponents and winning every single match, including an 11-0 against Fortitudo. The games were played at the Parco dei Daini in Villa Borghese, Piazza d’Armi and the Campo Due Pini, close to where today is the Stadio Flaminio.
That season Lazio also won the Torneo Pro Francia, a competition organised to raise funds for the families of the victims of the 1910 Great Flood of Paris and the Trofeo INIEF and participated in the Trofeo dei Mille in Sicily where they beat Audax Palermo but lost the final against Palermo.
The second edition of the Roman League took place in 1911 but there were only three teams as Fortitudo did not participate. Lazio won again winning all of their games. The Biancocelesti also won the Coppa Italia Sportiva against Florentia, lost the Coppa Salsi to Naples, won the local tournaments Coppa Gaia-Perugini and Trofeo INIEF.
In 1912 the Roman league got bigger and together with Lazio, Fortitudo (who were back), Juventus Roma and Roman, there were also Audace Esperia and Alba.
Audace Esperia was formed in 1912 when Club Sportivo Audace (founded in 1901) and Esperia Roma (founded in 1911) merged, The merger combined Audace's long-established sporting organization with Esperia's football section. Their colours were red and white.
Alba was founded in 1907 by Umberto Farneti, who financed and managed the club for many years. Unlike Roman, which had aristocratic roots, or Fortitudo, which emerged from a Catholic sporting society, Alba developed as a neighbourhood club in the Flaminio district of Rome. Its supporters came largely from the local working and middle class population. Their colours were white and green and occasionally used the Capitoline Wolf as its emblem.
Lazio won the league, winning all their games expect one. The games were played in the usual places plus the Motovelodromo Appio for Audace and the Campo di Centocelle for Alba. The former was built in 1910 in the then-rural Tuscolano district, near today's Largo dei Colli Albani, it was a classic motovelodromo: a venue designed for cycling, motorcycle racing, and football. At the time, this was a common type of multi-purpose stadium in Italy. The venue was built around a 400-metre banked track. Inside the oval sat a football pitch. Campo Centocelle was an open area park along Via Casilina.
That year the Biancocelesti also won the Coppa di Pasqua against Roma and the Coppa Ancherani against the newly formed Pro Roma.
Pro Roma was founded in 1911 as a sporting association (Società Sportiva Pro Roma). The name "Pro Roma" literally means "For Rome" or "In support of Rome," reflecting a civic identity rather than an association with a particular neighbourhood or social class. They played in white.
The last three North only scudettos
For the 1910-11 championship there was a massive change. Two regional groups were formed: one including all the teams of the North West (Andrea Doria, Genoa, Inter, Juventus, Milan, Piemonte, Pro Vercelli, Torino and US Milanese) and one with the Emilia-Veneto clubs (Vicenza, Hellas, Bologna and Venezia). The winners of these groups would meet in a final. Pro Vercelli won the North West group ahead of Milan and Torino, Vicenza won the second group easily beating all of their rivals. The final was on two legs and Pro Vercelli won both (3-0 and 2-1).
1911-12 followed the same organisation. Casale won a preliminary qualification play off with Racing Libertas and became the tenth participant of the North West Division which was again won by Pro Vercelli with a single point lead over Milan. Venezia won the Emiliano-Veneto League, one point more than Vicenza and Hellas. Pro Vercelli won the title with a 13-0 aggregate.
A national competition
In 1912 Italy participated in the football tournament of the Olympic Games for the first time. There was no World Cup so the Olympic Games was the competition of the highest level in world football. The Azzurri had to play a preliminary round against Finland which they lost 3-2 in extra time.
This was considered to be a disaster for Italian football and therefore there was a need for a change. As a consequence, the First Category Championship was divided into two main sections: a Northern one made up of the three groups of six teams with the top two of each group meeting in a final round robin to determine the northern winner, and, for the first time, a centre-south championship. The latter was made up of two groups, Tuscany and Lazio. The winners of the two regional groups would meet in a semi-final with the other semi made up of the two Neapolitan teams. The winners would meet in the centre-south championship final.
This meant that for the first time the Roman clubs could compete at national level. A massive change for them.
What was happening in the rest of Europe?
To the casual reader one would think that the regional based organisation of Italian football was strange, but if you look at the evolution of today’s top leagues, English, Spanish, German and French, only the English league was organised as we know the premier today. Spain was ahead of Italy organisationally but was still regionally based (the Liga would start in 1929) as were France and Germany.
The fascinating thing is that Italian football was not “late” because it lacked interest—it was because football spread unevenly. By 1912, Genoa, Milan, Turin, and Bologna were already playing at a high level, but Rome was still in the stage that England had passed around 1880–1890: creating clubs, finding grounds, and building local rivalries.
The beginning of change came in the 1912-13 season.
Sources
Various pages on Lazio Wiki, Wikipedia and Lazio Stories.
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