April 12, 1914: Bologna Lazio 0-1

Simon Basten
Apr 12
3 min read

Lazio demonstrate to be a force to be reckoned with at national level

The Biancocelesti win in Bologna showing just how strong they are

The season so far

The previous season had seen Pro Vercelli beat Lazio in the final. There was no contest as the Piedmontese team was the strongest in Italy at the time. The best news however was the introduction of the Centre-Southern Italian teams to the competition.

The formula for this season was the same as the previous one. Two main sections: a Northern one made up of the three groups of ten teams with the top two of each group meeting in a final group to determine the northern winner, and 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. The northern and southern champions would then meet to determine the national champion.

Lazio won every single game in their group, easily qualifying for the semifinal.

Before the start of the latter, the Biancocelesti played the prestigious Coppa di Pasqua.

The match: Sunday, April 12, 1914, Stadio Sterlino, Bologna

Lazio surprised Bologna with great organisation and in the early stages Corrado Corelli hit the woodwork with a powerful shot. The hosts tried to break down the Roman's defensive wall but Vincenzo Di Napoli and Augusto Faccani blocked all Bologna’s efforts. The game was very entertaining with the ball moving from one end to the other. A few moments before the conclusion of the first half, Carlo Maranghi had a massive chance but wasted it.

In the second 45 minutes, the locals put their foot on the accelerator but with no success, wasting a few opportunities to score through over precipitation. So, it was the visitors who clinched the victory in the 76th minute. Angelo Zucchi to Maranghi to Fernando Saraceni who from a few meters scored.

Great win for the Biancocelesti against a much better team than they had been used to playing so far.

Who played for Bologna

Fontana, Donati, Palmieri, Sala, Menezer, Fini, Badini I, Della Valle, Badini II, Rivas, Brunè

Who played for Lazio

Serventi, Monetti, Levi II, Zucchi II, Di Napoli I, Faccani, Raffo, Saraceni I, Fioranti, Maranghi, Corelli

Manager: Baccani

Referee: Kock

Goal: 76’ Saraceni

What happened next

The following day Lazio beat Modena and won the trophy. Then came the Central Italy semi-final for the National Championship.

In the first leg between Lazio and SPES Livorno, the Biancocelesti won comfortably away from home 3-0 and then again in the return match 1-0. In the Neapolitan clash, Internazionale Napoli prevailed over Naples 3-2 on aggregate.

In the first leg of the final, Lazio only won 1-0 at home but in the second they demolished Internazionale 8-0, qualifying for the national final for the second year running.

For the final it was clear to everybody that Casale were way stronger than Lazio and this is exactly what happened. The Piedmontese crushed the Biancocelesti 7-1 in the first leg and won also in Rome 2-0.

It was however a great achievement for Lazio who were clearly the strongest team in the centre-south, but from a footballing point of view these clubs were still miles away from the rich northern ones and would be for quite some time.

Let’s talk about Camillo Monetti

Camillo Monetti was born in Ronco Scrivia near Genoa in 1892.

He started his career with Novara where he played from 1909 to 1912. He arrived at Lazio for the 1913-14 season since he was doing his military service in Rome. A great year for the Biancocelesti who reached the national finals but beaten by Casale. He was one of the best defenders of the season.

He returned to Novara after his military service and he went back into the army when Italy joined World War I. He was seriously wounded on August 17, 1916. He died on January 4 1919 following the serious injuries in a hospital in Udine.

In 1921 he was awarded the Bronze Medal for Military Valour (conferred in 1921) with the following citation:

As commander of a battalion during one of our successful offensive operations, he gave outstanding proof of energy, courage, and uncommon disregard for danger in leading his unit in pursuit of the enemy, during which he was seriously wounded. He had already distinguished himself in previous actions — Oppacchiasella, August 1916.