December 6, 1925: Lazio Audace 9-5

Simon Basten
3 hours ago
4 min read

It’s raining goals

A goal festival at the Rondinella as Bernardini, Rosso, Ottier, Filippi and Fraschetti score nine.

The season so far

In the previous season Lazio had arrived second in the Lazio group and qualified for the Southern Italian semi-final group where they arrived joint first with Anconitania. In this case the goal difference was not taken into consideration (and Lazio would have qualified first if it had) so a playoff was needed. Unfortunately, the Biancocelesti lost.

Lazio still considered themselves amateur, so no money was given to the players. This meant that Lazio lost a number of them this season such as Ezio Sclavi and Antonio Vojak who had finished the military service and went to Juventus for free. Arriving were Quinto Rosso, centre forward from Genoa, Umberto Zannelli, Luciano Berti and keeper Bruno Nicolini from Pro Roma. Desiderio Koszegi, who was being paid by Giuseppe Ercoli out of his own pocket, was confirmed as manager.

The structure of the Prima Divisione (First Division) was similar to previous years. Two main leagues, north and south. In the Northern League there were two groups of 12 teams each, the first of which would go to the final and the winner of the latter would play the final for the scudetto. The last four of each group would be relegated to next year’s First Division (a type of Serie B) while the others would qualify for the National Division.

The southern league was divided into five regional groups: Campania (five teams), Lazio (six), Marche (two), Apulia (five) and Sicily (two). For the five teamed group, the top two proceeded to the semi-final groups and for the others both teams qualified. The top two of each semi-final group would meet for the Southern League Final and the winner of the latter would face the Northern League team for the scudetto.

For the Lazio league, it was important to reach one of the top two places as that would guarantee a presence in next season’s National Division.

The Biancocelesti had won their first game against Roman 5-3 but had been crushed in their second 6-2 by Fortitudo.

The match: Sunday, December 6, 1925, Campo Rondinella, Rome

Despite the cold, there was quite a large number of spectators at Campo Rondinella for this game. And they certainly saw plenty of goals.

Lazio scored early with Fulvio Bernardini in the 5th minute, but Audace overturned the result with goals from Beniamini III in the 9th and Alciati six minutes later. Then the Biancocelesti went back into the lead after goals from Bernardini again in the 39th minute and Quinto Rosso towards the end of the first half. It had been an open game despite Audace losing their left winger Brocchi early on due to injury.

In the second Brocchi managed to equalise in the 50th minute but then Lazio scored four goals with Gino Ottier (a brace in the 54th and 67th minute), Dante Filippi (61st) and Rosso again (71st) taking the score to 7-3. Audace reduced the deficit with a penalty scored by Alciati in the 75the minute and then went to just two goals down thanks to Chiocchini two minutes later. Two final goals from Bernardini in the 82nd minute on penalty and Aldo Fraschetti in the dying moments of the game settled the score.

Despite the numerous goals, it was not such a great match according to the reports, and if it had not been for Bruno Nicolini who made a lot of great saves, the game could have been even closer.

Anyway, at least Lazio could now forget the previous week's bad defeat.

Who played for Lazio

Nicolini, Berti I, Parboni, Galli, Fiorini, Finesi, Filippi, Ottier, Rosso, Bernardini, Fraschetti

Manager: Koszegi

Who played for Audace

Arzani, Cannelli, Lorenzetti, Cutrone, Zanardelli, Andreani, Battilani, Chiocchini, Alciati, Beniamini III, Brocchi

Referee: De Bernardinis

Goals: 5' Bernardini, 9' Beniamini III, 15' Alciati, 39' Bernardini, 43' Rosso, 50’ Brocchi, 54' Ottier, 61' Filippi, 67' Ottier, 71' Rosso, 75' Alciati (pen), 77' Chiocchini, 82' Bernardini (pen), 89' Fraschetti

What happened next

Lazio arrived third in their group and failed to qualify for both the semi-finals and next season’s National Division. They would have to play in the First Division, a type of second tier. The insistence on being amateur in a changing world of professionals did not help and at the end of the season the club changed name from Società Podistica Lazio to Società Sportiva Lazio.

The appearances were topped by Fulvio Bernardini, Giovanni Fiorini, Nicolini and Rosso with 10 games. Top scorer was Bernardini with 14 goals.

Let’s talk about Quinto Rosso

Quinto Rosso was born in Genoa on October 3 1905.

After having played in minor teams in the Genoese area, in 1925 he signed for Lazio. He was doing his military service at the time. He made 10 appearances scoring 5 goals.

In 1926 he joined Genoa, who had changed name to Genova 1893, and stayed for five years, playing 42 games with 11 goals. He was not a first-choice player, but still a very reliable back up.

From 1931 he played for Vogherese, Ventimigliese and closed his career with Andrea Doria (who would later be half of Sampdoria) in 1937.

He was considered a good player and when he was in Rome he played with the Southern Representatives and Lazio Representatives against Yugoslavia and also for the Rome Representatives in a friendly against Juventus plus a regional match between players from Lazio and Tuscany.

He died in Genoa on October 23 1981.

Lazio Career

Season	First Division Appearances	First Division Goals
1925-26	10	5

Sources

Lazio Wiki (1)

Lazio Wiki (2)