January 1, 1944: Lazio Juventus Roma 1-1

Dag Jenkins
Jan 1
6 min read

Lazio lose a point in the wind

Lazio trail after ten minutes and equalise after thirty but fail to get the two points

The season so far

Lazio had finished 9th the previous season, under Alexander Popovich. The highlights were beating Juventus 5-3 and 4-2, Roma 3-1 and Milan 4-2. Top scorer was Silvio Piola with 21 league games.

This year the manager was Dino Canestri but the war had interrupted football at a national level. There were only tournaments being played at regional level. Lazio took part in the first "Campionato romano di guerra" (Roman War League). It consisted of ten teams and ran from December to June. One of the teams MATER had Fulvio Bernardini as coach (former Lazio and Roma player and future manager of both clubs and Italy).

Many of Lazio's star players had left: defenders Alfredo Monza (Cremonese) and Italo Romagnoli (Portici-on loan), midfielders Alberto Fazio (retired), Enrique Flamini (Peñarol but he would be back), forwards Silvio Piola (Torino, after 159 goals for Lazio), Aldo Puccinelli (Massese but he would be back too), Silvestro Pisa I (Peñarol).

Arriving were: keeper Amedeo Rega (Italia Libera-on loan), midfielders Michele Andreolo (Bologna), Guido Manfré (Chieti), forwards Umberto Lombardini (Alba Roma), Elvezio D'Orazi (Alba Roma) and Giuseppe Mancini (Alba Roma).

A decrease in quality but this was a weaker competition and an emergency situation.

The format was that the top four would then qualify for another final four-team tournament. The league had started in December and so far, Lazio had won 4 out of 4. Lazio had scored 15 goals and conceded 1. Lazio were top of the table on 8 points, with Roma.

Juventus Roma were a multi-sports club founded in 1905. They had formerly been called S.S Juventus Roma (1905-1919), Juventus Audax (1919-1923), Libertas F.C (1923-25) and then Juventus Roma again (1925- ). They played in Piazza d'Armi (where Lazio trained and played from 1901 to 1905) in what is now the Prati area and their supporters came mainly from the popular Monti and Esquilino areas. Just before the war the Bianconeri had been promoted to Serie C.

Juventus Roma were on 4 points after two wins (Avia 3-2 and Alba 1-0) and two defeats (Roma 0-2 and Vigili del Fuoco 0-2).

The match: Saturday, January 1, 1944, Stadio PNF, Rome

A freezing day with strong icy winds saw about 7,000 spectators present.

Lazio were favourites today, but the Juventini came out fighting. The wind was off putting but nevertheless the game was fast and entertaining with end-to-end action. The visitors surprisingly took the lead after ten minutes when Ranieri I beat Uber Gradella, 0-1.

The Bianconeri almost surprised Lazio again five minutes later when Marchionni went close to doubling the lead.

Lazio equalised on the half hour with their top scorer Umberto Lombardini, 1-1.

Despite the leveller Lazio were unable to get the upper hand and the game continued to be balanced.

It was only in the last fifteen minutes that Lazio really pegged the Bianconeri back constantly, but the determined defence and the windy conditions made sure there was no winner for Lazio.

A fair if surprising draw in the end. A point dropped by Lazio who had been expected to win today. Credit to the visitors who had given a good as they got for an hour and then defended valiantly.

Next up for Lazio was the biggest game of the tournament, the derby against A.S Roma. The table at the moment read: Lazio 9, Roma 9, Tirrenia 8, Mater 5, Juventus Roma 5 (Roma had drawn 2-2 at home with Mater).

Who played for Lazio

Gradella, Valenti, Ferrarese, Andreolo, Ramella, Manfrė I, Mancini, Longhi I, Lombardini, Capponi, D'Orazi

Manager: Canestri

Who played for Juventus Roma

Ippoliti, Rossi, Palombini, Ranieri I, Rovelli, Caristi, Marchionni, Argentieri II, Ranieri II, De Felice, Diotallevi

Referee: Fois (who replaced designated referee who did not turn up)

Goals: 10' Ranieri I, 30' Lombardini

What happened next

Lazio then drew the derby but won the Roman War League. They finished one point ahead of Roma. In the remaining games Lazio won 10 (including Juventus Roma 4-0) and drew 3 (including Roma twice). Lazio were Champions of Rome. The top scorer was Ugo Lombardini with 23 goals while Engelbert "Buby" Koenig got 19.

Lazio were then not allowed to take part in the national finals among the regional winners. This was because on June 5 Rome had been liberated by the Allies, so the organisation of the Roman League passed from the fascist FIGC to that of the "Regno del Sud" FIGC (Kingdom of the South).

There followed an ulterior tournament between the top four. The teams could integrate players from non-participating ones, but Lazio were the only ones who decided against it. Lazio lost in the semifinal to Tirrenia 2-4 and then beat MATER 5-3 to finish 3rd. Roma won the final 4-0 against Tirrenia.

Juventus Roma finished 5th. In the remaining games they won 3, drew 5 (including Roma 1-1 away) and lost 5.

The club would then be absorbed by another local club ALMAS in 1946.

Let's talk about Elvezio D'Orazi

Elvezio D'Orazi was born in Rome on, May 24, 1920.

At 13 he was part of the young Lazio team who went down in history. It was a great honour in 1933 when the Lazio's U14s were invited to Vienna by the great Hugo Meisl (the man behind the Austrian "Wunderteam" of the 1930s, one of the best sides in the world at the time) to play a friendly against the Wacker boys team. The event took place before an international match between Austria and Belgium, in front of 50,000 spectators. The Wacker boys were older and physically a lot stronger. They were an excellent team and accustomed to winning with margins of several goals. Nobody gave the Lazio boys much chance, but they battled hard, played well and drew 1-1. They were applauded off the field and returned to Rome as heroes.

D'Orazi later joined the Lazio first team squad in 1939 and stayed two seasons. In the first, under Géza Kertesz, Lazio finished 4th in Serie A. He played 1 league game. In the second the Biancocelesti finished 14th, first under Kertész, then Ferenc Molnár and finally Dino Canestri. He played 3 league games and 1 in Coppa Italia where Lazio reached the semifinals.

In 1941 he went on loan to Ala Littoria in Serie C and a year later joined Alba Roma in Serie C.

In 1943 he was back at Lazio. The war meant national leagues were interrupted but continued at regional level. In Rome they played the Roman War League which Lazio won in 1944 and came 2nd in 1945. D'Orazi played 8 league games with 2 goals (Alba Roma, Alverotec) plus another 4 in the Città di Roma tournament with 1 goal.

In 1945 he left Rome and joined Ternana in Serie C. The Umbri finished 5th under Eraldo Pangrazi but were promoted to Serie B on pre-war sporting merits. The Rossoverdi then finished 2nd and 11th (relegated) in group C of the second tier. D'Orazi played 90 league games with 15 goals in his three-year spell in Terni. One of his managers in the third season was former Lazio player, Luigi Milano (1936-40).

In 1948-49 he played one last season with Avellino in Serie C. The manager was Alfonso Ricciardi (who would later in 1962 briefly be Lazio technical director) and the Irpini won promotion after a playoff (Catania 1-0) but were then relegated due to charges of corruption.

D'Orazi then retired at 29.

He was a winger whose main satisfactions were playing in Serie A for Lazio and Serie B for Ternana. He will also always be remembered for taking part in the feat of Vienna as a kid.

Lazio Career

Season	Total games (goals)	Serie A	Coppa Italia	Roman War Championship	Other
1939-40	1	1	-	-	-
1940-41	4	3	1	-	-
1943-44	5 (1)	-	-	5 (1)	-
1944-45	7 (2)	-	-	3 (1)	4 (1)
Total	17 (3)	4	1	8 (2)	4 (1)