March 17, 1912: Roman Lazio 0-3

Simon Basten
Mar 17
3 min read

Four out of four

Lazio win their fourth consecutive game fairly comfortably despite a goalless first half

The season so far

The Third Category regional leagues took place in 1912. The Italian Football Federation still did not allow teams from the southern league to play for the scudetto (this would start from the next season) so for the moment Lazio had to face Audace Esperia, Juventus Roma, Fortitudo and Alba in the Lazio third category league. The games were played between March and May due to the more favourable weather conditions.

The Biancocelesti had already played three matches, beating Fortitudo 6-0, Juventus Roma 7-0 and Audace Esperia 5-0.

The match: Sunday, March 17, 1912, Campo dei Due Pini, Rome

Lazio, victorious again today, showed that they are in superb form. In the four matches they have played so far, their excellent attacking line has scored a total of 21 goals. At the same time, their defence has never allowed opposing forwards to find the net guarded by the excellent Lorenzo Gaslini, who has hardly been called into action.

It is not unreasonable to predict that, if the team continues as it has begun, the title of champions of Lazio will once again be theirs—a title they have held since the championship was first established.

The match was played at the Due Pini ground and attracted great interest from a large crowd. The first half ended without any goals despite Lazio’s clear superiority, because Roman, playing with the wind in their favour, stayed tightly packed in defence. A few rare individual runs brought the ball into Lazio’s half, but without forcing Gaslini to make any real intervention.

Soon afterward, however, play returned to Roman’s half, where the red-and-yellow players worked hard together to protect their goal. Twenty minutes into the second half, after a foul in the penalty area, the referee awarded Lazio a penalty. Fernando Saraceni took the kick. The ball hit the goalkeeper and bounced back into play, but just as Marcello Consiglio was about to shoot, he was challenged roughly. A second penalty was awarded, and this time Saraceni successfully converted it.

Shortly afterward Consiglio scored a second goal, followed by a third, again through his own effort. Lazio’s fourth goal was disallowed by the referee for offside. The match therefore ended with Lazio winning 3–0.

Who played for Roman

Serventi, Grassi, Ferrari, Bowden, Telfener, Pedoni, O'Connor, Luzzato, Crumpt, Bompiani, Borsarelli

Who played for Lazio

Gasilini, Levi II, Giusti, Zucchi II, Fioranti, Levi I, Coraggio, Saraceni I, Corelli, Consiglio, Gaia IV

Referee: Meille (according to Il Messaggero it was Lissoni)

Goals: (in the second half), Saraceni I (pen), Consiglio, Consiglio

What happened next

Lazio easily won the tournament with 18 points winning all the games except one. They later went on to win the Easter Cup in April beating Roman 2-0 and the Ancherani Cup beating Pro Roma 11-0.

Six players topped the appearances this year playing every game: Consiglio, Coraggio, Fioranti, Gaia IV, Levi I and Saraceni I who was also top scorer with 21 goals.

Let’s talk about Guido Levi I

Guido Levi was born in Rome on March 31, 1888. Brother of Mario, the first news of him playing for Lazio is from 1910. He was a goalkeeper but since in goal Lazio had first Luc Jaggi and then Lorenzo Gaslini, he played occasionally as a defender. His last appearances were in the 1912-13 season where he played the semi-final against Naples. From what we know, he made 16 appearances for Lazio.

A good athlete and cyclist, Guido volunteered as a soldier in the 7th Alpini Regiment and was later promoted to sergeant in the 5th. In 1908 he was declared a deserter and, after turning himself in, was sentenced to four months and demoted to private by the Military Tribunal of Milan.

On May 22, 1915, he was mobilized. On September 6, 1916, he was seriously wounded in combat. After recovering, he was assigned to assault units and, for his heroic conduct, was once again promoted to the rank of sergeant in the 3rd Alpini Regiment of the Fenestrelle Battalion.

At the end of the war, decorated for the 1915–18 war campaign, he settled in Sanremo. During the 1923–24 season, by then thirty-five years old and having briefly returned to Rome, he played a few matches as a goalkeeper with the third team.

He had an immense love for Lazio.