Mario Raffo was born in Rome on January 20, 1894. He started playing in Lazio's youth teams and debuted in the first team in 1912. He was part of the legendary squad that twice reached the national finals against Pro Vercelli and Casale. In 1914 he played for the reserves but a year later, during the first World War, he became one of the most important players and was part of the team that played a few unofficial games, helping to keep sport alive in the eternal city. He was certainly on the pitch on December 22 1916 for the Coppa di Natale played against Juventus Romana which ended 4-1 for the Biancocelesti and he scored two goals. In 1919 he won the Alberto Canalini tournament and was the first choice left winger for Lazio until 1921 when he abandoned active sport and started working for the club.
He was not very tall, 1.67 metres, but he was a quality player and a great winger. Not much else is known about him.
In total, he made 57 appearances with 17 goals for Lazio, but there were probably more games and more goals.
Lazio Career
Season | Total games (goals) | Roman 3rd Category | National Champ. | Roman 2nd Category | Roman 1st Category | Other |
1911-12 | 2 (1) | 1 (1) | - | - | 1 | |
1912-13 | 1 (1) | - | 1 (1) | - | - | |
1913-14 | 8 (1) | - | 4 | - | 4 (1) | |
1914-15 | 4 | - | 3 | - | 1 | |
1915-16 | 2 | - | - | 2 | - | |
1916-17 | 6 (2) | - | - | - | 2 | 4 (2) |
1917-18 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
1919-20 | 17 (5) | - | 12 (3) | - | - | 5 (2) |
1920-21 | 16 (7) | - | 16 (7) | - | - | - |
Total | 57 (17) | 1 (1) | 36 (11) | 2 | 2 | 16 (5) |
Sources