Euro 2000 final - Rotterdam... or anywhere.

July 2 2020.  The day of the Euro 2000 final in Rotterdam.  A tournament that I was lucky enough to have tickets for.  Games in Bruges and Amsterdam for the group games whetted the appetite but tickets for the final was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  As the tournament progressed and Italy went further it crossed my mind that I could actually see the Azzuri in a major international tournament, and the final would be the icing on the cake.  

Just the small matter of beating the host nation Holland stood in the way, and the odds were heavily stacked against them.  It went to a penalty shootout and the Azzuri had done it... they were in a major final and I would be there.

A flight into Amsterdam then a train to Rotterdam gave enough time to spend the day soaking up the atmosphere in the city centre. The day had such a buzz about it and fans mingled all over the city, not many people asked about my Wigan Athletic shirt.  This was the pre Premier League era and  'Little Wigan' were still relatively unknown in Italian and French homes.

On the quest for food my mate and I walked past restaurant after restaurant until we literally reached the ‘Other Side of the Tracks’.  We had hit the roughest part of Rotterdam and hastily retreated before anyone spotted us, and made it back to the relative safety of the French fans.

We then took the tram to De Kuip ( and sat behind ex Arsenal striker Alan Smith), and went into the stadium to find our seats were in the Italian end. It was written in the stars...

France ,who had beaten Italy on penalties two years before in the World Cup quarter-finals on the way to winning the World Cup, once again stood in the way.

When the opposition is Italy, however, with their revolving door of gifted players and steely resolve, it was never going to be easy.

Managed by Dino Zoff, this Azzurri side was efficient and compact, staying true to the old-school Catenaccio tactics, having conceded only two goals so far in the tournament.  They weren’t about to roll over for anyone. 

Finals are often nervous affairs with neither side wanting to make an early mistake. The fear of losing can far outweigh the desire to win. Italy were underdogs, but they produced a far more expansive display than had been anticipated and dominated possession for large spells.  

The game started furiously. Italy had plenty of early pressure with Roma’s Marco Delvecchio proving a nuisance up-front. Henry provided the French threat, unleashing a couple of trademark snapshots before being on the receiving end of several friendly tackles from the Italian midfield, the chief culprit among them being Luigi Di Biagio. 

But in truth, the final didn’t come alive until the second half when, in the 53rd minute, a moment of genius blew the final wide open.   Delvecchio – who was selected by manager Dino Zoff at the expense of both Alessandro Del Piero and Filippo Inzaghi - broke the deadlock.

The goal was orchestrated by the man who had provided Italy’s offensive creativity throughout the tournament - Francesco Totti.  With his back to goal just outside of the penalty area, and with seemingly little in the way of passing possibilities, Totti paused and drew in two French defenders before executing an inch-perfect backheeled through-ball that set Gianluca Pessotto free on the wing with France’s offside trap completely fooled. Pessotto’s accurate cross was guided in on the volley by Delvecchio.

Now, Italy had to protect their lead for 35 minutes – and injury time – to win their first European Championship for 32 years.  Zoff sent on Del Piero to act as a focal point for counter-attacks, and his plan proved effective as the substitute was sent clear on goal twice in the closing minutes. 

The striker, however, was somehow unable to hit the net on either occasion, putting one shot wide and hitting the other straight at Fabian Barthez.  He was left to rue those misses when, 15 seconds from the final whistle, substitute Sylvain Wiltord slid a 94th-minute equaliser underneath a despairing Francesco Toldo.

With 13 minutes of extra time played, the Italy defence was caught uncharacteristically playing around with possession deep in their own half.   Robert Pires nipped in and danced past two tackles on the left wing before dinking in a cross from close to the byline.   Striker David Trezeguet, who had recently signed for Juventus to become Del Piero’s new team-mate, was to be the man who crashed home to win the match and break Italian hearts.

For many, this was unfairly heralded as a victory of good over evil due to Zoff’s reliance on conservative tactics – ones that had been so successful in getting the Azzurri to the final. 

20 years on, Del Piero himself still says “Losing in the final really hurts, but that’s how life goes, We then played against France [in the final who we’d played] on a number of other competitions, where we had the opportunity to get even. Losing that match certainly hurt."

Del Piero says that the defeat still rankles and remains at a loss to explain how Italy threw the match away.

“I don’t know, even now,” he says. “When you lose matches like that, and the opposition scores the equaliser in the last minute, and then scores the golden goal, it blows your mind. It is really awful, you don’t want to believe it.

"From then on we had to face reality: we came really close to realising a dream, which did not come true. You wake up the day after, and try to be the best because, despite the previous match, you have to think about the future."

The Euros haven't been kind to Italy since then.   They failed to get out of the group stages in 2004, losing out on goal difference to Denmark.  In 2008 they lost on penalties in the Quarter finals to eventual winners Spain and faced the Spanish again in the 2012 final, but lost 4-0 in Kiev.

Italy gained a smidgen of revenge on Spain by eliminating them from the 2016 tournament in the Round of 16, but a quarter final defeat on penalties to Germany sent the Azzuri home early again.

21 years on from the despair in Rotterdam, can Italy finally go one better and be called the Best Team in Europe?  It will be a very tough task but one which always brings the best out of the Azzuri.

Gironimo - Riding the Very Terrible 1914 Tour of Italy by Tim Moore

Tim Moore first came to my attention in 2003 as the author of the excellent French Revolutions, a book that frequently features in many lists of top 10 cycling-related books covering his attempt to cycle the full Tour route in 2000.

This book about the Giro is a highly entertaining account of an unnecessarily difficult journey on an unsuitable bike by an ill-equipped rider – but it is exactly those factors that provide the stories that make the book what it is. It has to be that way to provide the sense of adventure and the extreme fluctuations in fortune, so that we can join him in wondering at the “ludicrous enormity of the task”.

What inspires anyone to undertake such a project you wonder as you start reading his journey beyond the desire to gain enough material to write a book.

The journey involved riding the route of the 1914 edition of the Giro d’Italia, which was chosen because a Google search convinced Tim that it was the hardest ever cycling Grand Tour. The statistics would certainly support that, eighty-one riders started the 1,964-mile race.  A 36-hour rainstorm erupted soon after the start, washing out roads. Eight appalling stages later, the average length of each being roughly the distance from Lake District to London, eight riders crossed the finish line.

The race set records for the longest ever single stage distance and stage time amongst others, but there were plenty of other hardships: road conditions, team rivalries, weather conditions, injuries, and locals putting nails on the road. The cyclist-hating public threw tacks on the road, although cycling fans weren’t much better: They threw vegetables at racers they didn’t like. Riders, meanwhile, rode across Italy on a network of white gravel roads astride rudimentary machines ill-suited to swift mountain descents and without the benefit of today’s understanding of nutrition or technology.

Once the year had been determined, the task was to find an appropriate and authentic old school machine to complete the picture of “old fashioned grit and old-fashioned kit”. The story of Moore acquiring his initial choice of bike makes for great reading, but eventually he does take a slightly easier option and plumps for a more complete Hirondelle No.7 Course sur Route.  However, there are still plenty of opportunities for mechanical mishaps and running repairs.

Tim Moore in period dress

Not content to merely write about it, Moore assembled his period-correct bicycle and rode the route himself, chronicling his beleaguered progress as he chased the ghost of Alfonso Calzolari, the workhorse cyclist who won the 1914 Giro. (And then lived to the age of 95.)  This is not merely about suffering, but about reclaiming the lost pure heart of road racing, the one before energy gels, titanium and coldly efficient pacing of the modern-day peloton.

Those of us made of less stern stuff would have baulked at the prospect of recreating Calzolari’s 1914 victory, but Moore opted to coerce his period Hirondelle into some semblance of life, encouraged by the authenticity of the time.  Resplendent in a wool jersey, wool shorts, ancient leather shoes, white cap and a pair of goggles he set about his task, ready for all the trials and tribulations that would follow.

One such example comes from the cork brake pads that are required for the wooden rims: they don’t really work, and they don’t last long on mountain descents. One solution was to create new brake blocks along the way from the corks of Prosecco bottles. The book is full of little anecdotes like this, repairs ‘on the go’ as Moore had to find innovative ways to keep his bike going and roadworthy.

The bike...before it was built by the author

From the Alps to the Adriatic the pair relive the bike race in all its misery and glory, on an adventure that is by turns bold, beautiful and recklessly incompetent.

Ultras by Tobias Jones

I have just finished reading this comprehensive book which focuses on the Italian Ultra scene and sheds light on the whole Ultra phenomenon.  


Ultras are often compared to punks, Hell’s Angels, hooligans or the South American Barras Bravas but they are a truly Italian entity.

In the late 60s and early 70s, teenage football fans rebelled against Italy’s sedate supporters’ clubs and went to stand, and sing, behind the goal. 

The word “ultra” implies “extreme”, “beyond” or “other”.  At its foundation, the movement was largely far-left, with names inspired by global partisan struggles. Petty criminals and political extremists were drawn to the terraces’ carnival atmosphere and the huge customer base. Most ultra groups are now fascist in inspiration and many have overlapped with organised crime. 

Ultras are comparable to, but different from, British football hooligans. They relish drinking and fighting, but are much more hierarchical and disciplined, with a sober strategic analysis of the group’s sporting, and economic, interests. Despite their reputation, there are ultra groups that are inspiring, charitable and inclusive.

Italy’s ultras are the most organised and violent fans in European football. 

Many groups have evolved into criminal gangs, involved in ticket touting, drug dealing and murder. The book identifies two of the biggest clubs in Italy as being the main players. The Irriducibili (The Die – Hards) of Lazio and The Drughi (taken from the Droogs of A Clockwork Orange) of Juventus.

In August 2019, the death of Fabrizio Piscitelli, the notorious former boss of Lazio’s Irriducibili, ended a 30-year career of thuggery, crime and extremism . He was nicknamed “Diabolik”, after a cartoon thief and assassin.

A man dressed as a jogger – wearing a cap and neck-scarf – ran past the bench and fired a 7.65 calibre pistol into Piscitelli’s left ear. He died almost instantly, sliding off the bench as the murderer ran off. It had all the hallmarks of a professional hit.

The murder brought to a close one of the most incredible careers in the history of Lazio’s ultras. The club’s fanbase has always been very politicised: during Italy’s “years of lead” (its extremist terrorism) in the 1970s, it was very common to see, among the white-and-sky-blue colours of Lazio supporters, many of Benito Mussolini’s symbols. It was an era in which Lazio Ultras became both victims and perpetrators of political assassinations.

The purist ultras, however, say they are insurgents fighting against a police state and modern football.  Only amongst ultras, they say, can you find belonging, community and a sacred concept of sport.  They champion not only their teams, but their forgotten suburbs.

Telling the story through the ultras, Tobias Jones crafts a compelling investigation into Italian society and its favourite sport. He writes about not just the ultras of some of Italy’s biggest clubs – Juventus, Torino, Lazio, Roma and Genoa -  but also about its lesser known ones from Cosenza and Catania.

The main thread throughout the book is the author going in search of a rounded picture, and Jones immersed himself in the world of the Cosenza ultras of Calabria, chiefly because they were a group that had always rejected fascism. The Cosenza ultras, cheerfully named I Nuclei Sconvolti (The Deranged Nuclei) are a riveting read. With nicknames like Drainpipe, Boozy Suzy, Chill and Skinny Monica they are colourfully portrayed.

But all are eclipsed by Padre Fadele, the monk who takes them all under his wing and encourages them to help immigrants and the homeless in soup kitchens.  He even leads the chanting at most home games. 

While the Cosenza ultras continue to dish out soup, the ‘Ndrangheta (Calabrian mafia) controlled Juve ultras, I Gobbi (the hunchbacks) are busy touting tickets received from the club in a blackmailed fuelled deal, threatening ground closing riots and supporters’ strikes if their demands are not met.

In a sinister nod to neo-fascist politics, the Gobbi banner is inscribed with its Bs back to front, so as to resemble 88, fascist code for HH (Heil Hitler).  

Quite a journey of fandom but a riveting read nonetheless.  

An Italian Christmas

Christmas is a major holiday in Italy which means Italians celebrate lots of great, unique Christmas traditions!  Across Italy, Natale tends to be a family-centred holiday, a time to stay at home (and eat!) with loved ones. But customs also vary from city to city, from exactly which dishes are served, to when to open presents, making every region an interesting place to enjoy the holidays.

In other countries, Thanksgiving (or even Halloween!) signals the start of the Christmas season. In Italy, though, Christmas officially kicks off with the Day of the Immaculate Conception of Mary on December 8. This is when decorations go up (both on the streets and inside Italian homes) and when some Christmas markets start.

Decorations and huge Christmas trees can be found in main piazzas, like in front of the Colosseum or in Milan’s Piazza Duomo, and Babbo Natale (Father Christmas, the Italian version of Santa Claus) spreads holiday cheer.

This holiday, which is both religious and state-sanctioned (meaning lots of offices and businesses will be closed on December 8), doesn’t have anything to do with the day of Mary’s conception. Instead, it celebrates the day when the Church decided that Mary was born without having the stain of original sin.

The eight days before Christmas, also known as the Novena, are filled with singing traditional songs around the neighbourhoods.  If you’re in Rome, southern Italy or Sicily, keep an eye out for the zampognari, or bagpipe players—they travel from the nearby mountains to play their merry folklore carols.

Along with the fancy lights, wreaths and trees, presepi (nativity scenes) are displayed in many churches and piazzas. Crafting these ornate works of art by hand remains an artisanal tradition in many parts of the country. In Naples they are world-famous for their hand-made presepi.  

To prepare and purify their bodies for Christmas Day, Italians avoid meat on la Vigilia (Christmas Eve). Although the idea is to eat lean, most indulge on multiple courses of fish.

After the family dinner, many Italians head to midnight Mass at their local church to celebrate. (Some Romans even head to the Vatican for Mass with the Pope!).

But traditions vary from city to city: Up north, in Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Dolomite Mountains, thrill-seekers ski down the slopes with torches at midnight to welcome Christmas.

After the “light” Christmas Eve dinner, on Christmas Day, Italians invite their family and friends for a large lunch that usually goes on all day. Many save up to have the most lavish celebration possible, serving up traditional dishes like pasta in brodo (pasta in broth), roasts and traditional desserts like panettone. 

Celebrations often extend into December 26 with the national holiday of Santo Stefano; families get together and eat leftover Christmas dishes and sweets.

The official end of the Christmas season, though, isn’t until January 6—the Day of the Epiphany, and the twelfth day of Christmas. On the eve of the Epiphany, families usually prepare a large dinner to mark the end of the holiday season; children are given candy or coal (usually made of black sugar), depending on if they were naughty or nice. After January 6, you’ll see Christmas markets close and decorations start to come down.

Gifts are commonly exchanged on Christmas Day after lunch—sometimes with the belief that Jesus has delivered them.  But some smaller, northern Italian cities believe that the blind Saint Lucia brings gifts for children on December 13, so they open them that morning.

 
Other families may wait until January 6. The Epiphany is when la befana—a kind of “good witch” who is believed to have followed the wise men, but got lost—drops off presents. La befana is a particular tradition in Rome and Bologna, where the main piazzas often host fun activities for children; in Venice, locals believe that la befana arrives every year by boat! 

Regardless of when they open their presents, many Italians keep their wrapped gifts on display on the pyramid-shaped ceppo, along with candles and other decorations.

Among the traditions, customs and other rituals typical of Christmas season are:

• The ceppo known as The Tree of Light is a wooden frame with a pyramid shape; it is several feet high and supports many shelves in its several tiers. The cepo has a manger scene and on the shelves above are placed small gifts of fruit, candy and presents. It is also beautifully decorated with pinecones, coloured paper, little candles and pennants. At the top is placed a star or a small doll.

• Urn of Fate:This is a wrapped present for each family member. If you get a present with your name on it, you keep it; otherwise, you try again with other.

• In the Vatican City, the people go to the square at noon on Christmas day to receive the Pope's blessing, he appears at his balcony.

• Another tradition is the burning of the Yule log, which must stay alight until New Year's Day.

The most significant meal of the Christmas Day is the lunch or il pranzo. In the northern Italy dishes such as: 

• lo zampone - the skin of the lower pig leg, including the toe little bones, filled with minced meat and sausages
• il cotechino - pig's foot stuffed with spiced minced meat
• Sausages made of pig's intestines
• Smothered in lentils
• Turkey stuffed with chestnuts
• Lamb is also enjoyed with mashed potato and lentils.

In Rome and the southern Italy the traditional dish of Christmas Eve is "Capitone" a big female eel, roasted, baked or fried. On the table we also can find delicacies such as:

• Tortellini in chicken stock
• Crostini with liver pâté
• l’agnello - lamb accompanied with vegetables, mashed potato and lentils.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

Desserts such as: 

• torrone - Nougat
• il panettone - the Milanese fruitcake filled with candied fruit
• Gold bread - the traditional cake
• il pandoro - similar to il panettone, only without fruits or raisins
• il panforte - Gingerbread with hazelnuts, honey and almonds

The traditional drinks are:

• Vin brule - mulled wine
• Bombardino - Italian version of eggnog
• Punch of rum, mandarin and orange flavours
  
  Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo

S.P.A.L. on the march

 

I wrote an article last year about the possibility of Crotone getting promoted to Serie A, which they did, and the trend of ‘unfashionable’ clubs earning the right to play against the big boys. Well, it looks like it may happen again this season as one team are currently in the automatic promotion places in Serie B as we approach the business end once again.

S.P.A.L. 2013, better known as Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor (or simply SPAL) are based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna. They have played there home matches since 1928 at Stadio Paolo Mazza, named after Paolo Mazza (chairman of the club from 1946 to 1977).

The club was founded in 1907 as Circolo Ars et Labor by the Salesian priest Pietro Acerbis, then was renamed in 1913 as Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor.

They are the club that gave legendary Italian coach Fabio Capello his first taste of professional football at the tender age of 18 during a halcyon period when the club had a regular place in the top flight of Italian football. Under the stewardship of President Paolo Mazza, the Biancazzurri finished fifth in Serie A in the 1959-60 season and contested the Italian cup final in 1962 narrowly losing 2-1 to Napoli, having crushed Juventus 4-1 in the semi-final.

Former players reads like a who’s who of Italian football - Edy Reja, Carlo Mazzone, Osvaldo Bagnoli, Armando Picchi, Ottavio Bianchi and Luigi Del Neri have all plyed their trade with the Biancazzurri.

Reja and Capello were an intrinsic part of the team’s midfield during the mid sixties and both were later honoured for their achievements at the club’s centenary celebrations in 2007.  Bianchi was the man who brought Maradona to Napoli and centre-half Carlo Mazzone coached Ascoli, Roma and Brescia.  Osvaldo Bagnoli on the other hand, will forever be remembered as the tactician who masterminded the glorious 1985 scudetto winning team from Verona , the last time a provincial side got their hands on Italian football’s biggest prize.
 

Stadio Paolo Mazza

 

 

But as the 1970’s began, SPAL’s fortunes took a turn for the worse and the club suffered successive relegations to find itself cut adrift in the barren wastelands of Serie C.  Towards the end of the decade and Mazza’s reign at the helm, SPAL managed to claw back up to Serie B but by the start of the eighties it had returned to the lower reaches where it has stayed ever since, apart from an all too brief return to Serie B in 1992. By now financial mismanagement was starting to catch up with the club from Ferrara and in 2005 it was declared bankrupt.

The saviour came in the shape of businessman Gianfranco Tomasi and the club was renamed SPAL1907. By the time of their centenary in 2007, the club’s very existence was again in jeopardy and as former players returned to Ferrara to mark the special occasion, it served as a harsh reminder to their loyal followers of just how much the club had given to the game in Italy and just how bad things had become.

In the summer of 2012, after suffering a second bankruptcy, the club was refounded for the third time as Società Sportiva Dilettantistica Real S.P.A.L. and would begin life in Serie D.

In July 2013, SPAL merged with the other local club in Ferrara, Giacomense, owned by the Colombarini family.

The new team, born from the merger, was named S.P.A.L 2013, with the Colombarini’s transferring the structure of Giacomense to SPAL with Walter Mattioli stepping in as the new club president.

Under the new management, the Biancazurri quickly found their feet and, with two promotions in three seasons, they restored the football pride in the city of Ferrara as new ambitions arise with fans already dreaming big.

Coach Leonardo Semplici enjoys an attacking brand of football and, along with President Mattioli, has stated that the club’s strategy doesn’t involve big spending, but rather developing certain ideas and programs to make a competitive team with a humble identity that relies on, above all, teamwork.

Promotion from Lego Pro was secured last season and the club’s first campaign in Serie B for over 25 years was meant to be one of consolidation.  Little did they know that, with goals from ex Leeds man Mirco Antenucci, Milan loanee Gianmarco Zigoni and veteran ex Lazio man Sergio Floccari then the dream may well become a reality.

The Story of Calcio Storico

 

 

Calcio fiorentino (also known as calcio storico "historic football") is an early form of football that originated in 16th-century Italy. Once widely played, the sport is thought to have originated in the Piazza Santa Croce in Florence. Here it became known as the giuoco del calcio fiorentino ("Florentine kick game") or simply calcio; which is now also the name for association football in the Italian language. The game may have started as a revival of the Roman sport of harpastum.

Calcio was reserved for rich aristocrats who played every night between Epiphany and Lent. Even popes, such as Clement VII, Leo XI and Urban VIII were known to play the sport in Vatican City. The games were known to get violent as teams vied with each other to score goals. In a historically famous occasion, the city of Florence held a match on February 17, 1530, in defiance of the imperial troops sent by Charles V, as the city was under siege. In 1574 Henry III of France attended a game of "bridge fighting" – put on in his honour during a visit to Venice; the king is recorded as saying: "Too small to be a real war and too cruel to be a game".

Over the centuries, there have been numerous sources that testify to the presence of the Calcio Storico Fiorentino as early as the 15th century. The Florentines usually found themselves in the streets of the city or in the main squares starting matches like the ones you can see today during the re-enactment. The occupation of public spaces by young people was regulated, later, to avoid disturbances and problems in the organisation of the city; in this way the squares became the officially designated places to play football. The balls were often handmade with the outside made of leather and the interior filled with rags or sometimes with animal bladders filled with air.

Throughout the Medici age, what had been a popular pastime was reorganised and became a discipline practiced by the noble classes. Florence began to be the scene of numerous clashes between the people, often divided into teams, and headed by the most illustrious personalities of the Florentine families. The noble character gave rise to the term of Football in Livery, referring to the livery and elegant clothes worn by the players. The official rules of calcio were published for the first time in 1580 by Giovanni de' Bardi, a Florentine count.

The period designated for the games was generally that of Carnival; the famous game on 17th February 1530 in particular went down in history, when Florence was besieged by the army of Charles V. The Florentines, despite the seriousness of the situation, started nonetheless the Calcio Florentino game in Piazza Santa Croce!

The Calcio Storico Fiorentino players could, therefore, take revenge on those nobles who lived the game as an aesthetic moment in which to show off their precious clothes thereby losing the recreational and authentic aspect from which this street sport was born. The citizens of the aristocratic families, in fact, organised the games in the most important parts of Florence and added that a procession in honour of the race. Residents were invited to attend as spectators to watch from the stands built around the city square. All the districts of the Calcio Storico Fiorentino participate in the parade, although the final only includes two teams.

 

Piazza Santa Croce

Interest in Calcio  waned in the early 17th century. However, in 1930 it was reorganized as a game in Kingdom of Italy under Mussolini. The game was widely played by amateurs in streets and squares using handmade balls made of cloth or animal skin^. Today, three matches are played each year in Piazza Santa Croce in Florence in the 3rd week of June. A team from each quartiere of the city is represented:

• Santa Croce / Azzurri (Blues)
• Santa Maria Novella / Rossi (Reds)
• Santo Spirito / Bianchi (Whites)
• San Giovanni / Verdi (Greens)

After playing each other in two opening games, the two overall winners go into the final which occurs each year on June 24; this is San Giovanni (St. John)'s Day, the Patron Saint of Florence. The modern version of calcio allows tactics such as head-butting, punching, elbowing, and choking but sucker punches and kicks to the head are banned. It is also prohibited for more than one player to attack an opponent. Any violation leads to being thrown out of the game.

Matches last 50 minutes and are played on a field covered in sand, twice as long as it is wide ( approximately 80x40 meters ). A white line divides the field into two identical squares, and a goal net runs the width of each end. Each team has 27 players and no substitutions are allowed for injured or expelled players. The teams are made up of four Datori indietro (goalkeepers), 3 Datori innanzi (fullbacks), 5 Sconciatori (halfbacks), 15 Innanzi o Corridori (forwards). The Captain and Standard Bearer's tent sits at the centre of the goal net. They do not actively participate in the game, but can organise their teams and sometimes act as referees, mainly to calm down their players or to stop fights.

The referee and his six linesmen referee the match in collaboration with the Judge Commissioner, who remains off the field. The referee, above everyone else, is the Master of the Field. He makes sure the games runs smoothly, stepping into the field only to maintain discipline and reestablish order in case of a fight on the field.

The game starts when the Pallaio  throws and kicks the ball towards the centre line, then at the first whistle and at first the ball rests on field, 15 forwards or Corridori begin fighting in a wild mixed martial arts match- punching, kicking, tripping, hacking, tackling, and wrestling with each other in an effort designed to tire opponents' defences, but which often descends into an all-out brawl, trying to put, pin down, force to submit as many players possible; once there are enough incapacitated players, the other teammates come and swoop up the ball and head to the goal. Then followed by a small cannon firing; the shot announces the beginning of the contest.

From this moment on, the players try by any means necessary to get the ball into the opponents' goal also called caccia. The teams change sides with every caccia or goal scored. It's important to shoot with precision, because every time a player throws or kicks the ball above the net, the opposing team is awarded with half a caccia. The game ends after 50 minutes and the team which scored the most cacce wins.

The prize is also interesting, because along with the Palio di Siena, the winning team used to receive a Chianina, a type of cow. However, the prize has been reduced to a free dinner for the winning team; the players earn no other compensation.   

More popular than ever, Calcio Storico Fiorentino has kept the form of a historical event amongst the most important ones of the city and region.

 

The Anglo Italian Cup

The Checkatrade Trophy has taken its fair share of stick this season, and rightly so. But another tournament caused a stir a few decades ago and was kindly put out of its misery.

The initial Anglo-Italian Cup was played as an annual tournament from 1970 to 1973. The first final was abandoned early due to violence, with Swindon Town declared the winners. During its time the tournament had a reputation for violence between fans, but it returned as a semi-professional tournament from 1976 before it was abolished again in 1986.

In 1992, the Anglo-Italian Cup was re-established as a professional cup for second tier clubs - it replaced the English Full Members Cup.  Strictly professional, and open to clubs from Serie B in Italy and the Endsleigh Insurance Football League in England, the competition reverted back to its original name and format. 

Scheduled to be played throughout the domestic season, it felt like a proper cup competition.  This version of the Cup ran for four seasons, until 1996, before being discontinued due to fixture congestion.

 

 

 

 

It did have a certain romance about it (on paper at least), no other club competition in the world could throw together potential couples such as; Pisa v Middlesborough, Portsmouth v Fiorentina, and Blackpool v Verona.

Following a slightly odd English-only preliminary round, the traditional fixtures between two groups of four, an English semi-final, Italian semi-final and Anglo-Italian final, March 27, 1993, saw Derby County outclassed by Cremonese at Wembley Stadium. An impressive crowd of 37,024 saw the Italians prevail 3-1. The Anglo-Italian Cup was back.

In one of his last games before leaving for Barcelona, George Hagi helped Brescia dispose of Notts County in the 1993-94 final. In front of just over 17,000 fans at Wembley, under half of the previous year’s attendance, interest appeared to be waning again.

While attendance figures were down, more worryingly, the number of headlines reporting Anglo-Italian crowd violence was up. With the Hillsborough disaster and the tragic events at Heysel painfully fresh in the memory, crowd control and crowd behaviour were under scrutiny. Away from the cameras and spotlight of top-flight fixtures, too many fans were using the Anglo-Italian Cup as an excuse to release some pent upanger and aggression. Also hampering the competitions existence, were a number of clubs complaining at the number of fixtures.

In what was a second to last throw of the Anglo-Italian dice, Notts County went one better in 1994-95, defeating an Ascoli side including Oliver Bierhoff, 2-1.


The Anglo-Italian cup took its final bow in 1995-96. Genoa triumphed 5-2 in a Wembley final against Port Vale while the group stages had thrown up some truly unique match-ups in which both Brescia and Salernitana won on a cold and wet night in Stoke, Southend Utd went as far south as Salernitana, Ipswich Town rolled back the European glory years as they hosted Reggiana, and Luton Town were thrashed by Perugia and Genoa. It was nonsensical, naughty, and yet oddly captivating.

Joe Baker - A Brit Abroad

Joe Baker

 Joe Baker was an English international footballer. He was the first player to have played for England without having previously played in the English football league system and for scoring over 100 goals in both the English and Scottish leagues.

Born in Liverpool to Scottish parents on 17 July 1940, Baker’s life on the move began almost from birth.  The son of a sailor, he moved from Merseyside to the Scottish border town of Wishaw, Lanarkshire when he was six weeks old.

He remained in Scotland for the remainder of his childhood - and many would claim his international affinity would have been more closely suited to the tartan of Scotland than England.

He spoke with a broad Scottish accent, but Baker’s club career could actually have begun in England. He spent a month on trial at Chelsea but was not offered a permanent contract.

After that Baker returned to Scotland and in 1957 joined Edinburgh side Hibernian, where he remained for four years.

It was during that first period that Baker decided to move on from Hibs and experience football in another league – but it would not be in England.

Instead, the diminutive forward opted for a move to Italy and Serie A, where he joined fellow Brit, and some may say ‘fellow Scot’, Denis Law at Torino.

In 1961, Baker was transferred to Torino for £75,000, after the Hibs board refused to give him a £5 wage increase from his existing wage of £12 a week.  Despite scoring a winning goal in a Turin derby match against Juventus, his time at the Italian club was short and almost ended in tragedy. Baker was involved in a serious car crash, which meant that he needed life-saving surgery and spent over a month on a drip feed.  

It was a generally unhappy spell as Baker did not like the press intrusion, which meant that he and teammate Denis Law spent most of their time in their Turin apartment.

 

Law, Peronace and Baker

 It is fair to say the time spent in Italy was on mixed for Baker and he struggled to make an impact.

There were off-the-field incidents with paparazzi – including one infamous incident where he knocked one unfortunate member of the press into a Venetian canal.  His tumultuous time in Turin came to an end in 1962

It was a prolific career for the striker, who upon leaving for Torino in 1961 had notched up an impressive tally of 102 in 117 league games, and 159 goals in all competitions – and famously once scoring all four goals in a 4-3 Scottish Cup victory over city rivals Hearts.

In later years he represented Nottingham Forest, Sunderland, Hibernian again and Raith Rovers – as well as two brief stints in charge of Albion Rovers.

Baker passed away in 2003 at the age of 63.

 

Below is an article, written by Baker, for Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly, in December 1961. In it, he talks about his experience in Italy and the reasons he went there.

My Life in Italy by Joe Baker

“JOHN CHARLES, apparently, is thinking of making this his last season in Italian football. Well, big John has had a good run there, and perhaps he has had enough. Jimmy Greaves? Somehow things don’t seem to have worked out for him. I had hoped he would settle in as Denis Law and I have done. Our combined verdict on this still-new-to-us life in Italy is … it’s terrific!

Perhaps we have been lucky. But even when I saw the advantage of moving to Italy—mostly financial, of course—I never dreamed it would be anything like it is. Where in Scotland—or England—would a team get home from an away game at 2am…to find a packed railway platform with thousands, yes, thousands, of fans waiting to greet them? It happened to us.

I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Or where would you find, for an ordinary club practice match, more than 7,000 fans yelling their heads off at a goal in such a game? That’s Italy … and Italian Soccer fans!

Italian football? Well, I’m living and learning and, having had one sobering taste of discipline, I can say I’m really beginning to understand the differences between the way we played it at home and how I have to now.

What one has to get used to, particularly as a centre-forward is much closer marking than at home. I call the wing-half, left or right, who has to mark me, the “gluepot”.

The system in Italy is for the centre-half to lie behind the entire defence, on patrol for trouble. Thus I have a wing-half covering me.

Italian football is rather more defensive than ours. This is especially true of visiting teams for the idea is to try to hold a point. That is a generalisation, teams do vary in style to some extent. I don’t mind the closer marking now, particularly as alongside me there is Law.

If I can lure my “shadow” for a “walk” it creates a space which Denis can move into with the result he alone can bring.

I suppose the recent scenes in the match between Roma and Birmingham have had people at home throwing up their hands and exclaiming: “Those foreigners, the way they play football!”

I wasn’t at that game. That same night I was playing for Torino against Manchester City at Maine Road where, l am proud to say, the Baker brothers, Gerry for City and I, got four goals between us, with a crowd of relatives looking on.

Let me say this about the differences in the game back home and in Italy. It took me some time to get over the checking and obstruction. But you do NOT hope to get the crash-bang tackling which we so readily accept back home.

And you do NOT get the injuries, at least nothing like the serious ones, as you do in British football. A player breaking a leg in Italy is unheard of, yet it is almost a weekly happening at home. So, rules or no rules, there is something to be said for the way the Continental game is played.

I was niggled when I first met the obstruction tactics. I got to such a pitch that, against Lanerossi, I wasn’t able to control myself. To my regret I took a swing at an opponent and was sent off for the automatic two-game suspension. May I add that I was more than normally provoked.

Until that day I had never had a referee even question my game, wherever I had played. It was a bitter lesson, but I learned from it.

Training in Italy is very different from that at home, and nothing like as hard. We have the heat to contend with, of course, and it would be foolish to train as I used to do. But discipline is far more strict.

We train mostly in the late afternoon. We can go to the ground in the morning for showers, but the main session begins later. It comes easy to me. No lapping. When you run it is part of an exercise. And there is far more ball-work, which makes training interesting all the time.

For three nights before a match we have to be in bed by ten-thirty. This is a strict rule which we—Denis, Hugo and l—have no trouble in keeping. I must here introduce Hugo. But for him I might not be out here. We are cousins, have been pals for years.

When Torino came for me I realised that the toughest part of the move would be that of being on my own, knowing nothing of the language. So Torino took Hugo, too. It is written into my contract that he stays with me—Denis Law hadn’t signed then.

Now Hugo has a job in a local insurance. We three share a flat but soon we hope to move into a handsome villa, overlooking the city. Another club training rule which is different from any at home is that we must, repeat MUST, sleep for two hours before a game. At first I scorned this. I wasn’t used to it and had difficulty in dropping off.

Now I know it is an excellent idea, and they have to knock extra loud to waken me. I feel better for it and more ready to go when the time comes. Before a big game we may be collected together in a hotel for days to ensure that we get maximum rest.

There are no language difficulties at our pre-match talks because Gigi Peronace is usually around to translate for Denis and I. But even without him I don’t think we would be hampered. Soccer tactics scan to have a universal language.

A word about fans. The Italian types, for all their fanaticism, are not the fierce partisans that the Scots are. And they are funny in their way.

For instance, those practice games at which they will turn up in force … it shook me to hear practice goals getting an ovation, particularly when some of these games are defence v attack, with seven players on the attacking side!

Possibly because we are fair-haired, Denis Law and I are easily spotted when we are out in town. And we are still something of a novelty. But it is fatal for us to stop if we are taking a stroll.

Before we know where we are a great crowd surges round, some for autographs, but mostly they just stand and stare! It can be very embarrassing, too, to be having a meal and to look round to see dozens of fans pressed against the restaurant window. But it is all very friendly.

My greatest night so far is the one when we beat Juventus, our greatest rivals. I managed to sneak past John Charles to get the winner. You should have seen what happened afterwards!

For hours that evening the traffic was at a dead stop. Thousands of Torino fans filed behind a boy tolling a most mournful bell as he led a series of black coffins with the word “Juventus” on one and the names of Charles and other Juventus players on the them!

That gives you an idea of the fantastically fervid atmosphere for soccer in Italy. To me, a new boy and a foreigner, it is a big challenge. But it is simply great and I haven’t had a moment of regret about my move.”