Season
Background
On July 25, 1943, Mussolini was overthrown by King Victor Emmanuel III, imprisoned in a secret place and replaced by Marshal Pietro Badoglio, thus ending the 20-year fascist regime and removing from office all those who had held positions in the regime; on the same day, Marquis Luigi Ridolfi Vay da Verrazzano, president of the F.I.G.C., also resigned. Inevitably, the structure of football collapsed and the teams released their players, in most cases not organizing training sessions during the summer of 1943; however, many players continued to train independently of the clubs, allowing the game to survive despite the absence of an organization behind it. Meanwhile, after confusing diplomatic maneuvers, Badoglio and the King decided to accept the armistice imposed by the Allies: Italy surrendered, signing it on September 3, later made public on September 8. Soccer never stopped in Italy, and friendly matches continued to be played throughout the peninsula amid the war and bombing. [4]
In the fall, on November 27, the federation, which was governed by the Republic of Salò in the north, announced in a special communiqué that the 1943-1944 football championship would be played through a mixed system, with Serie A, B and C clubs playing in a single tournament, divided into regional groups, and then a single group between the finalists. [4] Even before the federal communiqué, the Direttorio di Zona was planning to organize an independent championship, which it intended to call the "Campionato Regionale di 1ª Categoria", which would award the title of Roman Champion. [5] The news of the official resumption of the championship was greeted with great enthusiasm, and the organization of three football championships began in the capital: the Boys' Championship, intended for the youngest players, the 2nd Category Championship, and the 1st Category Championship, the winner of which would win the title of Roman Champion. [6] The initial organization of the first category was decreed by the Direttorio XI Zona, [5] a name adopted by the Direttorio in 1934 with the inclusion of Lazio in the federal championship; [5] in collaboration with engineer Ottorino Barassi, the Direttorio opened registration to all teams in the first three divisions of the Italian league; thus, eight teams initially registered: Lazio and Roma (Serie A), Mater (Serie B), Ala Italia, Alba, Littorio and Vigili del Fuoco (Serie C), and La Disperata, which had just won promotion to Serie C by winning the 1942-1943 Lazio First Division championship. A ninth team, Elettronica, asked to participate, but the Direttorio initially decided not to admit them. [7] [8] Later, Trastevere joined Elettronica in appealing to the Direttorio to be included in the first division championship, and the appeals committee, meeting on the evening of December 1, decided to grant the two clubs' request, increasing the number of participating teams from eight to ten. [9] [10] By December 4, everything was in place for the first Roman War Championship to be played. The only changes in the days leading up to the championship were the names: the Gruppo Sportivo Ala Italia changed its name to Società Sportiva Tirrenia, while the Gruppo Sportivo Littorio adopted the name Società Sportiva Avia. [11]
Championship
At the same time as the invasion of France, the Allies occupied Rome (June 4) and, within a few weeks, the rest of central Italy. As mentioned above, the city of Rome, being an open city, was relatively unaffected by the war; the main problems that arose were the possibility of bombing (an eventuality to which the Direttorio responded by allowing the referee to order a brief suspension of the game in the event of an air alert, and only if the alert posed a real danger to the players and the public) and the lack of playing fields, especially those used by the military stationed in the city. [5] This second difficulty repeatedly forced teams to play the rounds over several days (usually between Saturday and Sunday), sharing the few available fields and also playing at unusual times. [5] Among the most frequently used facilities were the Stadio della Rondinella, the Motovelodromo Appio, the Montesacro field and the Apollodoro field; the Stadio Nazionale , which was initially accessible, became rarely available after the Anzio landing until it was requisitioned; Roma thus had to play the remaining matches at the Motovelodromo Appio, [12] as did Lazio, who often played at the Rondinella.
The tournament officially began on December 4, 1943, with the match Avia-Vigili del Fuoco 2-0: the first goal was scored by Elio Bianchi in the 32nd minute of the first half. [13] The other scheduled matches followed on December 5, with the exception of Alba-Lazio 0-4, played on December 8. The second day, played on December 11, was marked by two big wins, which were not uncommon during the tournament: Lazio defeated Elettronica 7-0 at home, with Lombardini scoring a hat-trick, while M.A.T.E.R. defeated Trastevere 9-2 away, with a hat-trick from Pisani and a brace from Marcello Pieri (III); [13] four of the Pieri brothers, Enrico (I), Nicola (II), Marcello (III) and Pieri (V), played for M.A.T.E.R. [14] In the third round, M.A.T.E.R. recorded another big victory, a 7-1 win over Elettronica, while Lazio and Roma won against Vigili del Fuoco and Trastevere respectively; on the fourth day, Trastevere got its first point by drawing 3-3 with Avia, while Roma overcame Elettronica, in the match played on Christmas Eve, 8-1 with 5 goals from Amedeo Amadei; Lazio defeated M.A.T.E.R., thus confirming the trend of the two main Capitoline clubs, which had collected as many victories in the first four days. [15] Between the fourth and fifth day of the first round, the Gruppo Sportivo La Disperata changed its name to Società Sportiva Juventus, [16] and Lazio and Roma finished the fifth round (the first of 1944) in a draw: 1-1 between Lazio and Juventus, 2-2 between Roma and M.A.T.E.R. [17]
The distance between the two leaders and the runners-up remained unchanged at 2 points due to the draw of Tirrenia. [17] On the sixth day, the first Rome Derby was played: both teams had some problems with their attacking line, and Lazio had to play without their starting goalkeeper Uber Gradella, who was disqualified. [18] The match was played at the Stadio Nazionale in front of 13,000 fans, and although Lazio played the better game, according to the press, the match ended in a draw: a goal by Manola (8') was followed by a goal by Amadei (19'). [19] Tirrenia, taking advantage of the draw between Lazio and Roma, won 5-0 against Juventus (4 goals by Perugini). [17] After this match, Oreste Roccasecca (II) left Roma for Vigili del Fuoco: he became the only player in all of Italy to play for two different teams in the wartime championship. [14] On the seventh day, the match between Lazio and Tirrenia ended 1-1: Koenig's first goal for Lazio (71') was followed by Celestini's goal a minute later, leaving Roma, who had beaten Avia 2-0 the day before, alone at the top of the table. For the first time, the top two teams were separated and one of them left the other in first place. [20] The next day, both Lazio and Roma won their matches (against Avia and Alba), as did Tirrenia, who beat Trastevere 5-2. Tirrenia, in 3rd place with 12 points, was already 4 points ahead of fourth-placed M.A.T.E.R. and Juventus. [20] The first round ended in two halves: three games were played on January 30th, while the remaining two (Alba-Avia and Vigili del Fuoco-Roma) were played on February 13th. The second of these matches was suspended because of the improper behavior of the player Glauco Signorini, right wing of Vigili del Fuoco, who threatened the referee Giuseppe Fois (one of the main referees of the league, former referee of Serie A in the pre-war period) to the point that he was forced to end the match in the 85th minute with the score 2-0 for Roma; the Direttorio later homologated this result. [21]
The second round began on February 27, 1944, the 10th matchday: Lazio and Roma were again level on points, as Roma's draw with Juventus was matched by Lazio's 3-0 win over Alba; Tirrenia missed the chance to move within a point of the top two, losing 1-0 at home to M.A.T.E.R.. [21] The 11th day saw another defeat for Tirrenia, who lost 4-2 to Roma, while Lazio beat Elettronica 6-1; the other matches ended in three draws that did not really change the standings. [22] The 12th round saw two more wins for Lazio and Roma, against Vigili del Fuoco and Trastevere respectively; Tirrenia also returned to winning ways, and Alba, with a 2-1 win over Juventus, joined Elettronica at the bottom of the standings with 6 points. [22] In the following round, both Roma and Lazio won, while Tirrenia drew at home against Alba, thus increasing its distance from the leaders; Elettronica, defeated by Roma, remained in last place. [23] The 14th day saw the final separation between Lazio and Roma: the bianco-celesti defeated Juventus 4-0, while the giallo-rossi drew 1-1 with M.A.T.E.R.; these results were decisive, as they gave Lazio the points advantage that allowed them to win the championship at the end of the tournament. [23] In the other matches, Tirrenia won the match against Vigili del Fuoco, while Alba returned to the bottom of the table, losing the direct match against Trastevere. [23] The derby between Lazio and Roma, played on the 15th day, again ended in a 0-0 draw. In front of a crowd of 18,000, the game was poorly played by both teams, due to the weather conditions, characterized by a strong and hot wind, which weakened the players and made them less agile. [24] Roma goalkeeper Guido Masetti was injured after saving a shot from Michele Andreolo, dislocating his shoulder: he was therefore replaced by left-back Paolo Jacobini, while Masetti moved to the left wing. [24]
Trastevere's first lineup problems began against Vigili del Fuoco, who fielded only 9 players and lost 5-1; Tirrenia had won 3-0 against Juventus, but the game was later canceled due to a technical error by referee Cappucci and rescheduled for July 2. [25] On the 17th, Trastevere again had line-up problems and could only field 10 players: they lost 9-3 to Tirrenia in the highest-scoring match of the championship; Colaneri scored 5 goals, matching Amadei's tally against Elettronica on the 4th. [26] The draw between Roma and Lazio kept the gap unchanged, so the following three days, in which both teams won their respective matches, did not change the final result: Lazio won the Roman championship one day earlier, beating Trastevere 8-0 on May 27, making Roma's 4-2 win over Vigili del Fuoco on May 28 irrelevant. [26] At the end of the tournament, Umberto Lombardini was the top scorer with 21 goals in 16 matches, while Amedeo Amadei had the best goalscoring average with 16 goals in 8 appearances. [14]
Although the winner would automatically qualify for the final of the Italian championship, wartime events prevented this from happening: the liberation of Rome on June 4, 1944 did not allow Lazio, who had won the title of "Roman champion" just a week earlier, to participate in the interzonal final. [12] The Direttorio XI Zona, which had come under the control of the FIGC of the Kingdom of the South and renamed itself the Comitato Regionale Laziale, finished the "four-team tournament" that had begun the day before the arrival of the Allied troops, with the last match played on July 2, 1944. In any case, the tournament retained the status of National Division (also to distinguish it from the Roman First Division championship), while becoming an autonomous regional league, independent of the wartime championship organized by the Fascist FIGC. In addition to the league matches, matches were organized between "representative" teams: these were teams composed of a selection of the best players of the league, divided according to different criteria; for example, there was the challenge between "Representative A" and "Representative B" (or "Rappresentativa Assi" and "Rappresentativa Giovani"), [27] played in April: the "A" representative was composed of the best players of Roma and Lazio, while the other one was composed of players of the other teams; this was for charity purposes. [28]
