Italian Football Renaissance

Italian football in its infancy was riddled with arguments and fighting due to the smaller clubs holding a majority over the larger clubs in the FIGC.  This struggle is very similar to the way the smaller states did not want to have the larger states always holding the power of decisions in the creation of the United States Congress.  But the way the FIGC handled the situation led to a split in Italian club football, where the smaller teams were left to fend for themselves while the larger teams made all the money and got the best players.  To add to these issues was the inability of the referees to keep control of the game and enforce the rules.

Although widely considered to have been the best referee in Italy at the time, Mauro was far away from the incident in question, which intensified the Bologna fans’ conviction that the ball had crossed the line for a goal. Among those supporters was the leader of the Bolognese Fascist Federation and future mayor, Leandro Arpinati, who, apparently, led a pitch invasion with his squadristi that culminated in shouting, pushing, threats and some skirmishes. 13 Choosing personal safety over conscience, Mauro reversed his decision and awarded a goal. (Martin, 54)

Issues like these were not resolved quickly either, they became long drawn out affairs that were taken to the FIGC.  It was not uncommon for the final decision to be made three months later.  In these early days, the games were dictated more by who had the larger and more forceful fan base than the actual playing of the game.  These formative years of the Italian Football League seemed to have more problems than success stories.

Despite all these problems, the end result led to the national team’s consecutive World Cup victories in 1934 and 1938.  I think that because of fascism’s goal to rejuvenate the sport of football in Italy and its methodology of doing so, it created an environment that was highly competitive at all levels.  This led to a deep field of players from across the country to choose from to lead the national team to victory in 1934 and 1938.  While the 1920’s may have seemed chaotic, by getting all of the issues of the club teams, officials, and ruling bodies out of the way, it paved the way for the Italian greats to dominate the world stage.

Questions:  

• If Italy had been under Communist or Democratic rule at this period in history, would it have achieved the same results in perfecting the game of football in Italy?
• Do you think Italian football is capable of returning to its former dominance in the next couple years?