We are hoping that all the hype around Harry Kane does not fizzle out tonight, as England play the cunning Italians in a friendly. I hope not because I have a signed shirt of his, which is gaining in value as I write!
Many would put the Italians as favourites but the pundits think they have had better days. Indeed the development of the Italian game was historically slower than in England.
Italian football relied on a band of
English and Swiss businessmen and Italian counterparts, aristocrats,
posh students and schoolboys to get established. In 1893, the Genoa
Cricket Club was founded by the British Consul and with a mixture of
nationalities being allowed membership, a football club was formed
which won the first ever national championship in 1898. Three other
teams in the competition came from Turin, Ginnastica Torino,
Internazionale Torino and FC Torino.
Organised football in Italy
dated back to 1887 and in 1897 the D'Azeglio College created Juventus
(the youth) who played their first league game in 1900. Juve adopted
Notts County's colours following the club's tour of Italy. In 1899,
Milan found football when an Englishman, Alfred Edwards and some
wealthy British and Swiss businessmen established the Milan Cricket
and Football Club, now AC Milan.
The South or Mezzogiorno gradually
developed relying on English trading colonies at Palermo and Naples
(1904), whereas in Rome, army officers formed Lazio in 1900, being
the region around the capital city. Other clubs in the less developed
south did not get started until after the Great War.
To enforce the nationalism in the
country and to ensure that foreigners did not run the game, the
government insisted on calling football CALCIO, the name of the game!
England's first international against
Italy took place in Rome in 1933 resulting in a 1-1 draw. Seven
Arsenal players played in the “Battle of Highbury”, in 1934, the
next match, when England won a ferocious game 3-2 beating the current World
Champions.
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