Football and fascism in Italy

ABSTRACT

The study of the relations maintained between the Fascist regime in Italy and the world of football in the inter-war period makes it possible to deconstruct several commonplaces on its supposed instrumentalisation by the political power during this period. In fact, the Fascists were suspicious of this sport, already well structured and growing in an urban society that the regime was trying to tame. Under these conditions, the legalization of professionalism and the successive creation of a unified national championship (the serie A) were the result of logics of compromise between the industrial bourgeoisie and the Fascists in power.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest is reported by the author.

Notes

1. Archambault, Le Contrôle du ballon.

2. Fabrizio, Fuoco di bellezza.

3. Ibid., 21.

4. Lanfranchi, ‘La réinvention du football en Italie’; id., ‘Football et modernité: la Suisse et la pénétration du football sur le continent’; and id. ‘Entre initiative privée et question nationale’.

5. Pivato, ‘Ginnastica e Risorgimento’; id., ‘Sportismo e austromarxismo’; and id., ‘Il football: un fenomeno di frontiera’.

6. Malvano, Fascismo e politica dell’immagine, 62–70.

7. Luzzatto, L’immagine del Duce.

8. Gentile, Fascismo di pietra, 131–57.

9. Passerini, Mussolini immaginario.

10. Milza, Mussolini, 445–6.

11. Dietschy, ‘Sport, éducation physique et fascisme sous le regard de l’historien’.

12. De Grazia, The Culture of Consent.

13. Musiedlak, Mussolini, 36.

14. Matard-Bonucci and Milza, L’Homme nouveau dans l’Europe Fasciste (1922–1945).

15. Pécout, ‘Les Sociétés de tir dans l’Italie unifiée de la seconde moitié du XIX^e siècle’.

16. Franzinelli and Valerio Marino, Il Duce proibito. The amount of photos rejected continually increased – 78 in 1934, 145 in 1935, 252 in 1936, 528 in 1937 and 625 in 1938.

17. Lanfranchi and Taylor, Moving with the Ball, 196.

18. Whitacker, ‘Leandro Arpinati, anarchoindividualista, Fascista, Fascista-pentito’.

19. Il regime Fascista, 25 juin 1933.

20. Ghirelli, Storia del calcio in Italia, 48–55 and 87–8.

21. Martin, Football and Fascism, 141–71.

22. Cante, ‘Propaganda e sport negli anni trenta. Gli incontri di calcio tra Italia e Austria’.

23. Dietschy, ‘Le triomphe du modèle uruguayen: la première Coupe du monde de football’.

24. Dietschy, ‘La Coppa del Duce ? Fascisme et football pendant la Coupe du monde 1934ʹ.

25. Lombardo Radice, ‘Il gol di Orsi’.

26. In Siena, the palio is the embroidered standard given to the winner of the annual horse race in which the different districts, or contrades, of the city compete. The term also designates the race itself.

27. Ibid.

28. Dietschy, ‘« Pugni, bastoni e rivoltelle ». Violence et football dans l’Italie des années vingt et trente’.

29. La Stampa, February 9, 1934. Quoted by Dietschy, ‘Les matchs du Stadio Mussolini. Sport, football et politique à Turin sous le fascisme’.

30. Ibid.

31. ‘Sport Bar’, Avanti !, October 15, 1946.

32. Galluzzo, Il Fiorentino. Vita e Opere del Marchese Luigi Ridolfi, 193.