Well, “Oh, Italy,” if you insist but I defy anyone over the age of 50 not to be singing a few words of it a la Pavarotti. The only words would be “Oh, Italeeeee, Italeeeeeee, Italeeeeeeeeeee in an incredible crescendo.” You now smile self-indulgently and look out at your audience of the household pets and bow from the waist. “7 Acacia Avenue is not La Scala.

Apart from everyone’s favourite Italians Pavarotti and Maldini, Bocelli and Baggio, Italy has an important place in the evolution of women’s football globally. Clare McEwen spills i fagioli …

How organised women’s football began across Europe, part 4: Italy

Part 4 of an ongoing series of how competitions and leagues began to form.

Women’s football grew in pockets: players formed teams, teams created small competitions, and those competitions slowly began to join the dots across each country.

They are stories of resilience, determination, and playing without permission.

Today, I’m looking at Italy who played a major role in the development and organisation of women’s football not only in their own country but across the world.

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Much like other nations in Europe, early teams in Italy were halted by bans or governing body interference.

But the formation of the Federazione Italiana Calcio Femminile – FICF (Italian Women’s Football Federation) in 1968 changed what was possible for women in Italy, and those across the world.

FICF women’s league

The first FICF Italian championship was played in 1968. It included 10 teams playing as two groups of five.

The standings at the end of the season were:

Group A standings (Northern group)

• Real Torino
• Genova
• Ambrosiana Milano
• Piacenza
• Viareggio

Group B standings (Southern group)

• Roma
• Cagliari
• Fiorentina
• Napoli
• Lazio

Roma beat Real Torino in one semi-final and Cagliari beat Genova in the other.

The final was played in Pisa, and Genova beat Roma 1-0.

The following season – 1969 – Roma got their revenge by beating Genova in the final by the same scoreline (in the replay).

UISP women’s league

But there was also a rival league – the Unione Italiana Sport Popolare league.

The FICF was set up purely to organise and legitimise women’s football in Italy. The UISP, however, wasn’t a football specific body but was (and actually still is) a multi-sport organisation promoting “sport for the people”.

In 1968, UISP organised a women’s football competition, amongst its many other sporting outlets.

Its first league included five teams:

• Bologna CF
• Abano Milano
• Internazionale Vimodrone
• Pilastro Parma
• Juventus Val di Lanzo

Bologna CF won the league with eight wins out of eight games.

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FFIGC League

By 1970, there was a third body organising a league – the Federazione Femminile Italiana Giuoco Calcio or FFIGC.

Ten of the teams in the FICF broke away to form this new league and four more clubs joined. The FFIGC began with:

• Gomma Gomma Milano (that’s a great name, another story for another day though)
• Piacenza
• Genova
• Roma
• Juventus
• Ambrosiana
• Fiorentina
• Cagliari
• Bologna
• Zucchet Lazio
• Napoli
• San Basilio (Rome)
• Lazio
• Reggina

Gomma Gomma Milano won the FFIGC league in 1970. Real Torino won the FICF league and Pordenone won the UISP league.

Note: there seem to be multiple teams named Juventus – in case you’re as confused as I am as you read on. There seems to be three “Juventus” teams – none were affiliated to the men’s team as far as I can tell.

Standing from the left: Vincenzi (trainer), Epicoco, Boll, Ferrara, Varone, Romano, Zoli and Rocchi.
Kneeling from the left: Cottini, Cannone, Cunzolo, Vignotto and Pessina

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Real Torino and Silvana Cittadino

Real Torino was founded by the Rambaudi brothers. It was based at a ground in Alpignano, not far from the outskirts of Turin.

Scouting for players was of course not what it is now and often happened via newspaper reports of calls for players.

In 1967, Silvana Cittadino read about the team and turned up at the team’s ground. She was told they had a friendly game the next day and to go along and watch to see what it was all about.

Cittadino dutifully made her way to Stradella in Pavia as a spectator.

She watched the girls from the sidelines.

Sometime during the match, the ball came towards her part of the touchline. She did what we’d all do and kicked it back onto the field.

Shortly after, another one came her way.

Having loved football from a young age, Cittadino had spent her time on her hometown streets playing with the boys.

So when the airborne ball came to her a second time, she volleyed it back.

The masseur (I’m amazed they had one but Cittadino herself tells this story) spotted her technique and called Coach Cavicchi over.

The coach asked her onto the field – fortunately, like any self-respecting young footballer, she was dressed in tracksuit and trainers – and asked her to take a couple of shots.

Next minute, she was on the field making her debut for Real Torino.

She scored two goals and so began an illustrious football career.

The centre-forward was described as quick, strong in the air, with a lightning-fast right foot.

Some success and then a split

As we saw above, in 1968, they topped their league group before losing to Roma in the semi-final.

And then it began to fall apart.

Cittadino herself spoke in an interview about the crowds they drew. Every game was packed with paying spectators.

But the age-old struggle of bosses and workers reared its head. The Rambaudi brothers made financial promises to the players but didn’t follow through on them. The players received very little in the way of cash and got fed up with it all.

Twelve players, including Cittadino, left Real Torino to form a new team, which they named Juventus (presumably after the men’s team).

One of their teammates worked at a factory owned by a man called Teresio Signoretto.

Somehow, connections were made and Signoretto agreed to fund the team. He kept every promise he made and covered all expenses.

Cittadino described him as a lovely man.

And even then, culture was everything.

Despite multiple opportunities to move to other teams, Cittadino remained with the black and white stripes of Juve until 1975, when she hung up her boots.

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Expansion into the 1970s

There’s no doubt that Italy led the way in women’s football organisation during the years where many countries had banned or severely restricted it.

And they continued to do so into the 1970s and 1980s, leading the way with semi-pro contracts way before it was happening in England.

International

Italy didn’t just go all-in on their domestic organisation. They also organised international tournaments alongside them.

In 1969, a small European competition was organised by the Italians. Four teams competed.

The event was successful so they planned the next one.

This time they went global and organised a world cup. The final between Denmark and Italy was watched by around 40,000 people.

It was so successful that they expanded their vision. In 1971, they played the event in Mexico.

It was organised on the same scale as the previous year’s men’s World Cup (Pele and all that). The Mexican football association and the fans were amazing.

The Azteca Stadium was rammed with 110,000 spectators for the final between Mexico and Denmark.

It was an enormous success and panicked both UEFA and FIFA into taking more control over the sport.

Ultimately it helped lead to the 1984 UEFA Euros.

Spread the fascinating stories found in women’s football to a friend. She’ll thank you…probably.

Previous articles are here, here and here

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