“Pionieri” was released in 2007 and collects performances, quotes and propaganda to tell the origin of the sport in Italy, between 1910 and 1945: the father of the blue oval ball is Pietro Mariani, a Milanese engineer who lived in France
His name was Pietro Mariani, the father of the blue oval ball. He was a Milanese engineer. He had lived in France for a long time, in 1909 he returned to Italy for military service and had brought with him the “countless” matches played in Lorraine. His story intersected with that of Emmanuel Gibert, who had followed the opposite path: born in Milan and raised in France, an “international” player. From their meeting a spark shone: “And here I am – the words of Mariani for “Lo Sport Fascista” – wandering from field to field, from Cagnola to Sempione, from Acquabella to Bovisa”, with the Milan Cricket and Football Club (Milan of football) and the Milanese Sports Union (gymnastics club, then sports club, finally merged with Inter), even in schools (in the courtyard of the Castello Sforzesco among the students of the Cattaneo and Bonaventura Cavalieri technical institutes).
His name was Pietro Mariani, the father of the blue oval ball. He was a Milanese engineer. He had lived in France for a long time, in 1909 he returned to Italy for military service and had brought with him the “countless” matches played in Lorraine. His story intersected with that of Emmanuel Gibert, who had followed the opposite path: born in Milan and raised in France, an “international” player. From their meeting a spark shone: “And here I am – the words of Mariani for “Lo Sport Fascista” – wandering from field to field, from Cagnola to Sempione, from Acquabella to Bovisa”, with the Milan Cricket and Football Club (Milan of football) and the Milanese Sports Union (gymnastics club, then sports club, finally merged with Inter), even in schools (in the courtyard of the Castello Sforzesco among the students of the Cattaneo and Bonaventura Cavalieri technical institutes).
Elvis Lucchese, in 2007 with Andrea Passerini author of “La finta di Ivan” (Francescato), wrote “Pionieri” (Piazza, 200 pages, 22 euros), the origins of rugby in Italy, 1910-1945, even a little first, not to establish a legacy with Florentine football, but to remember performances (a football match played in Bologna in 1891 between two teams of gymnasts), quotes (in “Health and strength. Gymnastic games in schools” by Daniele Marchetti, of 1892), propaganda (in 1905 or 1906 among the athletes of Lazio and Virtus, born from the secession from Lazio).
In his work of sports archaeology, Lucchese discovers diamonds: Turin, 1910, the Parisians of the Sporting Club Universitaire de France against the Genevans of Servette, “after the match the two teams are rewarded. The French are awarded a gold plaque offered by Baron Leonino da Zara; to their captain Cadenat a silver cigarette case as a gift from Commendatore Ravà Sforni. The losers and the referee are still given a silver medal.” He delves into ancient frictions: “Even in rugby we are witnessing the controversial relationship between ‘public’ and ‘private’” and “between the championship and the Littoriali”, on the one hand companies supported by patrons, on the other youth organizations supported by the regime. He rediscovers the poor economic roots (“the majority of Italian companies, even among the most prestigious, remain constantly fighting for survival due to meager financial resources”, in the 1930s), but also healthy moral principles (“the first historiographer of Italian rugby, Giuseppe Tognetti, who likes to define himself as ‘first of all prop'”) and genuine sentimental manifestations (“the nervous collapse caused by Baccarin and his athletes who we saw in the changing rooms dejected and crying like children was very strong”, year 1938, taken from another oval history book, “They called them Bersaglieri” by Alberto Guerrini). Rugby, always, a sport of passion: “And the oval ball – as the Frenchman Charles Gondouin wrote in 1937 – darts and jumps, darting in flight without respite and without stopping”.
