Norwegian rainmen clinch win for Lazio
On a waterlogged pitch two goals by Scandinavians and one by Puccinelli win water battle for the Romans
Also on this day:
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had finished a positive 4th, for the third year running, under manager Giuseppe Bigogno. The highlight was beating Juventus 2-0 at home while there were no derbies as Roma were in Serie B. The top scorer was Turk Sükrü Gülesin with 16 league goals.
This season Bigogno had been confirmed. The main new signings were keeper Aldo De Fazio (back from Lucchese), midfielders Vittorio Bergamo (Sampdoria), Norwegian Per Bredesen (Ørn Horten) plus forwards Paolo Bettolini (Magenta) and Emilio Caprile (Juventus).
Leaving the capital were midfielders Enrique Flamini (Reggiana, after 272 league games), Mario Magrini (Monza), Vittorio Sentimenti III (Torino) and forward Sükrü Gülesin (Palermo - on loan).
So far, Lazio were not quite repeating their previous seasons. The Biancocelesti were however currently in a decent 7th position, on 22 points. They had won 9 (including derby 1-0), drawn 4 and lost 7. They came from two consecutive defeats.
SPAL had finished 9th the previous season under manager Antonio Janni. The Estensi had lost 1-4 to Lazio in Rome but then won 4-0 in Ferrara. Top scorer was Turkish Aziz Esel Bülent with 13 league goals.
This season the manager was still Janni. The market had brought defenders Giorgi Bernardin (Lecce), Gianfranco Dell'Innocenti (Roma - via Lucchese), Giulio Pellicari (Lucchese), midfielders Canadiano Barranco (Pisa), Romolo Bizzotto (Juventus - on loan), Onorio Busnelli (Fanfulla), Marcello Castoldi (Pisa) plus forward Sergio Sega (Verona).
Leaving Ferrara were defenders Alessandro Carlini (Lucchese), Raffaele Guaita (Genoa), Fulvio Nesti (Inter), midfielder Dion Ørnvold (retiring) plus forwards Andrea Marzani (Torino) and Bruno Quaresima (Marzotto Valdagno).
The Biancazzurri were currently in 15th place, on 15 points just one above Palermo and Novara on 14 in the last relegation slot, with Como bottom on 12. They had won 3 (including Lazio 1-0), drawn 9 (including Juventus 2-2 at home and Milan 1-1 at home) and lost 8.
Lazio were favourites today but SPAL were fighting for their lives and had shown some improvement recently.
The match: Sunday, February 15, 1953, Stadio Torino, Rome
It had been raining almost non-stop for 24 hours and the pitch was extremely heavy, just about playable. The crowd was sparse, about 5,000.
Lazio had two important absences, midfielder Romolo Alzani who had broken his hand during the week and forward Lelio Antoniotti.
SPAL were without midfielder Goffredo Colombi.
The first half was all in the first three minutes. In the 2nd Lazio went in front, Candiano Barranco missed the ball completely allowing Norwegian Ragnar Larsen to beat Ottavio Bugatti, 1-0. A minute later however, the Estensi equalised when Sergio Sega found himself unmarked after a prolonged and chaotic piece of play in the Lazio area and put the ball past Lucidio Sentimenti IV. Lazio 1 SPAL 1.
After such an eventful start not much happened for the rest of the half. SPAL were well organised and in some spells looked more threatening than Lazio albeit without creating any real chances. Halftime 1-1.
The game had started with a bang but then gone flat. The conditions however were awful and the more technical players were in clear difficulty.
The second half saw Lazio attack more and the SPAL keeper Bugatti made several good saves to keep the score level.
The visitors however also had a huge chance when Marcello Castoldi hit the crossbar and the next thing the Lazio keeper Sentimenti IV knew the ball was safely in his arms without realising what had happened.
The rain intensified and the game became a physical battle in extreme conditions.
Lazio came out victorious and scored two late goals. In the 87th minute Primo Sentimenti V fed Per Bredesen at the edge of the box and the Norwegian hit a diagonal shot which came off the post and nestled itself into the goal, 2-1. Three minutes later, in the 90th minute, a perfect assist by Emilio Caprile set up Aldo Puccinelli in the heart of the area and the Tuscan striker closed the game. Lazio 3 SPAL 1 and final score.
A strange game but in awful meteorological conditions. Fireworks to start and finish and with a lot of confusion, sliding and slipping in between.
The soaked fans were happy though. Lazio had won, helped by two Scandinavians who were most likely very used to muddy pitches.
Lazio shot up to 5th on 24 points. SPAL were now joint 15th with Novara and Sampdoria (three teams tied in the second relegation slot), things were not looking good for the Biancazzurri from Ferrara.
Who played for Lazio
Sentimenti IV, Sentimenti V, Furiassi, Fuin, Malacarne, Bergamo, Puccinelli, Bredesen, Bettolini, Larsen, Caprile
Manager: Bigogno
Who played for SPAL
Bugatti, Pellicari, Dell'Innocenti, Barranco, Bernardin, Castoldi, Busnelli, Mussino, Sega, Bennike, Fontanesi
Manager: Janni
Referee: Marchetti
Goals: 2' Larsen, 3' Sega, 87' Bredesen, 90' Puccinelli
What happened next
Lazio finished 10th on 31 points. In the next five games they were unable to earn a single point and Bigogno was sacked, with Lazio in 9th place but only five points from the relegation slots. The new manager was Alfredo Notti and he presented himself by winning the derby 2-0. Then in the last 8 games the Biancocelesti won 1, drew 3 and lost 4. A disappointing season saved only by the two derby wins. Top scorers were Bredesen, Sentimenti IV and Sentimenti V with 7 goals each.
SPAL picked up and had a good end of season, finishing 8th on 32 points. In the remaining 13 games they won 5 (including Roma 2-1 and Napoli 4-1 at home), drew 7 (including Inter 1-1 and Juventus 2-2 away) and only lost 1. Top scorer was Sergio Sega with 10 goals (names can be deceiving. . . Sega can mean useless in slang).
Inter won the Scudetto for the 6th time while Pro Patria and Como dropped down to Serie B.
A brief history of SPAL
S.P.A.L, Società Polisportiva Ars Labor, are a football club from Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna.
The club was founded in 1907 as a religious and cultural entity and soon became a multi-sports club and in 1910 joined the FIGC (Italian Football Federation) with the name Ferrara Foot-Ball Club. In 1913 the sports branch left the club and formed the Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor. From 1919 the football team took the name too. Ars et Labor means "Art and Work" in Latin.
Their first official game under the new name was against Triestina on June 16 1919. They had previously played a few friendlies including one against British soldiers based in Bologna.
Between 1920 and 1925 SPAL were in the top national flight. In 1922 they reached the semi-finals but were defeated by Sampierdarenese. They were then relegated and in 1933 won the Prima Divisione and joined the newly formed Serie B.
Between then and the Second World War the Ferraresi went between Serie B and C. They however had many of their players join Serie A such as Abdon Sgarbi who would play for Italy and Mario Romani and Aldo Barbieri who went to Milan.
After the war the president was former manager Paolo Mazza and SPAL had renewed ambitions. In 1946 they returned to Serie B and in 1951 won a historic promotion to Serie A under Antonio Janni. This coincided with the opening of their renovated stadium. SPAL then finished 9th in A.
There followed the best twenty years in their history. They stayed in A until 1964 and in 1960 finished 5th, their best ever. In 1962 they reached the Coppa Italia final beating Juventus 4-1 in the semi-final but then lost 1-2 to Napoli in Rome.
In 1964 they were relegated but bounced straight back up again and stayed another three seasons. One of their best players in this period was a young Fabio Capello.
In 1968 SPAL were relegated and for the next 50 years or so went between Serie B and C and even four seasons in C2. In 1999 they won the Serie C Coppa Italia.
In 2012 due to financial problems they were docked points and ended up relegated to the 4th tier. On July 13 SPAL were excluded from the upcoming league and in March 2014 declared bankrupt.
They started up in Serie D with new owners and in 2014 joined the new unified Lega Pro (3rd tier). In 2016 they won promotion to Serie B under Leonardo Semplici and in 2017 promotion to Serie A.
They stayed in A for three seasons. In the first they finished 17th, in the second 13th but in the third were relegated, closing in 20th place. In these three seasons they had some great wins including Atalanta 2-0, Roma 2-0 away and 2-1 at home, Lazio 1-0 and 2-1 at home, Juventus 2-1 at home plus Parma three times. In the third season promotion hero Semplici was sacked towards the end and replaced by Gigi Di Biagio but as said the Estensi went down and have not been back since.
There followed three years in B but then relegation to C in 2023 (they even tried Daniele De Rossi and then Massimo Oddo as managers).
In 2023-24 SPAL finished 11th in C. Their current coach is Franceso Baldini while their owner is American lawyer Joe Tacopina.
SPAL's colours are blue and white. These were adopted by the original Salesian priests of San Giovanni Bosco. The only exception was between 1939 and 1944 when they played in the town colours of black and white. The shirts are blue and white vertical stripes. The club symbol is a fawn.
The Comunale stadium since 1982 has been called the Paolo Mazza and has a capacity of 16,134. Its maximum was about 25,000 in the 1950's. It is the fifth oldest stadium still in use in Italy.
The player with most appearances is Giulio Boldrini with 287 while the foreigner with most games is Argentine Oscar Massei with 253 and he also has most goals in Serie A (47). The absolute top scorer is Mario Romani with 130 in total, followed by Franco Pezzato with 95. On a Lazio note, current Biancoceleste Manuel Lazzari is 7th for total appearances for SPAL with 215 (2013-19).
Some famous players who have played for the Biancazzurri include, in order of time: Abdon Sgarbi, Egisto Pandolfini, Fulvio Nesti, Franco Zaglio, Beniamino Di Giacomo, Armando Picchi, Saul Malatrasi, Adolfo Gori, Fabio Capello, Ruben Buriani, Manuel Lazzari, Salvatore Esposito. Their first player to be called up for the national side was keeper Ottavio Bugatti for the 1952 Olympics where SPAL forward (and future Lazio) Alberto Fontanesi also played.
Prominent managers include: Walter Alt, Paolo Mazza, József Violak, Antonio Janni, Paolo Tabanelli, Fioravante Baldi, Luigi Ferrero, Giovan Battista Fabbri, Giovanni Galeone, Massimiliano Allegri and Leonardo Semplici.
The most important owner is obviously Paolo Mazza who was president from 1944 to 1977.
The SPAL fans are estimated to be about 121,000. The most passionate supporters sit in the East stand. Over the years there have been numerous organised fan groups but the biggest current one is the Curva Ovest Otto Settembre. They have friendly relationships with Ancona in particular plus Genoa, Perugia, Cosenza, Potenza and L'Aquila. Their rivals are mainly regional with Bologna, Reggiana, Parma, Modena, Cesena, Rimini and Ravenna but also with Vicenza, Padova, Verona, Como, Brescia, Atalanta, Triestina, Spezia and Ascoli.
SPAL are rated as the 26th club for Serie A results and 27th by the FIGC for footballing tradition.
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