Why has not there been a comprehensive English language history of Italian football before?
There is not even one in Italy. A couple of journalists have produced ones but the historians have not taken it on. It is not seen as a serious subject. In academic circles I still get funny looks! Lots of writers and poets have addressed football in Italy, just not historians, which is strange considering how socially important it has been in Italian history. The more I study it the more important I think it is. ‘Calcio’ has a large bibliography and you have obviously seen a lot of old footage too. I tried to get hold of some clips from the thirties which were great. I looked again and again at this penalty when Meazza’s shorts were supposed to have fallen down. As far as I could tell it was not true! You unearthed some gems of football history – Reading beating Milan 5-0 in 1913, Inter losing a bunch of players in WWI including the Italian national team captain and an armed insurrection in Viareggio following a match in 1920. That last story has never been told before and I had alway
