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Football and Fascism: The National Game under Mussolini
Institutionalized as a fascist game in Mussolinis Italy, football was exploited domestically in an attempt to develop a sense of Italian identity and internationally as a diplomatic tool to improve Italys standing in the global arena. The 1930s were the zenith of achievement for Italian football. Italy hosted and won the 1934 World Cup tournament and retained the trophy in 1938 in France. In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Italy won the soccer tournament with a team of university students, affirming the nations international football supremacy. At club level, calcio was reorganized into a single, national league in 1929namely, Serie Aafter which the first Italian club teams emerged to dominate European competition and threaten previous British notions of supremacy.In this time, Italian Fascism fully exploited the opportunities football provided to shape public opinion, penetrate daily life, and reinforce conformity. By politicizing the game, Fascism also sought to enhance the regimes international prestige and inculcate nationalist values. The author argues that the regimes attempt to use sport to formulate identity actually forced it to recognize existing tensions within society, thereby paradoxically permitting the existence of diversity and individuality.The book serves as a cultural history of Fascism in Italy viewed through the lens of football.
296 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 2, 2019
This book is a reprint of an academic thesis and it shows, so I would only recommend it to those interested in the subject who are familiar with reading scientific articles and theses.
That said, the approach to look at Fascist Italian society through the lens of the beautiful game is very interesting. The author highlights clearly how the regime intended to use the sport as a means of instilling support for its project to reshape the Italian man into an exemplary athlete and Italian society into a coherent body of patriots willing to play their role in Mussolini’s vision of society. It shows where it succeeded, but also where it ran headlong into the tradition and how the rising popularity of football led to increased regional conflict, rather than creating a single Italian identity. A more popular rewrite of this topic would be interesting and I can see a book weaving the stories of mayor and official Arpinati, National team manager Pozzo and one of the stand out players (Meazza) working really well.
While written in 2004, the parallels between Fascist society and the modern day are sometimes striking. The articles in Fascist media bigging up performances by star players, while admonishing them at the same time for their high wage demands, would not stand out in English red top tabloids. Also interesting is the lukewarm stance towards the Oriundi (South American repatriates with Italian ancestry who were cajoled into playing for the Italian National Team), who were celebrated when successful but talked down the moment a new generation of ‘purer’ Italian players came through. This is very much reflected in modern treatment of (children of) immigrants who go onto represent their national teams (recent ‘controversies’ around Raheem Sterling and Mesut Özil spring to mind).
The book ends with an excerpt of Fascist doctrine that is too interesting to forego, as it captures the lure of Fascist ideology, which is often overlooked in current analysis of illiberalism: “Fascism did what the old liberalism and the same democracy had always overlooked: it took itself to the people, it went among the peasants, the farmers, the middle classes, it approached the students, the young, it interpreted the needs of the people, it educated them politically and morally.”
That said, the approach to look at Fascist Italian society through the lens of the beautiful game is very interesting. The author highlights clearly how the regime intended to use the sport as a means of instilling support for its project to reshape the Italian man into an exemplary athlete and Italian society into a coherent body of patriots willing to play their role in Mussolini’s vision of society. It shows where it succeeded, but also where it ran headlong into the tradition and how the rising popularity of football led to increased regional conflict, rather than creating a single Italian identity. A more popular rewrite of this topic would be interesting and I can see a book weaving the stories of mayor and official Arpinati, National team manager Pozzo and one of the stand out players (Meazza) working really well.
While written in 2004, the parallels between Fascist society and the modern day are sometimes striking. The articles in Fascist media bigging up performances by star players, while admonishing them at the same time for their high wage demands, would not stand out in English red top tabloids. Also interesting is the lukewarm stance towards the Oriundi (South American repatriates with Italian ancestry who were cajoled into playing for the Italian National Team), who were celebrated when successful but talked down the moment a new generation of ‘purer’ Italian players came through. This is very much reflected in modern treatment of (children of) immigrants who go onto represent their national teams (recent ‘controversies’ around Raheem Sterling and Mesut Özil spring to mind).
The book ends with an excerpt of Fascist doctrine that is too interesting to forego, as it captures the lure of Fascist ideology, which is often overlooked in current analysis of illiberalism: “Fascism did what the old liberalism and the same democracy had always overlooked: it took itself to the people, it went among the peasants, the farmers, the middle classes, it approached the students, the young, it interpreted the needs of the people, it educated them politically and morally.”
July 24, 2011
Really good history tells us about much more than the most obvious bit of the topic – and this does that. It is pretty much a cultural history of fascist Italy told via football (soccer). Even then, it is also a history of Italian football, and primarily about football. It is a marvellous book, that was justifiably named best book in British sports history (it is by a Brit) in 2004.
May 11, 2022
It might be said that when one considers the history of totalitarian regimes in the 20th Century Mussolini's Italy usually runs a poor third (or even worse) behind Hitler's Third Reich and the Communist USSR under Stalin et al. To take this point even further, when looking at Fascist Italy the popular historical perception is that of a failed and rather comical state defined by its continued dismal performance as a military power in World War II.
However there was a period, particularly before the growing international awareness of the threat that Nazi Germany presented, when Mussolini's Italy was seen as a success story, a country where Fascism had rejuvenated or created a new social, political and cultural power. A subset of this construct was the achievements of Italian football, or calcio, and Martin's book is a most informative and well-researched examination of how the sport became wedded to the political aims of Il Duce. Through its development of a national league, its architectural structures and its international success Fascist Football became a key representation of Italian achievement.
Martin's book makes all these points through a combination of detailed research, analysis of the political and sporting structures put into place by the Fascist regime in the 1920s and 1930s, and a discussion of the international aspects of Italian soccer in the latter decade. The first few chapters are to some extent rather dry, focusing on the political administration of Italian football and the intervention of the Fascist government into the sport. For those readers who might be more interested in the clubs, personalities and games of the period these examinations of the context for Fascist football might be considered uninteresting.
Martin also spends a considerable amount of time in this book examining how Fascist authorities at the local level intervened or influenced the physical and cultural identity of football through the establishment of clubs such as AC Fioritina, or the building of stadiums such as Bologna's Littoriale. These are useful examinations of the interplay between sporting culture and politics, with some sidebar comments on the economics and social implications of how Italian football was directed by the Fascists. However yet again a more football-oriented reader, instead of someone looking to learn more about the politics of the sport in Mussolini's Italy, may find these chapters less engaging.
Martin's best work is that in the penultimate chapter, where he examines the success of Italy on the world stage as a football power during the 1930s. Included in this history is a much needed recounting of the 1934 World Cup, and event that might be placed on a similar level in terms of sporting history and in the chronicles of totalitarian regimes as the Berlin 1936 and Moscow 1980 Olympics. The author reviews the reactions of the Fascist intelligentsia and sporting press to this period of great success, whilst also revealing the politicisation of football by Fascism in Italy. It could be said that the Italian Azzurri served as the prototype of every other country's sporting representatives and their associated political goals in the following decades.
'Football and Fascism' is a well researched and annotated text that is, for the most part, relatively easy to read thanks to Martin's translations of the original source material. He makes some interesting points along the way of his historical narrative, such as indicating through his study how hard it was to carry out a similar purge of pre-WW2 Fascist leaders in Italy contrasted to the denazification of Germany. On the other hand he leaves somewhat unsaid the legacy of fascism as a popular influence on or structural underpinning of Italian football since WW2. Parochialism and ultra-nationalism are undoubtedly part of what has been inbuilt into football in Italy by the Fascists, and it is through the agency of these ideas that hooliganism and corruption can and has flourished.
In summary this is a worthy, though not entirely enjoyable study of fascism first, football second. For students of the world game it might hold less interest because of this, however it does provide a fascinating insight into Mussolini's Italy.
However there was a period, particularly before the growing international awareness of the threat that Nazi Germany presented, when Mussolini's Italy was seen as a success story, a country where Fascism had rejuvenated or created a new social, political and cultural power. A subset of this construct was the achievements of Italian football, or calcio, and Martin's book is a most informative and well-researched examination of how the sport became wedded to the political aims of Il Duce. Through its development of a national league, its architectural structures and its international success Fascist Football became a key representation of Italian achievement.
Martin's book makes all these points through a combination of detailed research, analysis of the political and sporting structures put into place by the Fascist regime in the 1920s and 1930s, and a discussion of the international aspects of Italian soccer in the latter decade. The first few chapters are to some extent rather dry, focusing on the political administration of Italian football and the intervention of the Fascist government into the sport. For those readers who might be more interested in the clubs, personalities and games of the period these examinations of the context for Fascist football might be considered uninteresting.
Martin also spends a considerable amount of time in this book examining how Fascist authorities at the local level intervened or influenced the physical and cultural identity of football through the establishment of clubs such as AC Fioritina, or the building of stadiums such as Bologna's Littoriale. These are useful examinations of the interplay between sporting culture and politics, with some sidebar comments on the economics and social implications of how Italian football was directed by the Fascists. However yet again a more football-oriented reader, instead of someone looking to learn more about the politics of the sport in Mussolini's Italy, may find these chapters less engaging.
Martin's best work is that in the penultimate chapter, where he examines the success of Italy on the world stage as a football power during the 1930s. Included in this history is a much needed recounting of the 1934 World Cup, and event that might be placed on a similar level in terms of sporting history and in the chronicles of totalitarian regimes as the Berlin 1936 and Moscow 1980 Olympics. The author reviews the reactions of the Fascist intelligentsia and sporting press to this period of great success, whilst also revealing the politicisation of football by Fascism in Italy. It could be said that the Italian Azzurri served as the prototype of every other country's sporting representatives and their associated political goals in the following decades.
'Football and Fascism' is a well researched and annotated text that is, for the most part, relatively easy to read thanks to Martin's translations of the original source material. He makes some interesting points along the way of his historical narrative, such as indicating through his study how hard it was to carry out a similar purge of pre-WW2 Fascist leaders in Italy contrasted to the denazification of Germany. On the other hand he leaves somewhat unsaid the legacy of fascism as a popular influence on or structural underpinning of Italian football since WW2. Parochialism and ultra-nationalism are undoubtedly part of what has been inbuilt into football in Italy by the Fascists, and it is through the agency of these ideas that hooliganism and corruption can and has flourished.
In summary this is a worthy, though not entirely enjoyable study of fascism first, football second. For students of the world game it might hold less interest because of this, however it does provide a fascinating insight into Mussolini's Italy.
June 1, 2025
Libro un po’ troppo tecnico sul rapporto tra calcio e fascismo
July 31, 2023
ps. go see foro italico for a real life demonstration of this
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews