đŽđš The Roman "Bad Boys": Why the Champions of Italy Were Banned from Europe
Football history is littered with "what ifs," but few are as violent as the story of SocietĂ Sportiva Lazio in the mid-1970s.
In the 1973-74 season, SS Lazio did something legendary. They won the Serie A title (the Scudetto) for the very first time in their history. Normally, this is the ultimate âgolden ticket.â It meant they should have played in the next seasonâs European Cup (which is todayâs UEFA Champions League).
But instead of playing against the best of the best, Lazio spent the 1974-75 season stuck at home. Why? Because a few months earlier, they had turned a football match into a literal battlefield.
Founded in 1900 in Rome, Lazio is one of Italyâs oldest clubs and has long carried a complicated political and social identity, with parts of its fanbase and even some players associated with farâright symbolism, especially in the 1970s.
Their first ever Serie A title came in 1973â74, when a recently promoted, fiercely physical side shocked traditional powers like Juventus, Inter and Milan to win the Scudetto in the middle of Italyâs violent âYears of Leadâ, in Italian: Anni di piombo. That titleâwinning squad, remembered as the âLazio of the pistols,â was famous not just for its football but for internal splits, extremist politics and a reputation for turning matches into battles, all of which framed the chaos of that night, the one that shut their door.
The Storm of Italy
To understand this story, you have to know that the 1970s was a different world. There was no VAR, fewer cameras, and the games were way more aggressive. Lazio had a massive reputation for being ânotoriousâ and âevilâ on the pitch.
They were basically the âvillainsâ of European football back then:
In 1970, they got into a massive street fight with Arsenal players.
Managers from other teams, like Manchester Unitedâs Tommy Docherty, said they should be âbanned for all timeâ.
Even the chairman of the Professional Footballersâ Association at the time said Lazio didnât play by the rules.
The international drama started in the UEFA Cup (now the Europa League). Lazio was playing an English team called Ipswich Town.
In the first leg in England, Ipswich absolutely destroyed Lazio 4-0. This humiliated the Italians. By the time the second leg rolled around in Rome on 7 November 1973, the atmosphere was like a powder keg ready to explode.
Lazio actually had a superstar striker named Giorgio Chinaglia. He was a beastâheâd scored 24 goals in the Italian league that year. In this game against Ipswich, he was on fire and even scored a hat-trick.
The Match that Became a Riot
Lazio was winning the game 4-2. They were playing amazingly, but because they lost the first game so badly, they were still losing on aggregate score.
Term Check: Aggregate Score
In two-legged knockout games, you add the goals from both matches. Ipswich had 4, Lazio had 0 in the first game. In the second, Lazio had 4, Ipswich had 2. Total: 6-4 to Ipswich. Result, Lazio was losing.
The âexplosionâ happened in the 73rd minute. The referee gave Ipswich a penalty. Ipswich scored it, and the Lazio fansâand playersâwent absolutely ballistic.
The stadium went nuts. Fans invaded the pitch, engaging in fights with police who were forced to use tear gas to disperse the "angry fans". British newspapers described the scene as "The Roman Storm," reporting that Union Jacks (UK flags) were burned in the stands while missilesâincluding bricks and bottlesârained down.
If the pitch was bad, the tunnel leading to the dressing rooms was a horror movie. As the Ipswich players tried to escape the chaos, the Lazio players allegedly attacked them.
Ipswichâs goalkeeper, David Best, was âhacked downâ from behind and kicked while he was on the floor. Ipswich manager Bobby Robson was only three feet away and saw the whole thing. He claimed a Lazio player named Giuseppe Wilson was the one who kicked Best. It was so scary that Best said it was the âmost frightening experienceâ of his life.
The Punishment
The press was horrified. Headlines called Lazio the âEvil Men of Europeâ. On 16 November 1973, UEFA dropped the hammer:
The Ban: Lazio was banned from all international competitions for one year.
The Fine: They were fined ÂŁ1,500 (which was a lot of money back then).
Here is the part that really hurts for Lazio fans. While they were banned from Europe, they were playing the best football in Italy. They won the 1973-74 Serie A title.
Under normal rules, the winner of the Italian league gets to play in the European Cup (the Champions League). Itâs the highest honour in club football. But because of the riot against Ipswich, UEFA said âNoâ.
Lazio became the âChampion without a European Cupâ. They had the trophy, they had the superstar (Chinaglia), but they were stuck at home because of their own bad behaviour.
The 25-Year Wait
Unfortunately, the consequences lasted way longer than just one year. After that championship-winning team broke up, Lazio struggled. They didnât get another chance to play in the top European competition (rebranded as the UEFA Champions League) until the 1999-2000 season.
That is 25 years of waiting. An entire generation of fans grew up never seeing their team play in the biggest tournament in the world, all because of one night of thuggery and war in Rome.
Here you have some club stats đ
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