Calcio Storico
Calcio Storico is a sport unlike any other. It involves two teams engaging in physical combat while other players try to score. They box and get each other into submissions. While that is happening, they are also playing a sport similar to soccer. This is the missing link between soccer and football, and it is violent.
This sport began just before the Renaissance as a way to stay fit during peace times. During the 16th century, Italian aristocrats would play nightly between Epiphany and Lent. Epiphany is essentially a mini-Christmas, to the best of my understanding.
Henry III of France was recorded as saying the game is “too small to be a real war and too cruel to be a game.” Rules for Calcio Storico wouldn’t be recorded until the late 1500’s by a writer, critic, and soldier named Giovanni de’ Bardi. Great name.
The game fell out of popularity, until 1930 when Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy during WW2, brought it back. He was rightfully killed in a firing line in the mid 1940’s.
Back in the day you could do whatever you wanted, but due to fatalities sucker punches, kicks to the head, and multiple people attacking one person are now against the rules.
With all the boring history out of the way, let’s get right into it.
Only three matches are played per year and there are only four teams. Florence is split into quartiere which is Italian for quarters or fourths.
Azzurri are the blues from Santa Croce.
Rossi are the reds from Santa Maria Novella.
Bianchi are the whites from Santa Spirito.
Verdi are the greens from San Giovanni.
Games take place in the third week of June in a tournament style. The teams play each other, then the top two teams play each other. It all makes sense so far.
Now let’s talk about the field of play. The game is played on a field of sand. The field must be twice as long as it is wide, for instance 100 yards in length needs 50 yards in width. This is so the field can be divided into two equal squares. There is a net that fills the space of a touchdown. Instead of running into a touchdown, you throw the ball into a very wide net that runs the entire width of the field on each end.
The teams have 4 goalkeepers (datori indietro), 3 fullbacks (datori innanzi), 5 halfbacks (sconciatori), and 15 forwards (innanzi or corridori). This adds up to 27 players per team on the field. Each team has a tent with a Captain and a Standard Bearer in it. They don't participate in the game. Think of them more as coaches.
A game is 50 minutes long and there are no substitutions. If you’re injured, your space isn’t filled, so seeing players hobble around with injuries is a common practice. If a player is ejected, their place is not filled. Similar to a red card in soccer.
On the field there are 6 linemen and a referee who officiate the game with the help of the Jude Commissioner, who is not on the field.
The game begins after the firing of the Colubrine, a small cannon. Once the cannon is shot, the referee throws the ball onto the field for a jump ball. Immediately the forwards begin to fight.
The ball is kicked or thrown out of the fighting line and held by one team as the forwards fist fight. They fight to tire each other out. You want the other team to have less able-bodied people on the field so it becomes easier to score. In the matches I’ve watched, it appears to be an all out brawl between the forwards for about 15-20 minutes. During this period, no points are scored.
Once the team with the ball decides enough players are down for them to score, they do whatever it takes to make that happen. From what I’ve seen, the first attempts at goal usually don’t pan out.
Assuming you do get through the huge fight and the defenders, you must now throw the ball into the net. You better not miss. If you miss the other team gets half of a point. The goal is called a caccia, while a point is called a cacce and teams switch sides every time one is scored. Since there are no half-times, this is the break.
Your team has scored the most cacce when the 50 minutes ends and you win. Surely, there is some grand prize for this achievement! There isn’t. Way back in the day, you’d win a great pure-bred cow, called a Chianina. Unfortunately, time has not improved this prize. Now, the winning team simply gets a free dinner. There is no other compensation.
You may ask yourself, why do all this for a free dinner? What’s the point?
Believe it or not, Calcio Storico is one of the oldest organized team sports that is still played in its original form today. The players are respected as modern day gladiators. They are not playing for money. They are simply playing for the love of the game, and the history that surrounds the sport.
I consider Calcio Storico to be one of the last pure sports. It has not been killed by mergers and sponsors. It is still played the way the founder intended it to be played: 50 minutes of pure chaos and brutal violence for sport and entertainment.