History of S.S. Lazio

History Of S.S. Lazio

Società Podistica Lazio, or Lazio Athletics Club was founded on January 9, 1900 in the Prati district of Rome. Therefore Lazio is the oldest Roman football team. Wanting to encompass more than just the city of Rome that they were from, the club's nine original founding members chose to name Lazio, the same name as the region of Italy in which the club is located.

Their first ever match of football came in 1902 against Virtus, a match considered, albeit unofficially, to be the first Rome Derby. That match was played at Piazza d'Armi, near Piazza Mancini, and Lazio duly won 3-0 with a hat-trick from centre-forward Sante Ancherani.

In 1907, the Italian Football Federation sponsored a Roman championship called I Categoria, which Lazio won, defeating early rivals Virtus in the final. Nonetheless, they were not invited into any national championship despite their success.

After this friendly football activity, Lazio officially gave birth to its football section in 1910 and joined official league competition in 1912 as soon as the Italian Football Federation began organising championships in the center and south of Italy, and reached the final of the national championship playoff three times, but never won, losing in 1913 to Pro Vercelli, in 1914 to Casale and in 1923 to Genoa.

In 1927 Lazio was the only major Roman club which resisted the Fascist regime's attempts to merge all the city's teams into what would become A.S. Roma the same year. This was due to Giorgio Vaccaro, a general in the Fascist regime and influential in the sporting landscape. A true Lazio fan, Vaccaro defended the club's right to keep its identity and Lazio were the sole opposition to the new team.