The 1940s: World War II and Mediocrity
This particular decade was dominated by Il Grande Torino, and Lazio could achieve no better than mid-table finishes. The championship was suspended in 1943 due to the effects of World War II, and the club, now without the national hero Piola, participated in the local Campionato Romano until 1945-46 when the national championship returned, albeit in a regionalised and unofficial format. The following year, the Serie A returned to its usual format and Lazio duly finished 10th, a mediocre season, albeit ahead of Roma, who narrowly avoided relegation.
The 1948-49 season was a difficult one for the biancocelesti as players were reduced to the minimum wage and several went on strike. They finished 13th, however recovered the following season to record an impressive 4th-placed finish, made even sweeter by the difficulties of the previous year and the miserable campaign of Roma, who once again narrowly avoided the drop to Serie B.
Read more about this topic: History Of S.S. Lazio
Famous quotes containing the words world, war and/or mediocrity:
“It is a pleasant thing to reflect upon, and furnishes a complete answer to those who contend for the gradual degeneration of the human species, that every baby born into the world is a finer one than the last.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
—Bible: Hebrew Isaiah, 2:4.
The words reappear in Micah 4:3, and the reverse injunction is made in Joel 3:10 (”Beat your plowshares into swords ...”)
“There are certain things in which mediocrity is intolerable: poetry, music, painting, public eloquence. What torture it is to hear a frigid speech being pompously declaimed, or second-rate verse spoken with all a bad poet’s bombast!”
—Jean De La Bruyère (1645–1696)