Derby della Capitale
City or region: Rome (Italy)
First contested: 8 December 1929
Teams involved: A.S. Roma & S.S. Lazio
Most wins A.S. Roma (63)
The first derby was played on 8 December 1929, and ended 1–0 for Roma with a goal by Rodolfo Volk.
Lazio won its first derby on 23 October 1932 with goals by Demaría (L), Volk (R) and Castelli (L).
On 29 November 1953 was played the first derby in the Stadio Olimpico, and finished with a 1–1 draw with goals by Carlo Galli (R) and Paquale Vivolo (L).
The best result in a derby was the 5–0 victory of Roma during the season 1933–34. The best result for Lazio was the 3–0 victory of the season 2006–07.
Lazio holds the record of the most consecutive victories in a single season, winning four derbies during the season 1997–98: two in the league (3–1 and 2–0) and two in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia (4–1 and 2–1).
Players
Francesco Totti played the most number of derbies: 28 appearances. The most present for Lazio were Aldo Pulcinelli and Giuseppe Wilson, both with 19 appearances.
Dino Da Costa and Marco Delvecchio have scored the most number of goals in the derbies: 9. The best scorer for Lazio was Silvio Piola with 6 goals.
Vincenzo Montella holds the record for the most goals scored in a single derby. On 11 March 2002 he scored 4 goals in the 5–1 Roma's victory.
Arne Selmosson is the only player who scored in the derby both for Lazio and Roma.The Derby della Capitale (English: Derby of the capital), also known as Derby Capitolino and Derby del Cupolone, as well as The Rome Derby in English, is the football local derby in Rome, Italy, between the two major teams of the city, Roma and Lazio. It is considered to be the fiercest derby in the country ahead of the other major local derbies, Derby della Madonnina (Milan derby) and Derby della Mole (Turin derby), and one of the greatest and hotly contested capital derbies in Europe. The derby has been historically marked by massive crowds, excitement, violence and – recently – racist banners in the crowd.
Two extreme incidents in particular have left their mark on the history of this fixture. In 1979, Lazio fan Vincenzo Paparelli was hit in the eye and killed by a flare fired by a Roma fan from the opposite end of the stadium, becoming the first fatality in Italian football due to violence, and in 2004 an unprecedented event occurred when the Roma ultras forced the game to be suspended after spreading false rumors among the crowd that a child had been killed by the police prior to the beginning of the game. In the recent derby on December 2009, the referee stopped play for some seven minutes just 13 minutes into the first half due to fireworks being thrown onto the pitch.
Culture rivalry
The locals like to say that the Derby della Capitale is "much more than just a game". Roma was founded as a result of a merger between three teams: Roman, Alba-Audace and Fortitudo, initiated by Italo Foschi. It was the intention of a Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini to create a unified and powerful Roman club to challenge the dominance of Northern clubs. Thanks to the influence of Fascist general, Giorgio Vaccaro, Lazio were the only major team from Rome to resist the merger, thus a kind of rivalry emerged from the very early years of the coexistence in the same city. The first game, won by Roma, was held on December 8, 1929 and the rivalry quickly grew between the teams.
While the fans of both teams loathe the arrogance of the major teams of northern Italy, they detest each other much more, and due to the fact that Lazio and Roma have not won numerous trophies in comparison to the giants of the north, the derby is a chance to prove who is dominant in the capital. Besides, Lazio was founded in the neighborhood of Prati and initially trained and played at the Rondinella field. Roma began playing at the Motovelodromo Appio and subsequently, when the new stadium was built after only two years, moved to the rione of Testaccio.
Thus, Lazio's ultras traditionally occupy the northern one (Curva Nord) and Roma's the southern end (Curva Sud) of the Stadio Olimpico. Making ironic remarks, known as sfottò, focused on the origins of both sets of fans, is a traditional way of teasing between the supporters of Lazio and Roma; both laziali and romanisti are regarded by each other as outsiders, creating a dispute on who really the actual Romans are.
The devout regionalism, that is perceived throughout the country, is one of the reasons that make the derby more heated, as the fans view it as a battle between two clubs fighting for the right to represent the city in the rest of the country. The Roman derby has been the scene of several actions related to the political views of the fan bases. Lazio's ultras often use swastikas and fascist symbols on their banners and they have displayed racist behaviour in several occasions during the derbies. Most notably at a derby of the season 1998–99 when laziali unfurled a 50-metre banner around the Curva Nord that read, "Auschwitz is your town, the ovens are your houses".
Black players of Roma have often been receivers of racist and offensive behaviour; a banner that Lazio's ultras had once displayed claimed that Roma is a "Team of blacks followed by Jews" in response to "Team of sheep followed by shepherds" displayed by Roma's ultras. In 2000 Lazio fans showed their support for Serbian nationalist and war criminal Arkan. Officially, the club has distanced itself from these fans, who make up a minority, and fights to combat these kind of actions. As a result Roma fans are sometimes incorrectly depicted as left wing, when in fact both sets clubs' ultras have right wing ideologies. Roma fans have also been known to hold up racist banners from time to time. One of those banners, showed in 2006 during a match against Livorno stated "Lazio-Livorno: Stessa iniziale stesso forno" (Lazio-Livorno: same initial, same oven) and the infamous nazist motto, "Gott mit uns".
The riot of spring 2004
The derby on March 21, 2004 was abandoned, four minutes into the second half, with the score tied at 0–0, when a riot broke out in the stands and the president of the Italian Football League, Adriano Galliani, ordered referee Roberto Rosetti to suspend the match. The riots, including literal exchanges of fireworks, began with the spreading of a rumour that a boy had been killed by a police car just outside the stadium. This story was spread to the players when three leaders of Roma's ultras walked onto the pitch to speak with Francesco Totti, the Roma captain. In fact, from last row of the stadium, some fans noticed in the square below a body covered with a white sheet.
Later, medics put the sheet explained that the boy had difficulty breathing, dangerously exacerbated by the air full of tear gas, and then the sheet was used as a filter. The denial by the police, spread through the speakers of the stadium, was not able to remove all doubt. Totti then asked for the match to be called off, at which point Adriano Galliani was reached by the referee by mobile phone — from the pitch — and ordered the game postponed.[3] After the match was postponed a prolonged battle between fans and police, with streets near the stadium being set on fire, eventually resulting in 13 arrests and over 170 injured among the police alone. The match was replayed on March 28 and ended in a 1–1 draw with no crowd trouble.
Both teams hate the arrogance from the Northern teams (Milan, Turin) but they hate each other more. AS Roma is the team supported in the popular roman districts while Lazio support is more from the rich roman districts of the city. The politic differences between the fans used to be one of the reasons of this rivalry. The Laziali in general had right-wing idea's while the Roma fans were more left-wing orientated.
Every major footballing city in the world has a great local rivalry and some of those rivalries run deeper than others, the deepest are rarely anything to do with beautiful game.
In Scotland, the Old Firm derby, contested between former European heavyweights Glasgow Rangers & Glasgow Celtic, who play each other around half a dozen times a season, and rarely is there a more fierce hatred in all of football then when these two sides lock horns.
Religion, in football as in life, has the power to unite and divide communities in equal measure. One of the key components in whether you support Rangers or Celtic is often down to what religion you are, Rangers fans being Protestant and Celtic fans Catholic, and the confrontation that exists between them generally comes under the banner of what’s called Sectarianism.
I know little or nothing about Sectarianism, or any other ism’s for that matter, and all of its machinations other than the effect it has had on the fixture of the country’s two biggest sides and the effect on Scottish football in general. An effect that has not often been classed as positive one.
Other rivalries are just as competitive on the pitch but far less intimidating such as Liverpool and Everton. Often you will see members of the same family in opposing shirts and fans happily mixing together with mainly good natured banter. Over recent years however this has been less evident and on occasions the deep rivalry has been as fierce as it ever was, but it’s nothing compared what’s happened north of the border.
In Liverpool you are Red or you are Blue, with the odd White for Tranmere thrown in to mix it up a bit. Essentially the rivalry boils down to football and football only.
So what about the Eternal City? Is Roma verses Lazio 90 minutes of hatred and vitriol or is it an hour and a half of cheery but merciless banter. The truth, as with all things, lies somewhere in between, although it veers far more towards Glasgow than to Merseyside.
The Derby della Capitale (Derby of the Capital) is considered to be the biggest derby in Italy. Milan against Inter does not compare and neither does the Turin derby.
Unlike Scotland there is no religious under current behind the Roma-Lazio fixtures. As in Milan both teams share the same ground, the Stadio Olimpico.
The formation of Roma came about in 1927 when they were created, due in part to Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini’s desire to end the dominance of the teams from the North. Three teams, Roman, Alba-Audace and Fortitudo were bonded together to form AS Roma.
One existing team in Rome though refused to unite and they were SS Lazio and so the rivalry began.
In a nutshell the Lazio fans are considered by their Roma counterparts as being outsiders i.e. not from the city of Rome. Lazio fans retort by informing the Roma tifosi that they were here first. The year 1900 to be precise. 27 years before Roma became a club.
Despite the dominance, which continues to this day, of the northern based sides like Juventus, Milan, Inter etc, the clubs continue to hate each other with far more enthusiasm than anyone else, even the most successful clubs. Perhaps this attitude has held them back at times in their respective histories, so keen are they to outdo each other rather than focusing on the bigger prize.
On occasions the intimidation and insults overstep the mark and there have been several occurrences of violence between the two sets of supporters.
In 1979 a Lazio supporter was hit in the eye with a flare thrown by a Roma fan and became the first fatality due to violence in the history of Italian football.
Roma ultras also forced the suspension of a game in 2004 when false rumours of a child being killed by police before the match caused chaos.
As recently as 2009 the referee was forced to abandon play for over seven minutes because of fireworks being thrown onto the pitch. In Argentina they would probably have played on!!
Other suspensions and high profile incidents have marred this fixture but also put it on the map as one of the world’s biggest rivalries.
Being seen as the top dog in Rome is just as important to Lazio & Roma as it is being the top dog in Italy, in fact, scrap that………it’s more so.
The ultras on both sides have generally set the tone down the years for what this fixture has become and what it means to the supporters. Lazio’s ultras have often shown their darker side by using swastikas and fascist symbols on their banners and they have frequently displayed racist behaviour during derbies.
During the 1998-99 season Laziali produced a 50 metre banner around the Curva Nord, the Lazio Ultra’s end, that read “Auschwitz is your town, the ovens are your houses”.
Roma players of a black or another ethnic origin have also come under attack from Lazio supporters with banners and racist chanting. It must be said however that Roma do not have a clear conscience themselves when it comes to matters of racist abuse or banners and have more than once been the protagonists in such unsavory actions.
All in all it can get pretty unpleasant at times and it’s certainly not a game for those of a nervous disposition. However, despite the high profile incidents and generally negative publicity, it is one of the most thrilling and absorbing football games you are ever likely to witness.
Many times, often due to the fractious nature of the fixture, the games have been dull but your football experience will be much the poorer for not seeing this event live should you get the opportunity.
Notable Games
The first ever Derby della Capitale was played on 8 December 1929, and ended 1–0 for Roma with a goal by Rodolfo Volk.
Lazio won their derby match 2-1 on 23 October 1932.
On 29 November 1953 was the date of the first derby in the Stadio Olimpico, and finished with a 1–1 draw with goals by Carlo Galli (Roma) and Paquale Vivolo (Lazio).
The best result in a derby for Roma was a 5–0 victory during the 1933–34 season. Lazio’s best win was the 3–0 victory in the 2006-07 season.
Lazio holds the record of the most consecutive victories in a single season, winning four derbies during the season 1997–98: two in the league (3–1 and 2–0) and two in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia (4–1 and 2–1).
Notable Players & Performances
Francesco Totti has played the most number of derbies: 28 appearances, so far. The most present for Lazio were Aldo Pulcinelli and Giuseppe Wilson, both with 19 appearances.
Dino Da Costa and Marco Delvecchio have scored the most number of goals in the derbies: 9.
Vincenzo Montella holds the record for the most goals scored in a single derby. On 11 March 2002 he scored 4 goals in the 5–1 Roma’s victory.
Arne Selmosson is the only player who scored in the derby both for Lazio and Roma.
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