This review really should have been published ahead of the recent World Cup but I hadn’t listened to it then and to be honest the promotion of this podcast as a precursor to the recent doings would do it as a bit of a disservice.
Anyway, if you have a bit of interest in the history of football and the world around it, this will be right up your autostrada.
For those who don’t know The Rest Is History its out of the Gary Lineker Goalhanger stable and sits alongside The Rest Is Politics (Rory Stewart and Alistair Campbell) as well as The Rest Is Football (Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and Gary Lineker). There are likely others but I don’t suppose you’re interested in me compiling a list.
The Second Edition. 1934. Italy won 2-1 on 10 June, 1934 defeating ...
The pod is delivered by regular Rest Is History host, Dominic Sandbrook and in this series he’s joined by a fellow academic and historian, Paul Rouse.
Don’t let my description of Sandbrook and Rouse as historians or academics put you off. This isn’t a couple of old duffers talking in academese.
The tone is light hearted and moves along at a decent pace in the hour and a wee bit it lasts. I listened to it doing some exercise so its not like you have to be in a darkened room with the world blocked out to understand it all.
Obviously, the recent World Cup did act as the nudge to record the episode and focused a good chunk on the Italy World Cup of 1934 and ‘38 when the Azzurri won it twice at home and in France.
There’s obviously some contextualisation of the times and what a Fascist-led Italy wanted from the World Cup and even football itself as part of their central credo - masculinity, community and national pride.
As the pod explains there were several contradictions to the big Mussolini mission with the game. Not that he cared much for Calcio himself but he did recognise its popularity amongst his countrymen and women and how it could be harnessed for his ends.
The pod describes how the Fascist government intervened within the sport to imprint its values - some of them being overt - the forced merger of some clubs (Fiorentina, Napoli, Roma emerging from forced partnerships) as well as replacing of anglicised expressions within the sport as well as club names with more Italian words.
There’s an explanation where the word Calcio comes from which this boring, speccy, middle-aged wanker found interesting - as well as attempted creations of alternatives to the game with a greater Italian influence as opposed to the anglo-saxon version some within the fascist movement resented.
BOLOGNA LITTORIALE STADIO Monumento Mussolini Antica Cartolina Stadium ...
Some of the motives behind Fascism becoming directly involved in the game were more nuanced and linked to notions of masculinity and the inculcation of a warlike nature as well as a restatement of Italian pride and the country even harking back to times of the Roman Empire etc.
The series of the pod also debunks some long-held suspicions of dark arts and corruption by the Italian state in the winning of those two World Cups.
There are also pointers as to how Mussolini’s template for a fascist use of football has been picked up by other military juntas … Argentina being a prime example in the 1970s … they might also have mentioned Spain and Franco in the post-war period … but they didn’t. That’s just my take.
I’d say its well worth your time if you have any interest in this kind of stuff and don’t clutch your pearls at the crossover of football and politics.
I listened to it on Spotify - as below - but it’ll be on all of the other usual platforms too.
Keep On, Keepin’ On …
Michael Martin, @TFMick1892.bky.social