Derby della Capitale

Derby della Capitale

Rome Derby
Players from both Lazio and Roma observing a moment of silence for the victims of the L'Aquila earthquake before the 11 April 2009 match.
City or region	Rome, Italy
Teams involved	A.S. Roma S.S. Lazio
First contested	8 December 1929
Most wins	A.S. Roma (64)
Most player appearances	Francesco Totti (28)

The Derby della Capitale (English: Derby of the capital city), 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 inter-city 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 derbies in Europe.^[1] The derby has been historically marked by massive crowds, excitement, violence and, more recently, racist banners in the crowd.

Culture rivalry

AS Roma and SS Lazio historical positions in Serie A

According to locals, the Derby della Capitale is "much more than just a game" and symbolises an unseen division that exists within the city as a result of the country's colourful political history. 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 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.

Lazio was founded in the neighborhood of Prati and initially trained and played at the Rondinella field in Parioli. 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; laziali are regarded as outsiders because they allegedly come from outside Rome, while they reply asserting that they brought football to the city as Lazio was founded in 1900, much earlier than Roma's foundation in 1927.

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 and local bragging rights. This is partly fueled by the fact that Italian football has mostly been dominated by the biggest clubs in Northern Italy – namely Juventus, Milan and Inter.

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 clubs' ultras have right wing ideologies. Roma fans have also been known to hold up racist banners from time to time.

Notable incidents

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.

The derby on 21 March 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. 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. Roma's captain 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.^[2] 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 28 March and ended in a 1–1 draw with no crowd trouble.

All-time results

Statistics and records

• 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).
• 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).
• Only in one occasion the derby was played as a Cup Final, on 26 May 2013. Lazio won 1-0 bringing the Coppa Italia to the club.

Goal scorers

	Player	Club(s)	League	Cup	Total
	Dino da Costa	Roma	9	2	11
	Marco Delvecchio	Roma	9	0	9
	Francesco Totti	Roma	9	0	9
	Vincenzo Montella	Roma	7	1	8
	Rodolfo Volk	Roma	7	0	7
	Silvio Piola	Lazio	6	1	7
	Alexandre de Maria	Lazio	5	0	5
	Tommaso Rocchi	Lazio	5	0	5
	Amedeo Amadei	Roma	5	0	5
	Pedro Waldemar Manfredini	Roma	5	0	5
	Giorgio Chinaglia	Lazio	4	1	5
	Mirko Vucinic	Roma	4	0	4
	Fulvio Bernardini	Roma	4	0	4
	Raffaele Costantino	Roma	4	0	4
	Roberto Mancini	Lazio	3	1	4
	Anderson Hernanes	Lazio	3	1	4

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 has scored the most number of goals in the derbies: 11. The best scorer for Lazio was Silvio Piola with 7 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.

References

External links

• Five classic Rome derbies over the past fifteen years on Goal.com
• Il Derby della Capitale on CBC News