S.S. Lazio fans

This article is about the fans of Italian football club S.S. Lazio.

History

The beginning

The history of organized fan groups of S.S. Lazio, known in Italian as the "tifoseria Laziale" begins in the late 1960's, in which small groups filled the steps of Stadio Olimpico in Rome. They belonged to different groups, "Tuparamos, Eagles, Ultras, Vigilantes, NAB, CAST" and "Marines" which mostly consisted of youth.

The foundation of Eagles Supporters

The early groups were not united and so in 1971, the first major ultras group was formed, Commandos Monteverde Lazio, also known as "C.M.L. '74". In 1976, the "G.A.B.A. (Gruppi Associati Bianco Azzurri)" were formed, who renamed themselves the Eagles Supporters the following year. The name was of British influence and for over a decade, the Eagles Supporters led the Lazio terrace, Curva Nord.

From 1978 to 1987

In 1978, a group called "VIKING Lazio" was formed, and took their place in the Curva Sud. In this same year, the Eagles Supporters, who originally began in the south stands, made the move to Curva Nord, which became the main Lazio terrace. All other small groups followed the Eagles besides Viking.

During the 1980s, the Curva Nord was admired and imitated by the rest of Italy because of their passion and originality which set them apart from the rest. During this time, Lazio's fans created what is known in Italy as a "gemellaggio", or twinning, with fans of Bari, Torino and especially Triestina.

Despite this decade being one of Lazio's worst in history, the Curva became a major expression of passion, with several travelling groups filling opposition grounds around the country. Significant crowds made all the more impressive because of the fact that they were for Serie B, approximately 20,000 fans followed the team to Pisa and Arezzo, 4,000 travelled to Udine, 80,000 attended a home match against Catania and up to 35,000 travelled south to Napoli for Lazio's clash with Lanerossi Vicenza, a match which became etched in the club's history and saw a remarkable survival from relegation to Serie C.

The arrival of the Irriducibili

During a Lazio-Padova match in 1987, a 10 metre long banner announced the arrival of a new Ultra group on the scene, "Irriducibili Lazio" formed by Antonio Grinta. "Irriducibili" rose to power in the Curva Nord and revolutionised the way Lazio fans supported their side. No more drums were used but English chanting styles were adpoted. This contrasted greatly with the Italian style of the "Eagles Supporters", and by 1992, Irriducibili were by far Lazio's most powerful group as the "Eagles Supporters" disbanded.

With the arrival of new president Sergio Cragnotti, Lazio qualified for European competition becoming one of the world's strongest teams. During this period, Lazio ultras formed close ties with both the Interisti and Veronesi. In addition to this relationships with supporters of Real Madrid, Chelsea and Paris Saint Germain developed.

Travelling numbers did not drop from the old days though, as approximately 4,000 travelled to Dortmund and Vienna, 20,000 to Paris, 15,000 to Birmingham for the 1999 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final and 10000 to Monaco for the UEFA Supercup despite only being allocated 3,500 tickets.

The new millennium

The Serie A 2002-03 season was an important year for the "Irriducibili" as they achieved their fifteenth year and in that same year, Lazio opted to retire the jersey number 12, permanently dedicated to Curva Nord.

Currently, the Curva Nord is still led by the "Irriducibili Lazio"; together with them are the "CML '74, VIKING, gli Ultras, la banda Noantri, i gruppo Anni '70" and "i Veterani" in the Tribuna Tevere. The "Legione Mr.Enrich" are based in the old Curva Sud-Maestrelli together with "Ardite Schiere". In 2004, the "VIKING" disbanded while "Banda Noantri" also temporarily closed. In 2006, "Sodalazio" was born, allowing fans all over Italy to follow Lazio more actively, both home and away.

"Gemellaggi"

Lazio ultras' strongest friendship is certainly with the ultras of Internazionale. It was born around the mid-1980s and has become stronger in recent years with the UEFA Cup 1997-98 final in Paris, and the infamous Serie A 2001-02 season decider on 5th May, 2002 at the Stadio Olimpico, when many fans of Lazio supported Inter, their opposition, hoping they would claim the Scudetto ahead of hated rival Juventus. The match ended 4-2 to Lazio, a result which saw Inter lose their title on the last day and many Lazio ultras called for manager Alberto Zaccheroni to be sacked.

Another twinning of Lazio was born during the 80s, that with Triestina. It was formed when the two sides were both playing in Serie B, when the Triestina ultras unfurled a banner against Lazio, stating in Italian, "Welcome Eagles, together we return". The twinning only got stronger recently when, during a Coppa Italia match at the Stadio Olimpico, between Triestina and Lazio's hated rivals AS Rona, the Triestina fans displayed Lazio banners in their terrace.

A friendship is held between the Lazio ultras and those of Hellas Verona. This is based on the two groups both being right-wing politically, and sharing the same ultras principles. However, Verona fans are twinned with those of Fiorentina, historically a rival of Lazio, which means there is only an "amicizia", or friendship, instead of a true twinning. Another similar friendship is shared with the ultras of Chieti.

Since they first played in Europe, Lazio have begun to develop friendships at an international level. The most important are those with the Real Madrid ultras known as "Ultras Sur", Espanyol and Chelsea.

The first, with Real, was born in 2001 during a UEFA Champions League match between the two teams, while that with Chelsea was set up in the 1970's. [ [http://www.tifonet.it/guerraepace/scheda.php Guerra e Pace] ]

Rivalries

By far Lazio's greatest rivals, are their crosstown enemies A.S. Roma, with whom they contest the bitterly fought Derby della Capitale, considered one of, if not the, greatest Derbies in the world.

Other rivals in Italy include, Napoli, a rivalry which began in the 1980's and is particularly fierce due to the ex-friendship between Napoli and Roma, which has now become a Derby itself, the Derby del Sole, but also the proximity between the cities of Rome and Naples.

During the 1970's, Lazio developed a strong hate for Pescara Calcio, who in return consider Lazio their greatest rival. Due to Pescara's fleeting appearances in Serie A, the match has not been played now for over a decade. However, the two sets of fans did clash at a Primavera match in neutral Ancona.

The ultras consider both Livorno and Atalanta to be among their greatest enemies. Both of these rivalries were born due to political ideologies, with both Livorno and Atalanta having predominately left-wing fans, while Lazio's are far right. Lazio icon Paolo Di Canio and Livorno icon Cristiano Lucarelli have both performed controversial salutes to fans during matches featuring, and between, these sides.

Lazio also count Fiorentina, Juventus, Milan as rivals while in Europe, [Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal] were added to the long hate list, following a spiteful encounter in 2000, which saw racist chants and insults being directed towards Arsenal players, particularly Patrick Vieira from both the Ultras and Lazio defender Sinisa Mihajlovic.

Famous Lazio fans

* Cristian De Sica
* Lucio Battisti
* Giorgio Napolitano
* Dario Argento
* Asia Argento
* Clemente Mimun
* Enrico Montesano
* Paolo Ferrari
* Enrico Brignano
* Francesco Rutelli
* Anna Falchi
* Anna Marchesini
* Giampiero Galeazzi
* Sandro Ciotti
* Oscar Pistorius
* Gabriele Cirilli
* Pino teach
* Fabrizio Moro
* Giorgia
* Syria
* Paola Turci
* Michele Placido
* Violante Placido
* Francesca Neri
* Andrew Howe
* Andrea Bargnani
* Nanni Moretti
* Federico Moccia
* Mario Brega
* Tiberius Timperi
* Julius Base
* Tania Zamparo
* Alessandro Piperno
* Lando Buzzanca
* Stefano Pantano
* Nicola Pietrangeli

References