Four neighbourhoods, four churches, four colours
A square, one ball, two goals, 50 minutes and no rules
In the third week of June, each year since 1580, four teams formed by 27 fight in the arena La Santa Croce.....
<![CDATA[<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/-Ea17DLpqIY&ab_channel=IoTifoFiorentina" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/-Ea17DLpqIY&ab_channel=IoTifoFiorentina</a>]]>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ea17DLpqIY&ab_channel=IoTifoFiorentina
"I play for the team, but I play alone, I do not want the ball, it does not interest me"Absolutely fucking beautiful that line
2014's game with the best steal of a punch you are ever likely to see at 2:12.From wiki:
Interest in Calcio waned in the early 17th century. However, in 1930 it was reorganized as a game in Kingdom of Italy.[1] under Mussolini. Today, three matches are played each year in Piazza Santa Croce in Florence in the 3rd week of June. A team from each quartiere of the city is represented:
Santa Croce / Azzurri (Blues)
Santa Maria Novella / Rossi (Reds)
Santo Spirito / Bianchi (Whites)
San Giovanni / Verdi (Greens)
After playing each other in two opening games, the two overall winners go into the final which occurs each year on June 24; this is San Giovanni (St. John)'s Day, the Patron Saint of Florence. The modern version of calcio allows tactics such as head-butting, punching, elbowing, and choking but sucker punches and kicks to the head are banned.[1] It is also prohibited for more than one player to attack an opponent. Any violation leads to being thrown out of the game.
And what a venue!
Christ I would of loved to have a game of this
.........Determined that one day, I will go and watch this.
