The Football History Boys

The World Cup is football's premier international tournament, it provides us with quality, shocks and some of the greatest players and teams to have graced the game. Today, two nations almost always qualify for the main draw - England and the United States. Despite the "Special Friendship" both nations now adorn, history tells us of many battles between the countries, be it The American War of Independence, the War of 1812 or the 1950 World Cup. 

To fully understand the amazing story of the United States in 1950 is to look into just where, in footballing standards they were in the mid twentieth-century. The answer? Way off. The US team for a start was made up of part-time players, hastily assembled by Scottish manager William Jeffrey. The 1950 World Cup, held in Brazil, was the first major tournament following the Second World War, and despite America emerging as the main global superpower after the conflict, their soccer team was in no place to match their countries wid…

It’s been a good while since I’ve done a Crest Dissected but after a bit of a summer break and time at the BBC (Cardiff and Swansea pieces) it’s time to get back down to TFHB writing! So followingFC Barcelona, PSG, AS Monaco and US Women’s Soccer this week I’m going to take a look at AS Roma and their intriguing history. 

In the summer of 1927 an Italian Fascist, Italo Foschi, was behind the merger of three older Italian Football Championships clubs all based in Rome, Alba-Audace, Roman and Fortitudo. The purpose of the move was to compete with the well established clubs, especially in the Northern cities but Lazio were not behind the move meaning the Derby della Capitale rivalry was there from the beginning and Associazone Sportiva Roma was born. AS Roma immediately endeared themselves to the masses by taking on the capital’s colours, red and yellow, something Lazio did not consider as they favoured the greek myth of Olimpia and the colour blue.


The crest of AS Roma itself is notable f…