The Day Italian Football Died: Torino and the Tragedy of Superga - Softcover

Manna, Alexandra; Gibbs, Mike

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1780914806 ISBN 13: 9781780914800

Publisher: DB Publishing, 2015

Synopsis

"AT just after 5pm on 4 May 1949, a Fiat aircraft carrying 31 people, among them the Torino football squad, crashed into a 2,200ft-high peak called Superga on the outskirts of Turin. In an instant the dominant force in Italian football was destroyed. It was a tragedy unparalleled in sporting history and still affecting the club today. Unlike Manchester United after Munich, the Torino club has never been able to recover from that awful moment. Fifty years after the tragedy of Superga, Alexandra Manna and Mike Gibbs revisited Turin to see an entire city pay homage to the memory of those who died. The experience made a profound impression upon them and they resolved to find out more. The result is this book."

About this title

From the Publisher:

Synopsis
AT just after 5pm on 4 May 1949, a Fiat aircraft carrying 31 people, among them the Torino football squad, crashed into a 2,200ft-high peak called Superga on the outskirts of Turin. The Grande Torino, as they were known, had won the previous three Serie A titles and had almost clinched a fourth when their aircraft disappeared from the sullen skies over their home city. They had also dominated the Italian national team, providing as many as nine players for one international alone. In an instant the dominant force in Italian football was destroyed. It was a tragedy unparalleled in sporting history and still affecting the club today. Unlike Manchester United after Munich, the Torino club has never been able to recover from that awful moment. Fifty years after the tragedy of Superga, Alexandra Manna and Mike Gibbs revisited Turin to see an entire city pay homage to the memory of those who died. The experience made a profound impression upon them and they resolved to find out more. The result is this book. The Day Italian Football Died tells not only of the Superga tragedy itself and the events leading up to it, but also of how Torino emerged in the days before World War One, how they became such a powerful organisation, how they attempted to deal with the aftermath of an air crash in which their first-team squad, as well as reserves, coaching and training staff and directors perished, and how the disaster has affected the Torino club to the present-day. The story begins and ends in Turin, 50 years after the tragedy of Superga, and the result is a compelling work, telling of a disaster which is little-known outside Italy but which had a huge impact on football in that country.

About this edition

• Publisher: DB Publishing
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1780914806
• ISBN 13: 9781780914800
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 202