If you have a peek at the former league champions roster in any given land, you’ll largely find an unusual name or two that doesn’t compute to the modern era, where those monied same old brigade keep dominating the landscape. In England, Huddersfield Town (3 titles), Burnley (2), Portsmouth (2) have all tasted success back in the day, with some of us old enough to remember Ipswich and Nottingham Forest winning their solitary title, and more recently Leicester City, a modern day miracle. The Foxes’ success was a shot in the arm for the “little man”, a rare thing these days. But what was even more remarkable about Cloughie’s Forest, they might have only won the league once, but they have two European Cup successes!
In Spain, La Liga titles haven’t been won by any really unusual side, save titles for Deportivo La Coruna and Real Betis. France’s lesser known title winners are without doubt CO Roubaix-Tourcoing and FC Sete, but Auxerre’s championnat of 1995/96 was a wonderful relatively modern story where Guy Roux managed the club from 1965 to 2005, with just one season out of the hot seat in 2000 during a forty year reign! They came from nowhere to not just win that title, but hang around as regular European performers for years, before a sad drifting back down the ladder. I notice Auxerre are once again handily placed for a potentially long overdue return to Ligue 1 next season. In Germany, the gong has been passed around a lot of lesser known clubs ahead of Bayern’s tedious domination. Rot Weiss Essen, Holstein Keil, Victoria 89 Berlin, Blau Weiss Berlin, and even Rapid Wein (?!) have sampled success.
The thing is, these lesser light successes have all won no more than three titles and in many instances, just one, In Italy, it largely follows along the same lines with Casale, Novese, Cagliari and Hellas Verona all having secured a single Scudetto, (Spezia too, albeit classed as an unofficial title, even though they can wear the Italian flag on their shirt for the 1940 title). However, on the Italian roll of honour, sitting 6th equal with Bologna on 7 Scudetti are a small club who have more titles than significantly bigger clubs, with the next club on the roster being AS Roma with just 3! Welcome to the curious, and spectacular tale of the relatively unknown club of Pro Vercelli. Away from the big five countries, perhaps only Scotland’s Queen’s Park with ten titles, and the Faroese club TB Tvoroyri with seven can rival Pro Vercelli, with the added similarity that all three curiously sport differing varieties of black and white colours on their kit.
Vercelli is a small Eastern Piemonte town, tucked between Torino and Milan on the flat plains of this area. It has a modest population of 46,500, and such a town would struggle to maintain Serie A football now, let alone win seven league titles, but while football might have moved on, it can never take away the fabulous and colourful history of its past. It’s a quaint town, with innumerable pieces of the Roman architecture. Vercelli would allow for a morning of plundering ahead of catching a beer and a nice meal in the centre before the short walk to the Silvio Piola stadium.
Silvio Piola was a great Italian player, whose career spanned from 1929 to 1954, scoring 333 times in 619 club games for five clubs, with an additional 30 goals in 34 appearances for the National side. Silvio started that illustrious career with Pro Vercelli, just a few years after they won their last Scudetto. He played for Le Bianche Cassacche (the white shirts) 127 times, netting a modest 51 in his five seasons at the club. Silvio’s time at the club was the last of Pro Vercelli in the top flight, they were relegated in 1934/35, but Silvio had helped them stay there a little longer, and he learned his trade at Vercelli, a hero was born. He moved onto Lazio where things really took off with 143 goals in 227 starts in a nine year spell. When Silvio returned north he had short spells at both Juventus and Torino, before heading back east in the Piemonte region once more, scoring 86 times in 185 games over a 7 year period at his final club Novara, ironically Vercelli’s biggest rivals.
When Novara and Pro Vercelli come together to play it is known as the Rice Field derby, perhaps due to the flat arable land of the region. While the two played regularly in the early days, the fixture went 64 years without a derby between 1948 to 2012, but it has been back on the fixture roster regularly since then. Both clubs were back in Serie B a few years ago, but while they both ended in the relegation slots, they got embroiled in legal goings on with Entella, as the trio of clubs had thought when three clubs higher up the league went bust, it would have saved them from relegation. Alas the Serie B administration caused great controversy by bashing ahead the following season with a reduced roster of clubs, and steam was doubtlessly coming from the rice field duo that summer.
I had the pleasure of watching these Piemontese rivals go toe to toe at the Silvio Piola, but just to confuse you, and a nod to his vital part in Novara’s history, their stadium carries the same name! While Pro Vercelli’s colours are black and white, and Novara play in blue and white, the flags of the tifosi go with the red and white aspects of their club badges. It was like being at a Denmark (Novara) v England (Pro Vercelli) match given the flags flying. A dramatic late Novara winner beat Pro Vercelli that night much to the joy of the home fans. Vercelli, who by population would be perceived as the smaller club, but Novara have never won a league title, let alone 7, so we know who the wee club are in this derby!
Vercelli’s Stadio Silvio Piola has been the club’s home since 1932, so sadly it has never witnessed any of those great Scudetto wins. The ground is compact and very neat, with a capacity of 5,500, but more than adequate in the modern day for requirements of Serie B should Pro Vercelli get back to the second tier. The pitch is of the 4-G variety, a style beginning to creep more regularly into the lower leagues in Italy. It is an all seater stadium with very shallow Curva (behind both goals), a slightly more sizeable Gradinata (terrace) opposite the only original aspect of the stadium that remains, it’s lovingly maintained retro mainstand. This gem of a construction, where doubtlessly the pillars still annoy the viewer stuck behind or close to one, but between each of the pillars, hanging from the roof are the seven glorious Scudetto badges, each with the year a title was won.
The era in which Pro Vercelli won there titles was just ahead of the larger cities getting more streetwise and while the Juve’s and Milan’s of the world were around, they couldn’t compete with the mighty Vercelli in that era, who were the team to beat from 1908 to 1922, when half the league titles in that period went to them! The league structure back then was much more fractious, but in a relatively organised regional way. The winners of each region would come together for the claiming of the overall title. On occasion that would just be the North Western Italy winner from Piemonte and Liguria meeting the Northern Eastern winner from Veneto and Lombardy in a final, but gradually the game expanded further south, and by the late ‘20’s a unified single league started, which has forever since been known as Serie A.
Since the relegation woes from Serie B three years ago now, Vercelli have always made the extraordinarily protracted, but exciting Serie C play offs to get back up, but they have come up short of getting close to the promotion place. However, while no fans can be present, the 20/21 season is shaping up to be a good one for i leoni (the lions, another Pro Vercelli nickname). They are sitting third right now, but closing in on slip ups that Renate or Como might make. With just one club getting automatic promotion this is a tough level to get out of, but if you can finish second it does allow a number of earlier play off rounds to be skipped, and a guaranteed home quarter final awaits.
If you are arriving in Vercelli for a game, from the railway station, the stadium is about a 20 minute walk, and relatively easy flat stroll to get there too. Outside the station you will find a very grand roundabout where a number of the main thoroughfares all meet at Piazza Roma. To your left you will see the rather unusual Church, with it’s red brick facade, almost looking anglican. If time allows, you want to head in that direction, and it will take you into the tight and wonderful streets of the town. However, if it’s an in and out job just for calcio, the wide boulevard in front of you slightly to the right is called Corso Giuseppe Garibaldi, and it will take you three quarters of the way down it’s very straight route towards the Piola Stadio. As a couple of small roundabouts come and go, keep going straight on, and at Via Venti Settembre, which slightly angles gently left, that’s the way you want to head. As soon as you hit a park area, take any given road down to your right and the delights of the Silvio Piola await. Be warned, the roads are tight to the exterior of the ground, so not only is parking off the list of possibilities, there is no out of stadium bars nearby, nor any catering vans to use in soaking up the pre-match atmosphere ahead of entering the ground. You will find catering inside, but remember it’s a small club, so don’t expect anything too grand.
Taking a step back in time and glorying in the nostalgia of a wonderful little club that once roared is good for all football fans. It keeps those used to winning everything grounded, and for those who support clubs who hardly ever win a thing, a chance to marvel at the achievements of Pro Vercelli, you won’t be disappointed. In a post pandemic world cherishing moments of fabulous football.
Football Adventures with James Rendall 