Calcio Florentino

Theo González Miranda

English Homework #1

Imagine soccer, rugby and MMA all combined into one sport. That’s Calcio Storico.

I had heard about this sport some years back in a Netflix documentary about the
weirdest sports played in the world. I watched it again and, of those that were
included, I felt like Calcio Florentino was the most extreme and dangerous of them. It
really is quite interesting and kind of hard to understand how this sport is even a
thing.

A poem from 1410 seems to reference Calcio Fiorentino. The sport has been played
since the middle ages, it is undoubtedly quite old. The sport originated in Florence,
Italy and it became a huge part of their culture, even to this day. A famous example
of how much the Florencians love the sport is in the fact that, in the year 1530, even
though the city was under siege by Spanish Imperial troops of Charles the V, the
people of Florence still held a game and celebrated the sport. Calcio was usually
enjoyed by the upper class of the city. More often than not the Medici Family, a
Noble House of Italy, would host games in public squares and Noblemen of the city
would pay to play. The game became so popular that a law passed in the city so that
if someone interrupted a game of Calcio, he or she could be flogged. In 1739, the
last Calcio game was played for some time. In 1898, the game was kind of
“rebirthed” and underwent an important transformation. The rules and specifications
of the sport will be discussed in the next paragraph.

Calcio is nowadays played exclusively in Piazza Santa Croce, in Florence. The

playing field is a rectangle 80 x 40 meters long. The teams are composed of 27
players each, a total of 54 players per game. Each team is composed of 4
goalkeepers, 3 fullbacks, 5 halfbacks and 15 forwards. The forwards are in charge of
injuring, incapacitating and tiring out the opposing team, while the backs score and
goalkeepers try to stop the backs from doing that. Each game lasts only 50 minutes.
The objective of the game is for the teams to score a goal in the opposing team's
net. The nets span the whole width of the playing field. The game is quite chaotic.
Players are allowed to punch each other in any area of the body, kick each other,
headbutt each other and even choke each other so as to incapacitate them. As I said
previously, it is basically soccer, rugby and MMA together. It has been described as
the world’s most brutal and violent team sport.

With a sport as violent as Calcio Florentino, I believe the potential risks are quite
obvious. From head injury, bone breaking, bone fracturing, muscular injuries and
much more. The game puts in danger every physical aspect of the human body. It is
incredible that the game is played by men who volunteer to play. On top of that,
there is a fierce sense of pride with each team. There are only four teams in the city,
the red, blue, green and white teams. Depending on what area of the city you are
born in, that is what team you are part of.

The reason men play this sport is quite a mystery to say the least. With such a
violent game, it is difficult to understand how it is possible that some people may play
it. I believe that the main reason people play this sport is because of tradition. It is
deeply embedded in their city’s culture. What kind of Florencian would you be if you
didn’t play or at least attend Calcio games? It would be like if a Costa Rican person
didn’t enjoy gallo pinto…

All in all, I find the sport quite interesting. Its rich history goes to show how present
sports are in our society. Because of how deeply embedded it is in Florencian
culture, it is difficult to think about Calcio and not think about the city itself. It goes
without saying that the courage that Calcio Florentino players have is enormous. The
fact that they are risking their health, safety and sometimes even their lives to
participate in such a cultural event and keep the tradition alive is quite admirable to
say the least. I think it is an interesting sport to learn about, maybe not to play, but at
least to watch and marvel.