Remembrance of tragedy disrupted
The first Giro stage is already making football fans angry
May 2, 2024, 8:39 a.m
In the 1940s, “Grande Torino” dominated Italian football, but on May 5, 1949, almost all of the players died in a plane crash. On the 75th anniversary of the accident, the Giro d’Italia stops at the site of the accident – the fans of the first division team feel snubbed.
The organizers of the Giro d’Italia were well aware of the symbolism – but they had not expected the outcry from Torino Calcio fans in this form. “The climb to Superga is our right, the Giro must change its route,” read one of the posters recently put up along the road to Turin’s local mountain.
There can only be one: the one who goes up. That’s how you have to understand it. Either the Giro entourage with some of the best professional cyclists in the world to commemorate the victims of the “Tragedia di Superga” on the 75th anniversary. The plane crash in which the dominant team in Italian football lost their lives on May 5, 1949. Or the loyal fans of the club that made history as AC Turin – and which became a myth with the tragic end of “Grande Torino”.
The Giro organizer, the RCS Media Group around its boss Urbano Cairo, relies on symbolism typical of the time. The first leader of this year’s Tour of Italy will put on a pink jersey with the inscription “Solo il fato li vinse” (“Only fate has defeated her”) after the 140 kilometers from Venaria Reale to Turin. There is “an inseparable bond” between the Giro and Torino, it says on the tour’s website.
AC Torino remained undefeated at home for 93 consecutive times
The ultras of the football club, on the other hand, complain loudly that the roads to the Superga are closed to traffic because of the Giro, which makes it much more difficult for the “Granata” loyalists to get to the basilica and the traditional commemoration ceremony. “Defeating those who challenge you is your greatest celebration,” was emblazoned martially on one banner. It gives an idea of how emotionally charged the topic is. But how could it not be?
On May 4, 1949, 18 players from “Il Grande Torino” were returning from a friendly match against Benfica Lisbon. During the landing approach in rain and fog, the pilot steered the aircraft too low over Turin’s city hill, so that the machine first hit part of the Superga pilgrimage church and then crashed into the city hill of the same name. During the funeral procession of coffins through the city, over 500,000 people gave their final escort to the victims.
The accident shocked the entire country and marked a turning point in Italian football. Until the accident, AC Turin had won the championship four times in a row and had remained unbeaten in 93 home games for over six years.
The Italian national team also consisted largely of players from the Turin top team. Sometimes up to ten Torino players were part of the Squadra Azzurra starting line-up for international matches. Until the high soaring ended so abruptly on Turin’s local mountain, of all places.