1948–49 AC Torino season

Associazione Calcio Torino
1948-49 season
Chairman	Ferruccio Novo
Manager	Ernest Egri Erbstein; (until 4 May); Roberto Copernico; Leslie Lievesley (as technical director); (until 4 May); Oberdan Ussello (as technical director)
Stadium	Stadio Filadelfia
Serie A	1º (in 1949 Latin Cup)
Top goalscorer	Mazzola (16)
Home colours	Away colours
	← 1947–48 1949–50 →

During the 1948–49 season Associazione Calcio Torino competed in Serie A.

Summary[edit]

The season is remembered by Superga air disaster ,^[2] on 4 May ending the Grande Torino era. After clinching 4 consecutive titles the Granata were ready to win the 5th title at top of the league table. 4 rounds before the ending of championship Grande Torino traveled to Lisboa, to play a friendly match against Benfica due to retirement of Francisco Ferreira.^[3] Game which Toro lost 4–3.^[4] Torino was named winner of the championship by the Federation, and the Youth squad was able to play the last 4 rounds. Finished a short summer interval from the end of previous season, competition officially resumed in Italy after the 1948 Summer Olympics. Prematurely eliminated, Vittorio Pozzo lost his position as sole commissioner of the Italy national team and Ferruccio Novo took his place.

New season began in mid-September with a Torino almost identical to that of the previous championships; there was only Franco Ossola permanently in place of Pietro Ferraris, who, at age 36, had moved to Novara. The midfielder Rubens Fadini arrived from Gallarate, Dino Ballarin, brother of the goalkeeper Aldo was signed from Chioggia; the Hungarian-Czechoslovakian Július Schubert, a left-sided midfielder; and strikers Emile Bongiorni and Ruggero Grava arrived from Racing Parigi and Roubaix-Tourcoing respectively. The club began the season after a long tour in Brazil where the team met Palmeiras, Corinthians, São Paulo and Portuguesa, losing only once. During the season, reduced to 24 teams after three promotions and relegations, Ernest Erbstein was appointed as the team's technical director and the Englishman Leslie Lievesley became the coach.^[5] The campaign also saw injuries to Virgilio Maroso, Eusebio Castigliano, Romeo Menti and Sauro Tomà,^[6] plus the long suspension for Aldo Ballarin. The Granata, which debuted with a victory against Pro Patria, suffered a defeat in the second round to Atalanta; the team recovered with five straight wins, including that of the derby, but lost again, in Milan, against the Rossoneri. The club would relinquish the lead in the standings,^[7] then recapture it, finishing midway through the season on par with Genoa, from which a third defeat was suffered, losing 3–0. In the return leg of the derby Torino would defeat Juventus 3–0. Torino's advantage increased in the standings, gaining a maximum of six point on Inter in second place.^[8] However, a pair of draws (in Trieste and Bari) allowed Inter to close the gap within four points from Torino. On 30 April 1949, the two clubs met in Milan, ending 0–0, with Torino approaching their fifth consecutive title (the record would be equaled). The team travelled to Portugal to play in a friendly against Benfica. However, upon return Torino perished in the Superga air disaster.

Superga air disaster[edit]

The airplane with the team crashed at Basilica di Superga nearby Torino. There were deaths of team chairmen and club workers, baggage men and three of the best journalists in the country at the time: Renato Casalbore (founder of Tuttosport magazine); Renato Tosatti (from journal Gazzetta del Popolo) and Luigi Cavallero (from journal La Stampa). The shocking corpse identification was made by former Italian National Team manager Vittorio Pozzo. The spezzino player Sauro Tomà, injured, did not travel to Lisboa. The following persons in the Torino circle did not travel: second goalkeeper Renato Gandolfi (instead third goalkeeper Dino Ballarin did), the radio anchor Nicolò Carosio and former manager of Italian National Team also journalist Vittorio Pozzo (Torino preferred to give the seat to Cavallero). ^[9] ^[10]

Legacy[edit]

The impact of the tragedy in Italy was colossal. An official estimate of about one million persons attended funerals at Piazza in the city of Torino to say goodbye to the players and club officials. The shock of the tragedy was the main reason for the long travel on boat across the Atlantic Ocean by Italian National Team to play the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil rather than use an airplane.^[11] Rebuilding of Torino as a competitive squad lasted a long term and could not win another championship until 1976.

List of victims[edit]

Players

Club officials

Arnaldo Agnisetta
Ippolito Civalleri
Andrea Bonaiuti (coordinator of team travels)

Managers

Egri Erbstein
Leslie Lievesley
Osvaldo Cortina (physical)

Journalists

Renato Casalbore
Renato Tosatti
Luigi Cavallero

Baggage Men

Pierluigi Meroni
Celeste D'Inca
Cesare Biancardi
Antonio Pangrazi

Squad[edit]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	GK	ITA	Valerio Bacigalupo
—	GK	ITA	Dino Ballarin
—	GK	ITA	Renato Gandolfi
—	DF	ITA	Aldo Ballarin
—	DF	ITA	Virgilio Maroso
—	DF	ITA	Piero Operto
—	DF	ITA	Mario Rigamonti
—	DF	ITA	Sauro Tomà
—	MF	ITA	Pietro Biglino
—	MF	ITA	Eusebio Castigliano
—	MF	ITA	Rubens Fadini
—	MF	ITA	Luigi Giuliano


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ITA	Giuseppe Grezar
—	MF	ITA	Ezio Loik
—	MF	ITA	Danilo Martelli
—	MF	CZE	Július Schubert
—	FW	ITA	Alfio Balbiano
—	FW	FRA	Émile Bongiorni
—	FW	ITA	Guglielmo Gabetto
—	FW	FRA	Ruggero Grava
—	FW	ITA	Valentino Mazzola (Captain)
—	FW	ITA	Romeo Menti II
—	FW	ITA	Franco Ossola

Youth Squad[edit]

After Superga air disaster, youth squad (primavera) disputed the last four round of the competition: they are not considered title winners due to Italian Federation (FIGC) actually assigned the championship to the senior squad.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	GK	ITA	Guido Vandone
—	DF	ITA	Pietro Bersia
—	DF	ITA	Sergio Lussu
—	DF	ITA	Sergio Mari
—	DF	ITA	Umberto Motto
—	MF	ITA	Oscar Ferrari


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ITA	Antonio Gianmarinaro
—	MF	ITA	Lando Macchi
—	FW	ITA	Mario Audisio
—	FW	ITA	Andrea Francone
—	FW	ITA	Giuseppe Marchetto

Transfers[edit]

In
Pos.	Name	from	Type
GK	Renato Gandolfi	Carrarese
DF	Piero Operto	Casale
DF	Vito Sante Miolli	Castellana
MF	Rubens Fadini	Gallaratese
MF	Luigi Giuliano	Pro Vercelli
MF	Július Schubert	Slovan Bratislava
FW	Émile Bongiorni	RC Paris
FW	Ruggero Grava	CO Roubaix-Tourcoing

Out
Pos.	Name	To	Type
DF	Raffaele Cuscela	Lucchese	loan out
FW	Josef Fabian	Lucchese
FW	Pietro Ferraris II	Novara
FW	Oreste Guaraldo	Prato

Competitions[edit]

Serie A[edit]

League table[edit]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Torino (C)	38	25	10	3	78	34	+44	60	1949 Latin Cup
2	Internazionale	38	22	11	5	85	39	+46	55
3	Milan	38	21	8	9	83	52	+31	50
4	Juventus	38	18	8	12	64	47	+17	44
5	Sampdoria	38	16	9	13	74	63	+11	41

Source: Panini
(C) Champions

Matches[edit]

Win Draw Loss

19 September 1948 1	Torino	4-1	Pro Patria	Torino
16:00 UTC+1	Ossola 23' Menti II 56' (pen) Gabetto 72' Grezar 89'	Report	88' Turconi	Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Referee: Giuseppe Boffardi

26 September 1948 2	Atalanta	3-2	Torino	Bergamo
16:00 UTC+1	Miglioli 6', 74' Mari 73'	Report	1' Grezar 19' Mazzola	Stadium: Comunale Attendance: 18 000 Referee: Giorgio Bernardi

3 October 1948 3	Torino	4-0	Roma	Torino
15:30 UTC+1	Gabetto 4', 68' Menti II 32' Ossola 89'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Attendance: 20 533 Referee: Giovanni Galeati

10 October 1948 4	Livorno	0-2	Torino	Livorno
15:30 UTC+1		Report	40' Mazzola 66' Loik	Stadium: Ardenza Attendance: 20 000 Referee: Guido Agnolin

17 October 1948 5	Torino	2-1	Lucchese	Torino
15:00 UTC+1	Gabetto 49' Grezar 70'	Report	45' Fabian	Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Referee: Antonio Zambotto

24 October 1948 6	Juventus	1-2	Torino	Torino
15:00 UTC+1	Ballarin 36' (o.g.)	Report	25' Ossola 77' Mazzola	Stadium: Comunale Attendance: 60 000 Referee: Generoso Dattilo

31 October 1948 7	Torino	3-1	Padova	Torino
14:30 UTC+1	Ossola 73', 83' Mazzola 77'	Report	41' Adcock	Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Attendance: 5 400 Referee: Bruno Zilli

4 November 1948 8	Milan	1-0	Torino	Milan
14:30 UTC+1	Burini 62'	Report		Stadium: Stadio San Siro Attendance: 45 000 Referee: Vincenzo Orlandini

7 November 1948 9	Torino	1-0	Lazio	Torino
14:30 UTC+1	Mazzola 24'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Attendance: 12 454 Referee: Eliseo Camiolo

14 November 1948 10	Bologna	2-2	Torino	Bologna
14:30 UTC+1	Gritti 12', 54'	Report	14' Mazzola 87' Luigi Giuliano	Stadium: Stadio Comunale Referee: Generoso Dattilo

21 November 1948 11	Novara	0-2	Torino	Novara
14:30 UTC+1		Report	19' Luigi Giuliano 77' Loik	Stadium: Stadio Comunale Referee: Giorgio Bernardi

28 November 1948 12	Torino	1-1	Triestina	Torino
14:30 UTC+1	Mazzola 56'	Report	78' Tosolini	Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Referee: Bruno Tassini

5 December 1948 13	Modena	0-1	Torino	Modena
14:30 UTC+1		Report	76' Giuliano	Stadium: Stadio Cesare Marzari Referee: Riccardo Pieri

12 December 1948 15	Torino	4-2	Inter	Torino
14:30 UTC+1	Mazzola 3' Menti II 42', 72' Ossola 53'	Report	52' Armano 66' (pen) Nyers I	Stadium: Comunale Attendance: 26 700 Referee: Vincenzo Orlandini

19 December 1948 16	Fiorentina	0-0	Torino	Firenze
14:30 UTC+1		Report		Stadium: Stadio Comunale Referee: Giovanni Galeati

26 December 1948 17	Genoa	3-0	Torino	Genova
14:30 UTC+1	Mazza 48' Operto 59' (o.g.) Pellicari 80' (pen)	Report		Stadium: Stadio Luigi Ferraris Referee: Luigi Gemini

29 December 1948 14^[12]	Torino	2-0	Bari	Torino
14:30 UTC+1	Menti II 29' Ossola 51'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Attendance: 4 000 Referee: Giuseppe Vannini

6 January 1949 19	Palermo	2-2	Torino	Palermo
14:30 UTC+1	Pavesi 72' Andrea Milani 79'	Report	41' Gabetto 54' Bongiorni	Stadium: Stadio La Favorita Attendance: 40 000 Referee: Vittorio Pera

9 January 1949 20	Pro Patria	0-1	Torino	Busto Arsizio
14:30 UTC+1		Report	28' Schubert	Stadium: Comunale Referee: Generoso Dattilo

16 January 1949 21	Torino	2-0	Atalanta	Torino
14:30 UTC+1	Bongiorni 44' Rigamonti 75'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Referee: Mario Maurelli

23 January 1949 22	Roma	1-2	Torino	Roma
14:30 UTC+1	Andreoli 50' (pen)	Report	54' Mazzola 61' Gabetto	Stadium: Stadio Nazionale Attendance: 33 000 Referee: Bruno Tassini

27 January 1949 18^[13]	Torino	2-1	Sampdoria	Torino
15:00 UTC+1	Mazzola 14' Loik 35'	Report	21' Lucentini	Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Referee: Ferruccio Bellè

30 January 1949 23	Torino	1-0	Livorno	Torino
15:00 UTC+1	Mazzola 89'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Referee: Cesare Cappucci

6 February 1949 24	Lucchese	1-1	Torino	Lucca
15:00 UTC+1	Conti 89' (pen)	Report	68' Mazzola	Stadium: Stadio Porta Elisa Referee: Vincenzo Orlandini

13 February 1949 25	Torino	3-1	Juventus	Torino
15:00 UTC+1	Gabetto 17' Loik 55', 83'	Report	49' Cergoli	Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Referee: Giovanni Galeati

20 February 1949 26	Padova	4-4	Torino	Padova
15:00 UTC+1	Checchetti 22', 26' Vitali 45' Fiore 52'	Report	36' Ossola 39' Castigliano 71', 77' Menti II	Stadium: Stadio Silvio Appiani Attendance: 20 000 Referee: Luigi Gemini

6 March 1949 27	Torino	4-1	Milan	Torino
15:30 UTC+1	Ossola 11', 75' Gabetto 52' Fadini 71'	Report	46' Burini	Stadium: Comunale Attendance: 50 000 Referee: Generoso Dattilo

13 March 1949 28	Lazio	2-2	Torino	Roma
15:30 UTC+1	Flamini 8' Höfling 41'	Report	17', 39' Loik	Stadium: Stadio Nazionale Referee: Ferruccio Bellè

20 March 1949 29	Torino	1-0	Bologna	Torino
15:30 UTC+1	Mazzola 69'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Referee: Eliseo Camiolo

3 April 1949 30	Torino	4-0	Novara	Torino
15:30 UTC+1	Mazzola 32' Loik 35', 37' Ossola 40'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Referee: Giuseppe Vannini

10 April 1949 31	Triestina	1-1	Torino	Trieste
15:30 UTC+1	Blason 70' (pen)	Report	35' (pen) Menti II	Stadium: Comunale Referee: Orlandini

17 April 1949 32	Torino	3-1	Modena	Torino
15:30 UTC+1	Mazzola 35' Menti II 85' Ballarin 87'	Report	13' Cavazzuti	Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Referee: Cesare Cappucci

24 April 1949 33	Bari	1-1	Torino	Bari
15:30 UTC+1	Voros 66'	Report	11' Mazzola	Stadium: Stadio della Vittoria Referee: Vittorio Pera

30 April 1949 34	Inter	0-0	Torino	Milan
16:00 UTC+1		Report		Stadium: Stadio San Siro Attendance: 37 000 Referee: Luigi Gemini

15 May 1949 36^[14]	Torino	4-0	Genoa	Torino
16:30 UTC+1	Giammarinaro 37' Marchetto 56', 86' Lussu 80' (rig.)	Report		Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Referee: Ferruccio Bellè

22 May 1949 38^[15]^[16]^[17]	Torino	3-0	Palermo	Firenze
15:30 UTC+1	Marchetto 8' Francone 38' Gianmarinaro 55'	Report		Stadium: Comunale^[18] Attendance: 85 000 Referee: Renzo Massai

29 May 1949 37^[19]	Sampdoria	2-3	Torino	Genova
16:00 UTC+1	Pieri 7', 21'	Report	1' Audisio 16' Marchetto 56' (rig.) Lussu	Stadium: Stadio Luigi Ferraris Referee: Giuseppe Carpani

12 June 1949 35^[20]	Torino	2-0	Fiorentina	Torino
16:00 UTC+1	Marchetto 12' Giuliano 79'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Filadelfia Referee: Giuseppe Parpaiola

Statistics[edit]

Squad statistics[edit]

Competition	Points	Home						Away						Total						GD
Competition	Points	G	V	D	L	Gs	Ga	G	V	D	L	Gs	Ga	G	V	D	L	Gs	Ga	GD
Serie A	60	19	18	1	0	48	10	19	7	9	3	30	24	38	25	10	3	78	34	+44

Players statistics[edit]

Numbers of Youth squad in cursive.

Appearances[edit]

Goalscorers[edit]

References[edit]

^ Declared champion by Italian Federation FIGC after Superga air disaster, four rounds before the end of championship.
^ "Superga tragedy strikes Il Grande Torino". fifa.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
^ Dunne, Frank (2009-05-02). "Troubled Turin recall tragic end of 'Il Grande Torino'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
^ "3 May 1949: Benfica-Torino 4-3". toro.it. 23 June 2016.
^ "Past players". Chesterfield F.C. Archived from the original on 2020-04-10. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
^ "La Storia del Torino Fc" (in Italian). Torino Football Club. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
^ Ormezzano. Toro 49. p. 164..
^ Colombero. Pacifico. p. 120.
^ Patrick Jennings (8 January 2019). "The plane crash that killed Serie A's champions and their English coach". BBC Sport.
^ "TG-R "Leonardo": possibili cause della sciagura di Superga: l'ipotesi dell'altimetro guasto". Andrea Sinaglia YouTube.
^ Andrea Saronni (18 May 2018). "Brasile 1950, la seconda squadra: un Uruguay stellare e un'India a piedi...nudi".
^ Suspended due to fog on 8 December at minute 66' with score 2-0.
^ Rescheduled from 2 January
^ Match played between Youth squads (Primavera).
^ Rescheduled from 5 June
^ Match played with 2 times of 30 minutes each one.
^ Match played between Youth squads (Primavera).
^ Match played in Firenze before the game of National teams Italia-Austria
^ Match played between Youth squads (Primavera).
^ Rescheduled from 8 May due to Superga air disaster.Match played between Youth squads (Primavera).

External links[edit]

Fabrizio Melegari (a cura di). Almanacco illustrato del calcio - La storia 1898-2004, Modena. Panini, 2004.
Fabrizio Melegari e Luigi La Rocca. Storia del Campionato Italiano dal 1942-43 al 1949-50: Calciatori 1948-49. edizione speciale per "La Gazzetta dello Sport" Franco Cosimo Panini Editore, Modena, 2005.

v t e Torino Football Club
Players Managers Primavera Records & statistics Honours In Europe Current season List of seasons
History	Grande Torino Superga air disaster Hall of Fame
Grounds	Stadio Motovelodromo Umberto I (1907–1910) Stadio Filadelfia (1926–1958) Stadio Delle Alpi (1990–2006) Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino (1958–1990, 2006–)
Football teams	First team Primavera
Rivalries	Derby della Mole