Juventus 1-7 A.C. Milan (partially found footage of Serie A football match; 1950)

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Juventus1-7acmilan1.jpg

The A.C. Millan team at the game.

Status: Partially Found

On 5th February 1950, Juventus hosted A.C. Milan at the Stadio Comunale in a Serie A match. Milan dominated proceedings, winning 7-1 and delivering one of only four losses for Juventus during the 1949/50 Serie A season. Aside from the scoreline, the game is also notable for being the first televised Serie A game.

Background

Heading into the match, Serie A had begun to change throughout the 1949/50 season. During this time period, Hungary and Sweden were becoming stronger nations, with plenty of top talent. The top Serie A teams, including Juventus and A.C. Milan, began to sign players from both nations, boosting the quality of their sides. Milan in particular signed three Swedish players in Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl, and Niels Lidholm.[1] They would be the catalyst for Milan winning the 1950/51 Serie A, the team's first title since 1907.[2]

Aside from the rivalry between Juventus and Milan,[3] the match would also be significant for being the first Serie A game to be televised. This was essentially an experiment to see whether broadcasting football would be feasible in the country, which back then had few television viewers.[4] Seeing as Juventus and Milan were first and second in the league respectively,[5] a good quality game was expected, and so would help to determine televised football's future in Italy.[4] Carlo Bacarelli was the commentator for this game.[6]

The Match

Despite the eventual scoreline, it was actually the hosts who took the lead thanks to a John Hansen goal in the twelfth minute. However, the visitors equalised three minutes later after Nordahl converted a corner kick. Gren then gave his side the lead in the 23rd minute, with Liedholm adding a third a minute later. Nordahl scored his second in the 26th minute. A.C. Milan thus led Juventus 4-1 heading into the second half. When the second half commenced, the game was generally more equal. However, Nordahl scored his hat-trick in the 49th minute, all but sinking the hosts. Renzo Burini added another goal in the 70th minute, before Candiani scored the final goal in the 84th minute of play.[7][1]

Following the match, the Corriere dello Sport produced the headline "Il Milan hipnotizza la Juventus e l'umilia con una vittoria clamorosa (Milan hypnotizes and humiliates Juve with an enormous victory)".[8] While Juventus would go on to win the title with 62 points compared to Milan's 57,[5] the match proved to be a precursor for Milan's Serie A victory the following season, in part thanks to Gren, Nordahl, and Lidholm, who contributed five goals in this game.[1] As for Italian television, the broadcast proved a success, although broadcasting of the sport proved to be relatively unregulated, with any private TV company being able to record matches. It was not until 1981 when RAI signed an agreement to exclusively televise Serie A games.[4]

Availability

Like all early television programs, the Juventus-Milan match was televised live and was unlikely to have been directly recorded. Although there were means of achieving this following the Second World War, recording seldom occurred until video tape was perfected in the late-1950s.[9] Thus, televised footage of the match is most likely permanently missing. Nevertheless, a newsreel segment of the match itself remains publicly accessible.

Gallery

Image

Video

Newsreel footage of the match.

Another newsreel footage of the match.

See Also

Association Football/Soccer Media

Early Sports Television Media

Early BBC Sports Television

References