With the FIFA World Cup fast approaching it feels like everybody is indulging in the beautiful game, even if that does involve strapping tattooed men of Florence in this fiercely violent ‘alternative’ to football, Calcio Storico.
The sport, played out annually in the Italian city’s Santa Croce square, takes the ‘beautiful’ out of the game and smashes just about everything related to the popular phrase.
This is out slug-fest sees opponents challenged to knock seven bells out of one another, and score some points in between, of course, with nothing more than glory on offer as the prize.
The annual Calcio Storico tournament takes place every June in the Santa Croce centre in Florence for an all-out slug-fest
The game’s chief rule — ‘win at all costs’ — means punching, kicking wrestling and headbutting is all fair game
The relentless sport is a huge sporting spectacle in Florence with players sporting traditional garbs for the occasion
The tournament’s four teams are made up of neighbourhoods Santa Croce (blue), Santa Maria Novella (red), Santo Spirito (white), and San Giovanni (green).
Matches between two sides of 27 players take place over a gruelling break-free 50 minutes and no substitutions are allowed even if there are injuries — and there are plenty of those.
It was too brutal for some, most famously King Henry III of France who watched the 1573 Calcio Storico only to remark ‘too small to be a war and too cruel to be a game’.
The 27-a-side game is played between four neighbourhoods Santa Croce (blue), Santa Maria Novella (red), Santo Spirito (white), and San Giovanni (green)
There are no breaks in the 50-minute matches even if injuries do happen, play must go on
A tattooed player prepares for battle in Florence’s most violent, if not unique, historical tradition
Medics on standby move out of the way of play as two men (bottom, centre) square up for a one-on-one brawl
King Henry III of France remarked the 1573 Calcio Storico was ‘too small to be a war and too cruel to be a game’
The game is played on sand in an area roughly the size of a modern day football pitch.
Teams scrap to keep possession of the ball and kick it over the fence and the opponent’s end of the field.
Surprisingly there is a version of some adapted rules to help keep injuries to a minimum, including no one player being able to fight a single opponent at once, but judging by these photos that doesn’t seem to be the case.
A lot of fighting techniques are allowed, including martial arts.
The sport combines elements of football, rugby and wrestling where teams have to kick a ball over a fence at the opponent’s end of the field
Players will try and wear down their opponents by fighting and wrestling, all of which is allowed
Though it may not look it at times, there is a referee and six linesmen who attempt to keep the peace, but at any one time they have dozens of fights to deal with, and players have been known to get knocked out before they can be reached.
The exact history of the Calcio is unknown, although a sport similar to the one played each June in Florence was popular with soldiers of the Roman Army before the city of Florence was even founded in 59AD.
While it was likely played in Florence throughout the 15th Century, the first recorded game took place in 1530 as Florentines played a match in Piazza Santa Croce despite the city being under siege by French troops.
Players from each district of Florence will train specially all year in order to be fit for the event
The four teams play a series of knockout matches before the two best face each other in the grand final
The exact history of the Calcio is unknown, although a sport similar to the one played was popular with soldiers of the Roman Army before the city of Florence was even founded in 59AD
Calcio is seriously dangerous although no deaths have been recorded in modern times. The match was banned for a year in 2007 however after a brawl involving 50 players were taken to court.
After that, new rules banned convicted criminals from taking part, reported The Local.
One player goes on a mission with the ball. After a mass brawl in 2007 the game banned for a year and new rules were introduced to prevent criminals taking part
The game is played on sand in an area roughly the size of a modern day football pitch