NO we are not talking about the popular Channel 4 programme which brought all the thrills and spills of Serie A to the British public, but Italian football itself.

For years Italian football was the place to be for top international players who flocked to join Serie A clubs in numbers. The stars were glamorous, the football was top notch and there were skills to pay even the heftiest of bills all over the shop. And it all started on this very day in 1898 when the first organised, inter-club football match was played in Italy.

The whole thing would not have been possible without two men: an Englishman named James Richardson Spensley (sadly no relation to the bald former Football Italia host) and an Italian/Swiss named Edoardo Bosio.

The latter man was responsible for importing the beautiful game to Italy after he discovered football while working in London. When he got home he founded Italy’s first club dedicated purely to football, Internazionale Football Club Torino in 1891, which was formed from players drawn from his workplace.

Meanwhile Spensley was a doctor from Stoke Newington in London and had arrived in Italy in 1896 to give medical help to English sailors on the coal ships. Like any good Brit abroad it didn’t take him long to organise a kick about. He joined the Genoa Cricket and Athletics Club and by 1897 had set up the footballing section of the club. He became the first ever football manager in Italy when he held a football training session on April 10, 1897.

It could have all been a bit lonely but for Edoardo Bosio who had been doing similar things over in Turin. On this day in 1898 the Genoa club hosted a friendly match and took on a mixed team made up of players from Internazionale Torino and FBC Torinese. In true Italian style it was a low scoring affair and the visitors won 1-0, despite Spensley’s best efforts in goal as player/manager for Genoa.

By May of the same year an Italian championship was organised which Genoa won, with Spensley again keeping goal. It was all a far cry from Serie A though and was simply a four-team tournament held over the course of one day and watched by approximately 100 spectators.

By 1906 Spensley had retired from playing but he had already won six league titles with Genoa. He was killed in the First World War while trying to save another injured soldier during a battle.

We had this to say on this day last year, but we’ll leave you now with some footage from the commentators at the Milan derby. Eat your heart out Motty…

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