February 3, 1952, | In the oddities of a whistle the drama of Legnano!

Referee Tassini gets hit with snowballs…. and more

Prologue!
Exactly 73 years ago, an event that all fans “celebrate” as the most serious injustice suffered by purple football in its ultra-centenary history.

The snow these days is nothing compared to the one that filled the stands of the “Pisacane” stadium 73 years ago, when a fateful (for the purple) Legnano – Bologna was played in Serie A.

Everyone knows the story. The referee from Verona Bruno Tassini made all sorts of mistakes, penalizing the purple shirts of Legnano in an obvious way.

At one point, so many snowballs came from the stands that the “Gazzetta dello Sport” wrote at the time that “the throwing of snowballs darkened the sky”. The match was suspended and the referee fled to the locker rooms, where before reaching them, he was attacked by a soft drink vendor.

In Milan, other fans would have waited for him outside the restaurant and new aggression. The stadium “Pisacane” first disqualified until December 31, 1952, then measure limited to the end of the competitive season.

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This is a story from another time.
Serie A is full of special and unexpected events, strange stories that leave you speechless. One of these is this one that happened in the Legnano-Bologna match, a decisive match, a duel between two teams for survival in the top category of Italian football.

That a referee can make a mistake is admissible, after all he is a man like all the others. However, you can make a mistake once, twice, three times.

Then that’s it. Then even a referee must question his conscience and tell the truth. Even if he is an important referee like Mr. Tassini of Verona.

Let’s give him all the good faith in the world. But that being said, it will be Mr. Tassini himself who will have to find justifications for his actions. Maybe he was indisposed, maybe he was worried about his own business, who knows. The real truth is that because of him, Legnano will lose a game by default that they had won on the field. The moral is all here
(La Gazzetta dello Sport, 4 February 1952)

This is how the Gazzetta dello Sport begins its commentary on the Legnano – Bologna match on February 3, 1952. A very important match from 73 years ago, the first week of the second half of Serie A.

Both teams share a worrying position in the league table in terms of relegation: Legnano is last in the league table with only 8 points and the Felsinei (Bologna) are fourth from last with 15 points.

The atmosphere before the match is very tense, it is a direct clash for salvation. But in particular we remember the first leg where the referee, Mr. Bruno Tassini from Verona, the same one who will also referee this return match, granted two very controversial penalties to the Felsinei, both saved by the goalkeeper Gandolfi.

After four minutes Gritti brings the guests to 0-1 but after half an hour the hosts bring the contest back to balance.

1-1!

After the break, on a pitch in terrible conditions for the snowfall of the previous days, the purple team attacks vehemently and the game gets tough.

In the quarter of an hour, the Swede Palmer gave the purple team the lead, but then, just over ten minutes from the end of the match, Pilmark found the equaliser.

2-2!

When it seems that the final whistle can be blown with this result, something unexpected happens: three minutes remain and “Gritti, launched into the area, is tripped from behind by Tubaro. Tassini rushes over and points to the white spot.

But he immediately changes his mind and looks towards the corner flag. Then, without saying anything, he puts down his bag and puppets and goes off on his own. Among the spectators it’s a real pandemonium.

So far what I have seen… (continues the story in La Gazzetta dello Sport in the article by Emilio Violanti sent to the stadium, which continues) President Mocchetti also added that Tubaro, when he heard Tassini’s whistle and then heard him say “penalty” shouted: “Referee, if you give the penalty here, they’ll kill us all”. To which Tassini, stammering, replied: “Corner, corner …”.

“Tassini beat Legnano,” La Gazzetta dello Sport headlined the next day. The referee remained in the locker room until late when a police car, among the still enraged fans, escorted him away.
But it doesn’t end there…

A group of fans set off to reach the referee who was in a restaurant inside Milan’s Central Station. Here he was hit and beaten. The sports judge then decreed Legnano’s defeat by default and disqualified the pitch until December 31 of the same year. The pitch’s disqualification was reduced to June 30, but the team was relegated to Serie B at the end of the season.