Genoa Cricket and Football Club is the oldest
surviving football club in Italy. Founded in 1893 by a consortium of British
businessmen, it was originally known as Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club. Football
was a mere sideline initially, played at the Piazza d'Armi del Campasso
on Saturdays against whichever group of British merchant sailors happened to be
in town. Shirts were white to reflect the organisation’s English heritage.
In 1886 an English doctor named James Richardson
Spensley arrived in Genoa to provide medical care for those same sailors
passing through the Mediterranean, by way
of the Suez Canal, to and from India. Prior to his emigration, he’d been
employed as a medical advisor for a maritime insurance company in Sunderland,
and in between offshore assignments had put together a football team with
players drawn from his father’s congregation. Spensley played in goal and would
later qualify as a referee, all the time fostering more obscure interests, such
as studying oriental religion or learning Sanskrit.
This background was of great benefit when Spensley
joined the Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club and set about persuading its
conservative membership into taking football more seriously. He successfully
petitioned the board to allow ‘foreigners’ in on the act – local Italians, as
well as Swiss and Austrian expatriates – and within a couple of years Spensley’s
cosmopolitan outfit was competing against teams from Turin in the first ever Campionato
Italiano di Football. What’s more, they were victorious. Buoyed by their
success, the club renamed itself the Genoa Cricket and Football Club and
changed its colours to blue and white vertical stripes. Genoa won the Campionato
again in 1899 and 1900 before losing the final to Milan in 1901. At this point,
Genoa CFC took on the red and dark blue halved shirts they wear to this day.
It’s worth going over all of this because there
appears to be no reason why Genoa decided upon the colours that they did. The
intermediate blue and white stripes may have been a nod to Genovese’s coastal
prominence but could also have been symbolic of Spensley’s effort to de-Anglicise
the institution. The red and dark blue configuration adopted in 1901 might equally
have been an attempt to reconcile the two. After all, Genoa’s badge made no secret
of its Anglo-Saxon origins.
In 1988-89, Genoa won Serie B and thus promotion back
into Serie A. They did this wearing gear manufactured by Errea, breaking a six
year association with Adidas. Adidas had good form producing shirts for Italian
teams (Torino, Hellas Verona, Bari) but the strip they provided for Genoa came up
short. In truth, the shirts that the newly signed captain Gianluca Signorini
and his squad wore in 1988-89 weren’t much better. Errea replaced the iconic
Adidas stripes running down the arms with their own interpretation,
incorporating their logo repeated in red set against a white background, but it
looked dated and clashed with the overly stylised typeface of the sponsor (hosiery
manufacturer Levante).
Ahead of Genoa’s return to the top flight, they
brought in three Uruguayans: midfielders Rubén Paz and José Perdomo, and the
accomplished forward Carlos Aguilera. Meanwhile,
Mita took over as sponsor, dispensing a more modest, albeit italicised font
more suited to the shirt. Genoa finished the season in 11th place,
just two points clear of the relegation zone.
In 1990, Errea ditched the white trim, incorporated
micro-patterned pinstripes, and suddenly Genoa looked the business. Osvaldo
Bagnoli replaced Francesco Scoglio as coach and brought in Brazilian defender
Branco, Czech striker Tomáš Skuhravý, and Italian midfielder Mario Bortolazzi who would stay with the club for next eight years. Genoa finished fourth in the
league, qualifying for the UEFA Cup, with Aguilera and Skuhravý scoring 15
goals apiece.
1991-92’s shirt remained much the same, save for alterations
to the collar and badge. Genoa’s existent crest consisted of a (modern French) shield
depicting a golden griffin against a red and blue background surmounted by the
cross of St. George – no text. The redesigned badge featured a more intricately
drawn griffin against a blue background, flanked by two draping flags breaking the
sides of the (heater-shaped) shield with ‘GENOA’ printed along the curved, upper edge
and ‘1893’ towards the shield’s apex. The club ended their campaign in a
disappointing 14th place, although they did make it to the
semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, bowing out honourably to Ajax who then went on to
beat Torino in the final.
For the next season, SAIWA (Società Accomandita
Industria Wafer Affini) replaced Mita as sponsor. This probably wouldn’t
have made too much difference to the jersey if Errea hadn’t decided to tamper
with the micropattern. The new motif could be described as kaleidoscopic, and
the sturdier, upper-case font used by SAIWA was more conducive. Meanwhile,
Bagnoli moved to Inter, Aguilera was sold to Torino, John van't Schip joined from Ajax, and Genoa finished in 13th
place.
For 1993-94, Genoa wore the same shirt save for a
small emblem attached to the left arm celebrating the club’s centenary. They
improved upon the previous season’s performance, finishing eleventh.
Thereafter, Kenwood replaced SAIWA as club patron, Errea added superfluous white trim to the sleeves and collar, and Genoa were relegated.
1993-94
It took more than ten years for Genoa to claw their way back into Serie A. When they finally made it, Errea were still supplying
the kit and had reverted to using the club's traditional insignia. At
the time of writing, Genoa wear Kappa, bringing to an end a seven-year
affiliation with Lotto.
