Sports Events During
the Second World War
Even in wartime, it was important to organise and celebrate sporting events to distract the population from the horrors of war. Sport has always played a crucial role in the lives of people who participate in or follow sports events to escape reality. This will of escaping reality became stronger during the war as it was difficult to deal with this negative situation because of the continuous sorrow caused by weapons, bombing, diseases and famines. In Italy, football has always been the most popular sport- even during the Second World War Italians did not give up their interest in football.
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As a result, the government organized “Campionato Alta Italia” from 1943-1944 on a multiregional basis because Italy was divided into a northern part controlled by the Italian Social Republic and a southern part controlled by the allies, as well as the Italian Football Federation that was not united. The team La Spezia won this sport competition, but the title is recognised as a honorific title instead of an official one.
Another important sport in Italian culture and society is cycling. The “Giro d’Italia” (Tour of Italy) is an annual bicycle race that was organised during the war. To put it in other words, there was an attempt to organise this national event; an attempt that was not very successful. In 1941, the competition was suspended because of the war and after two years, in 1943, it was reintroduced but using a system based on a leaderboard.
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Sport was a means of escaping the cruel reality of the war and even during the Second World War the major sport associations tried to organise sporting competitions to help the population keep up morale despite the difficult times. In spite of the attempts to celebrate sport, the war prevailed over the popular desire of competing and supporting sportsmen. The Second World War was a terrible event and at a certain point everyone had to face the reality and stop pretending they were living in a peaceful world where they could be interested in sport and other light-hearted activities.