Bologna reached a turning point at the start of the 1920’s. The club’s board decided to look into hiring a professional coach, something that was uncommon at the time. They turned their attention to places like Prague and Vienna, whose clubs were among the forefront of European footballs elite thanks to their highly advanced coaching techniques. Bologna’s president, Cesare Medica, placed an advertisement in the classifieds of a popular Viennese newspaper calling for coaches. The club received several replies from strong candidates and they sent Arrigo Gradi, the clubs captain and co-founder, to meet them in person. The job was given to Hermann Felsner, a former player for Wiener Sportklub who was also a law graduate and gymnastics instructor. Felsner’s qualifications included attending two courses in England which specialized in football coaching. The Austrian took control of a young team packed with talent and he developed Bologna into a true contender for the Italian championship. He trained them relentlessly, exhausting his players, mostly students and workers, making them run for hours on end and practice endless dribbling, passing and shooting against the walls of the Stadio Sterlino. He moved players into positions that were unfamiliar to them but in which they ended up performing better. Gastone Baldi was originally a mediocre fullback but was so good as a centre midfielder that he was called up to the national team. Felice Gasperi, a striker in the youth ranks and partner to Schiavio, was shifted to full back and became a great defender, remaining in that position for 17 years.  

 

The hard work paid off when Bologna reached the final in 1921 but were defeated by Pro Vercelli. More firepower was needed, so along came a young Angelo Schiavio, who would become a true a legend of Italian football. With him on board and the side armed with other formidable talents developed through the youth ranks by Angelo Baldini, Bologna looked as dangerous as ever. However, they were defeated in the following seasons Northern group final. They would finally achieve victory in 1925 but didn’t come easy. It took five, yes five, matches for a winner to emerge between Bologna and Genoa in the 1925 Northern group final.  The Ligurians were clear favorites that featured a strike force combining Schiavio, Perin and captain Della Valle but it was Genoa who took the lead with two goals before Schavio pulled one back. In the second leg, Muzzioli scored for Bologna until Genoa’s Santamaria equalized. Della Valle saved Bologna with a goal at the end, meaning a third playoff match was required.

 

Played on neutral ground in Milan, supporters flocked to the game on special trains and coaches and Milan’s stadium at the time, Viale Lombardia was absolutely packed, with the crowd spilling to the edge of the pitch. The referee only agreed to let the game go ahead if the police arrived no later than 15 minutes into the match, but this never eventuated. Enthusiastic Bologna supporters invaded the pitch several times throughout the game. The referee started to lose control when he disallowed a Bologna goal, which led to many supporters and even members of the Fascist paramilitary group, The Black Shirts, again entering the pitch and surrounding the referee. Fearing for his safety, the ref appealed to present members of the FIGC to suspend the game, but this was denied. The match continued and the result was a draw. Genoa however refused to play extra time while Bologna complained that they would have won had it not been for their dissalowed goal. Both parties took their cases to the Federation, but the result stood and yet another match was needed. Security was beefed up for the match in Turin in which soldiers and police oversaw yet another draw, 1-1.

 

After the match at the Porta Nuova Station, two special trains put on by each respective club waited to take their fans back home, meaning that both sets up fans had to converge on the station. Chaos ensued and 20 gun shots were discharged from revolvers, leaving two Genoa supporters wounded. Bologna were handed a fine for the incident and charged with finding the perpetrators of the shooting. Failure to do so would result in the title being handed to Genoa. The threat was met with massive protests and public disorder from Bologna fans, and when the mayor of Bologna intervened, the Federation caved in and allowed the fifth match to be played, but only behind closed doors.

 

The location of the match, which took place somewhere on the outskirts of Milan, was even kept secret in order to avoid further incidents. At long last, Bologna achieved a 2-0 win which qualified them for the national final, which at the time was little more than a formality due to the gulf in quality between the Northern and Southern teams. An easy defeat of Alba Roma meant that, after all the chaos and drama, Bologna finally had their hands on their first Scudetto. By now, Bologna were one of the strongest sides in Italy. They moved into the new Stadio del Littorale in the mid-20’s but were defeated in the 1926 Northern group final over three games by Juventus. Torino went on to win the following championship, but this was eventually revoked. Despite being ranked second, Bologna were not awarded the Scudetto in lieu. They did however win their second Scudetto in 1929.

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Achievements:
Italian championship – Champions x2

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Star player: Giuseppe Della Valle, dob 25 November 1899, pob Bologna, Italy

Della Valle was a champion with both Bologna and the Italian national team and part of a dynasty of great footballers with noble origins. His older brother Guido was one of Bologna’s founders, and his other brother Mario was one of Bologna’s best strikers between 1910 and 1920.Giuseppe was an engineer in his day job, and commuted from Bologna to Parma every day for work. He came up through Bologna’s youth teams as an impressive talent, displaying extraordinary technical and physical abilities. He was a powerful, accurate shooter with great mental awareness for the game and vision. Della Valle formed a deadly strike partnership with Angelo Schiavio which helped Bologna to the 1921 and 1925 Italian championship finals plus five Northern group finals – considered the “real” final due to the gap in class between North and South. 104 goals makes him the seventh highest scorer in Bologna’s history. Della Valle retired in 1931. Even though he could have easily continued playing, his job as an engineer prevented him from attending training. He played for Italy from 1923 and participated in the 1924 Olympic Games in which he scored three times. He became famous for a brilliant performance against Spain’s Ricardo Zamora, against whom Della Valle scored in the inaugural game at Bologna’s new stadium. Della Valle eventually became director of Bologna and then served as vice-president during Renato Dall’Ara’s 30 year presidency of the club. He continued working as an engineer before passing away at the age of 75.