This article is inspired by the research of the writer and journalist Pier Angelo Rossi, whose work was shared with The Hockey Museum by our Italian friends at HockeyLove.it, Riccardo Giorgini and Luciano Pinna.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the region of Liguria in north-western Italy witnessed an influx of British holidaymakers to its Mediterranean coast; an area that is known today as the Italian Riviera. In particular, the small city of Bordighera experienced an incredible tourist ‘colonisation’ during the winter months where as many as 3,000 wealthy Brits could be found outnumbering the local population of 2,000 inhabitants! Much of this tourism boom has been historically attributed to the publication of a book that enjoyed widespread popularity at the time: Doctor Antonio by John Ruffini (1855).

The Brits were not alone in appreciating the delights of Liguria’s Mediterranean coastline. It also attracted artists and a legacy of en plein air (outside) paintings by the Impressionist heavyweights Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. These survive to capture the brilliant light and allure of the region.

So, what of hockey?

It is from this period that the earliest known reference to hockey in Italy originates. As the British tourists ‘colonised’ the towns of Liguria, they brought their recreational pastimes with them.

Italy’s first hockey club was established in Bordighera by the British in late 1901. The Bordighera Hockey Club for men and ladies (i.e. mixed hockey) had a founding Committee made up of Miss Barclay, Miss Evans, Mr H H Evans, Mr H H Stack and Miss Woodhouse. Their ground, formally approved by the local council, was on the Cape of High Bordighera – the same area of the town captured by Monet in his 1884 painting which shows the cittá alta Bordighera (high city Bordighera) with the belltower of the church of Sant’Ampelio on the Cape visible through the trees.

Bordighera, by Claude Monet 1884. From the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Artwork is in the public domain.

Bordighera HC began playing on the clearing of the Cape twice a week. Whilst they hoped to attract Italians to join the club this didn’t really ever materialise. The locals didn’t take part in the new-born activity, considering it with curiosity and an ill-concealed cynicism at men and women playing together. The players were British as were most of the spectators, though Pier Angelo Rossi (in his article for the Journal de Bordighera) records how “other strangers and some locals enjoyed it [hockey] very much, especially when some strikes, instead of hitting the ball, reached some player’s shins.”

Bordighera, c.1900 with the belltower of the church of Sant’Ampelio, as visible in Claude Monet’s painting of 1884. Images above and below courtesy of Pier Angelo Rossi.

Bordighera HC, c.1901. The palm trees and the architectural arches of the buildings adjacent to the Cape clearing where the hockey match takes place are the same as in the above image.

Bordighera HC in action, c.1901.

Bordighera HC’s first match was an inter-club mixed hockey game on an unspecified date in 1901. Rossi’s research reveals that the match was such a success that the two team’s players, swollen with pride, showed the desire to play a game against the English Club of Sanremo, just along the coast. The municipality of Bordighera was informed and the challenge between the two clubs was scheduled for February 1902.

The clubs would meet four times the following year with Bordighera never bettering Sanremo: 15 February 1902 (1-5); 22 February (1-3) and 9 April (0-5) and 17 April (1-1).

Little is known about the first match. Of the second, the Journal de Bordighera is rich with information. The players for the Bordighera team were Mr Routh, Miss Lester, Miss Howard, Miss Rogers, Mr and Miss H H Evans, Miss Barclay and Mr H H Stack, Miss McConnell and Mr Woodhouse and Miss Hopton. After fifteen minutes a goal was scored by Mr Routh and the Bordighera HC supporters began to believe that they could win the match, but before the end of the first half the opponents drew level with a strong strike. In the second half, Sanremo scored two more goals to win. The Journal sportingly recognises, “In general, we can say that the Bordighera team were unlucky as two shots missed the net, but, on the other hand, it must be admitted that together the ability of the Sanremo team was justifiably rewarded by victory”.

The fourth match, played at Sanremo, is also worthy of report on account of its adverse (and horribly out-of-season) weather conditions – the British did not holiday abroad only to be met by their own foul weather!

“Not ten minutes in the teams ran in and out the quagmires, hitting seaweed mixed with mud and water into each other faces, their shoes sinking into wet sand quite oblivious of the rain that came down harder than ever … After half time the ground seemed to have get softer and the ball was more frequently lost in the morass having to be dug out by two excited figure who used their stick as a spoon and spattered each other’s faces as they clawed wildly at the annoying lumps of mud in which the ball had stuck … The 1-1 result was most creditable and the two teams heartily cheered each other before separating. Some thoughtful person pointed out a stream of water descending from a nearby roof and the combatants washed their hands and faces and hid the rest of themselves in rugs.”

Evidently, a lot of fun was had when hockey first came to Italy.

At this point the question is: which club was born first, Sanremo or Bordighera? It is tempting to consider Sanremo HC’s supremacy on the pitch as evidence of their being earlier established – but that may only mean that their players had superior technical skills. There is no earlier trace of an established hockey club in Sanremo among the newspapers of that time; hockey in Sanremo remains a mystery. In all probability, the English were playing just for fun and leisure for as long as it was possible, then everything unfortunately faded away.

We may never know which club came first. What is certain is that the first hockey match in Italy was played in the far west of Liguria near the border with France and that the birth of club hockey is attributed to both clubs, Bordighera and Sanremo.

Shane Smith,
Curator, The Hockey Museum