From 1904 to 1921

From 1904 to 1921

From Naples Football Club to Internaples

Naples Football Club was the first true Neapolitan football club to represent the city.  It was founded between late 1904 and early 1905, after a series of meetings at the homes of an Englishman, William Poths, and a Neapolitan, Ernesto Bruschini.  Dark and pale blue stripes were chosen as the team colours. Their first President was engineer Amedeo Salsi, flanked by Poths, Bayon and two amateur football players, Conforti and Catterina. William Poths deserves special mention. An employee of the Cunard Shipping Line, he moved to Naples from England in 1903 and quite naturally brought all his English customs with him, including an immense passion for football, which had been played in England since 1847 and was rapidly gaining popularity in Europe and Italy too. There were already several teams in Naples: the aristocratic Open Air team, founded by the Marquis Ruffo, the Costa brothers, Verusio, D’Andria, the Panaria brothers, Alfonso Parise and Alfredo Reiclin; the Helios team, founded by Matteo Giovinetti, with black and white checked tunics; and the Audace team, with green and white colours, founded by Gustavo Romano, the De Giuli brothers and Pepèn Cangiullo, a goalkeeper very much admired for his diving technique.

It all began with a match played against the crew of an English ship called the "Arabik" – the first international event in the history of soccer.

In 1913 Napoli won its first regional tournament in Campania against the Internazionale team, which had won the year before and would go on to win the following two seasons, with this line-up:  Cavalli, Del Pezzo, Garozzo, Paduli I, Hansen, Grieco, Argento, Paduli III, Toerstenson, Dodero and Imerigo.

At the end of the First World War Napoli took up where it had left off, thanks to the fervour and dedication of players and managers like Garozzo and the Bruschini brothers, among many others. Just after the war it won a memorable match against the prestigious Juventus team by 3-1, with the following line-up: Scandone, Garozzo,  Pepe, Reiclin, Giordano, Tizzano, Laterza, Casabona, Dodero, Maisto and Sacchi.

A group of journalists-cum-football players – Ninò Bruschini, Alfredo Reiclin, Mario Argento, Paolo and Michele Scarfoglio (sons of Edoardo and Matilde Serao) – was joined by Felice Scandone: all good football players, but even better journalists.

It was in 1921 that Naples merged with the Internazionale team to create Internaples, out of which the Associazione Calcio Napoli (Naples Football Association) eventually developed.