Siracusa Calcio 1924

History

The first football club in Syracuse was Ortigia Sport Club, founded in 1907. In 1909, it reached the semi-final of the Lipton Challenge Cup in Palermo, losing 4-2 to Palermo Football Club. Ortigia had initially won by forfeit because Palermo fielded professional players, against the rules, but the match was played as a friendly. The club appeared only occasionally in provincial competitions and dissolved when World War I began.

After the war, new clubs appeared in the early 1920s. Polisportiva Siracusana was founded in 1922, as was Sporting Club Santa Lucia, created by sailor Giuseppe Barcio, which lasted only one year. In 1923, several neighborhood teams formed for amateur street tournaments. The blues of Esperia from Ortygia and the yellow-and-reds of Insuperabile from mainland Syracuse had a fierce local rivalry. That same year, Circolo Sportivo Tommaso Gargallo was established, named after a local poet.

Polisportiva Siracusana started a football section using the 75th Infantry Regiment team, which included soldiers like lieutenant Genesio Pioletti. Siracusa Football Club, a direct forerunner of the modern club, wore a white-and-green checkered kit. It operated as a multi-sport organization from 1924 to 1925 and organized city student championships in football, high jump, long jump, sprinting, and middle-distance running.

On 1 April 1924, Esperia, Insuperabile, and the 75th Infantry football section merged into Circolo Sportivo Tommaso Gargallo, arranged by Luigi Santuccio and Genesio Pioletti. This followed a quadrangular tournament won by Gargallo, which beat Esperia 9-0 in the final. The Gargallo family provided 5,000 lire to start the club. That autumn, the new team played its first match, wearing black jerseys as a tribute to the Fascist regime.

Co-presidents Salvatore Monteforte and Luigi Santuccio led the club, with Pioletti as coach. They lost 6-1 to a team of English sailors from the battleship Centurion, with Pioletti scoring a penalty. The English side reportedly included national team players. The club's first win came in 1925, a 1-0 derby victory over Megara Augusta, marred by player fights and a pitch invasion.

In the 1925-1926 Seconda Divisione, Gargallo topped a Sicilian-Calabrian group with 8 points. By the 1928-1929 Campionato Meridionale, now in blue, they won their group with 15 points and earned promotion to Prima Divisione. Pioletti's era ended that season. In 1929-1930, under coach Mario Piselli, the club finished sixth in Group D of the Prima Divisione, the third tier.

Between 1930 and 1932, the club changed names twice, first to Società Sportiva Syracusae and then to Società Sportiva Siracusa, narrowly missing promotion to Serie B.