At the turn of the 20th century, sport was transforming from a recreational pastime to a more structured, codified and modern form. Drawing inspiration from the Olympic movement, administrators sought to promote values, virtues, health and athleticism through organised sport. At this time cricket was the longest established of the major sports and English presence in major Italian cities saw cricket incorporated into new sporting clubs, many of which have now become internationally renowned.

It is hard to imagine that AC Milan, a club so synonymous with Italian style and passion, was actually founded by two Englishmen from Nottingham. At that time the Midlands town had strong links to lace-making firms in northern Italy which drew a small community of English industrialists to Milan. Two such men, Alfred Edwards and Herbert Kilpin, unwittingly created one of the highest-profile and successful sporting clubs in the world.

Lamenting the absence of the traditional summer game of their homeland, they met with friends one evening in a tavern in the city and over a beer or two sketched out a charter for the Milan cricket and football club. It was two weeks before the dawn of a new century, a century that would see these sports become the most played and popular in the world with a defining impact on the development of modern culture.

It is pertinent that cricket came first in the title, despite the fact that Kilpin was a talented amateur footballer and an influential pioneer. The famous sporting organ the Gazzetta dello Sport reported on the foundation, stating its aims as to 'spread the game of football and to play cricket as widely as possible'.

Edwards, known as 'papa' to historians of the club, became very wealthy indeed from interests in the Pirelli company. He was the first president of the club and bankrolled it, while Kilpin was the captain and star player. While there was an immediate impact on the football field, with AC Milan winning their first national title in 1900 and surpassing Genoa as the leading team in the country by 1906, the extent of their cricketing experience is a matter for speculation.

Two years before that fateful night in Milan, Juventus had been formed in Turin by students of the Massimo D'Azelilo lyceum as a sporting club. Cricket is thought to be among those it planned to play, but by 1899 football was the sole focus and the name was changed to the Football Club Juventus.

It can only be assumed that there was insufficient interest in cricket within the club for it to continue. But the honour of the earliest multi-sport club in Italy goes to Genoa, still officially named the Genoa Cricket and Football Club.

In 1893 the club was formed by British expats as the Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club. Initially its membership was restricted to British members. This mirrors the wish for exclusivity seen in the committees of the clubs established in Lisbon and Porto.

That the club was a patriotic expression is seen from the choice of white shirts to match those of the England team. The club had grounds in the Combasso district, to the north-west of the city. One of the founding fathers of the club was Sir Charles Alfred Peyton, a diplomat who had been transferred from Mogador, Morocco, to the vice-consul in the city in the spring of 1893, and had joined others in the British community in founding the club.

For the first two years of its existence, the club played cricket matches, mainly against the crews of visiting ships arriving in the harbour. Peyton's posting to Calais in 1897 may well have been critical for cricket's future in the city. A year before, James Richardson Spensley, a doctor, had arrived in Genoa charged with tending to English sailors on the coal ships. He took responsibility for leading football in the club, becoming its first manager. Acknowledging the burgeoning interest in football among the local population, and under pressure from the city authorities, the club opened its membership to Italians.

Cover image of Cricket on the Continent by Tim Brooks Pitch Publishing

The locals clearly wanted to play football rather than cricket. In 1898 Spensley established the Italian league and led his team to victory. Although it is uncertain whether cricket was still being played by the club after 1897, it is interesting to note that, when a name change was voted for in 1899, cricket remained while athletics was dropped. This may have been in deference to the club's founding purpose, but indicates a willingness for cricket to remain part of the club's activities.

Meanwhile back at AC Milan, cricket was being marginalised as the seeds of football fever that would capture Italy's soul were sown. The English founding fathers walked away from the club in 1908, perhaps frustrated that it had not embraced cricket as originally intended.

In a few years at the dawn of the 20th century three of the richest and most influential sporting institutions in Italy had played cricket. If only it had survived for a few more years and captured the imagination of Italians, the clubs would have provided the organisational capacity and financial clout to establish cricket in the country.

This missed opportunity is particularly the case in Genoa, formed before football was widely known outside England and before a national infrastructure for the sport was established. For the first five years of its existence, cricket had the upper hand and the bigger profile. But in these crucial years the club didn't allow Italians to join, protecting the exclusivity of their English sport. Cricket in Italy would never have such opportunity again.