Milan Football and Cricket Club, by Wikimedia Commons. Licenza Public domain.
Di Paola Redemagni
E’ il 16 dicembre 1899 e in un’elegante saletta dell’Hotel du Nord et des Anglais a Milano – oggi Principe di Savoia – si riunisce un gruppo di distinti signori inglesi: vi risparmio la lista dei nomi, sappiate solo che insieme a importanti esponenti della borghesia lombarda (Pirelli, Angeloni, Camperio, Valerio e Dubini) sono lì per fondare il Milan Football and Cricket Club. Sede della società: la Fiaschetteria Toscana in via Berchet 1, perché bisogna occuparsi del corpo ma anche dello spirito. In tutti i sensi.
Allenatore e giocatore della nuova formazione è Herbert Kilpin, inglese di Nottingham, figlio di macellai e con una formazione da merlettaia, era giunto in Italia come istruttore per gli operai della nascente industria tessile. Kilpin sceglie personalmente i colori della divisa, o meglio, della “camicia da giuoco”: il rosso e il nero, perché “saremo dei diavoli e faremo paura a tutti”.
Il nuovo club possiede un campo tutto suo al Trotter, dove gli interessati possono trovare allenatori e compagni di gioco. Nel giro di un anno si affilia alla Federazione Italiana Football e nel 1901 conquista il suo primo scudetto.
Kilpin scompare nel 1916 e viene inizialmente sepolto nel settore Acattolici del Cimitero Maggiore di Milano. Alla scadenza della concessione, un anonimo benefattore interviene impedendone la dispersione. Viene quindi sistemato in una celletta anonima, dove rimane per 70 anni, fino al 1998, quando lo storico del Milano Luigi La Rocca lo identifica e ne ottiene la traslazione presso la Galleria di Levante del Monumentale, .
Grazie anche all’interessamento della società rossonera, l’anno seguente Kilpin viene spostato al Monumentale di Milano, dove potete incontrarlo al Riparto XV, Galleria BC Levante Inferiore.
Herbert Kilpin
24-1-1870
22-10-1916
Socio fondatore e
Capitano Milan Cricket
And 1899 Football Club.
Con riconoscenza
Milan A.C.
(Dear friends speaking english, this is an home-made blog. I have no money to pay a professional translator, so I write english post by myself and – as you can see – I can’t write English language very well. So you can find a lot of mistake in the articoles: I beg your pardon. My English language level is: F(unny)! Will you pardon me?)
It’s an unusual story: the Football Club is so famous and his founder is unknown…
The Football Club is Milan Football Club but who was his founder?
This is the Herbert Kilpin’s story.
Mr. Herbert Kilpin was born in Nottingham, Great Britain, on 24th of January 1870 and he moved from Nottingham to Italy in 1891: first to Torino then, in 1898, to Milano, where he leaved until his death.
He was an instructor: he had to teach to the Italians workers how to use the new British mechanical looms. There were a lot of textile factories in the North of Italy, at that time.
But he was also a football player: he had been playing football since he was a teenager. So, when he arrived in Italy, he met some people interesting in the new sport.
On 16Th December 1899, in an elegant small room of the Hotel du Nord et des Anglais, in Milano (today Principe di Savoia Hotel), a group of refined Englishmen met a group of important Lombard bourgeoises (Mr. Pirelli, Mr, Angeloni, Mr. Camperio, Mr. Valerio, Mr. Dubini) and founded the Milan Football and Cricket Club. The domicile of the new Football Club is near the Fiaschetteria Toscana (a wine shop) in 1, Berchet Street, in Milano: this is good for the spirits.
In the Milan Football and Cricket Club Mr. Herbert Kilpin is the trainer and one of the players. He personally chose how the uniform will be: a black and red jersey. With that uniform the Milan players seemed like terrific devils.
In 1901 the Milan Football and Cricket Club won its first championship.
Kilpin died in 1916. First he was buried in not-catholic area at Musocco cemetery in Milano. Then, an anonymous benefactor payed to move Kilpin’s body in a little burial recess, not in the charnel house, and here Kilpin had been lied for 70 years, neglect.
Thanks to the care of the Milan Football Club, in 1998 Herbert Kilpin’s body moved from Musocco to Monumentale Cemetery: here, you can meet him on Riparto XV, Galleria BC Levante Inferiore.
The epitaph says: Herbert Kilpin /24-1-1870 / 22-10-1916 / founder and / team captain of Milan Cricket /And 1899 Football Club. / With gratitude / Milan A.C.
Storie di cimiteri 