Source: Daily_Mail
Nottingham-born Herbert Kilpin's legacy lives on at AC Milan
[LNB]Pioneer: Herbert Kilpin[LNB]It is an unmistakably Italian scene.From the setting to the architecture tothe names all around, this is Italy. [LNB]But in gallery XV of Milan's vast andmagnificent Cimitero Monumentale,there hangs a solitary red, white andblack scarf that conceals a tomb thatis forever England. [LNB]Here, amid namessuch as Oliveri, Mameli, Pizzi, Ferrariand Coppa, in grave 162, lie the remainsof one Herbert Kilpin. [LNB]Kilpin, the son of a Nottinghambutcher, may be little known in hisnative land but in Milan and beyond,Kilpin has a claim on the title: 'Fatherof Italian football'. [LNB]It is some claim. [LNB]But then as Kilpinwas one of six men who founded theMilan Cricket and Football Club in1899, and who won three league titleswith them, he was a pioneer. [LNB]It is said that Kilpin also designedthe famous red and black stripes ofMilan.[LNB] 'We are a team of devils. Our coloursare red as fire, and black, to invokefear in our opponents,' is how he isalleged to have come to the colourscheme. [LNB]It is also said Kilpin liked adrink.Whatever the exact origins, the Rossoneriwere born and on the tribute atKilpin's grave it describes him amongother things as 'Rossonero L'Eternita'. [LNB]He had first arrived in Italy in Turin,where he founded InternazionaleTorino, believed to be the first Italianclub. That was in 1891.[LNB] Kilpin hadmoved from Nottingham because heworked in the lace industry and theconnections with Italy were growing.Six years later he moved again, toMilan, and along with industrialistAlfred Edwards, formed another club. [LNB] Tribute: Herbert Kilpin's tombstone[LNB]It was not Milano, as the city is calledin Italian, but Milan, and even thoughthe name was changed in 1946 toAssociazione Calcio Milan hence AC Milano was never adopted. [LNB]There isalso a St George's Cross on the Milanbadge, though that is said to be part ofthe city livery rather than Kilpin'sdoing.Without Milan Cricket and FootballClub there would be no Inter Milan. [LNB]In1908, after a row about foreign players,Internazionale were formed as a breakawayand one of the great Europeancity derbies was under way.Kilpin was 38 by then and within eightyears was dead. [LNB]He was buried in Milanbut his grave was lost and his namefaded until a local historian started acampaign to find it in the 1990s. [LNB]From there he was moved to the CimiteroMonumentale. Kilpin's is not anextravagant tomb, but that you canstill find Kilpin T-shirts on sale outsidethe San Siro on matchdays indicatesthat the Milanistas have not forgottentheir English heritage.[LNB] Wayne Rooney versus Pato - the verdict! Andy Townsend looks at Manchester United and AC Milan's goal machinesThe snarling darling show - Wayne Rooney and AC Milan's Pato top the bill but Manchester United talisman can blast out a message We've still got the legs for it, insists AC Milan superstar David BeckhamManchester United lynchpin must prove he can dish out lesson to AC Milan playmaker Andrea PirloThe Becks factor! The less you see of David Beckham the better he gets...[LNB]
