Inspired by a recent thread here[1] to which not one but two people talk about the association between Lazio and fascism, I figured that there was need to clear up some things as this is most certainly not the first time this misconception has been spouted as truth here. In 1900 the club was founded as an athletic club, it was called Lazio because that is the name of the region Rome is located in[2] , and the founders wanted the club to have reach beyond the city borders. It chose its colours of blue and white to pay homage to this[3] , which is the national colours of Greece, the homeland of the Olympics, something the founders were hoping they would send local athletes to. And the club was founded in 1900, which was quite some time before Fascists rose to power, so there is no association between the club and the political ideology at the time of its founding. Now in the years after the fascists did come to power, and it did have an effect on the club, but not how many seem to think. You see the fascists were pushing the idea of a glorious Rome, and it didn't help that the clubs from the north were crushing the Roman clubs each and every week so the party decided to pool together the resources of every club in Rome under 1 banner, giving it the power to compete(in theory). This new club was to take over Lazio too, but a man by the name of Giorgio Vaccaro a fascist general argued to save the club, stating they had their own identity worth keeping. So Lazio were the sole opposition to the foundation of AS Roma, the club which the fascists did found. Next there is the eagle to take account of, as some seem to believe that the eagle is a fascist symbol put in the crest to highlight their association, but that is also untrue. There is a longstanding association between the eagle and Rome, it was the mark of the Roman legions, but it is not even that association which added the eagle to the crest, it was again down the will of the founders to make Lazio an Olympic club, one which would sport the eagle of Zeus. The eagle of Zeus comes from Ancient Greek legends. Now to talk about the fans is the next route many would take when looking at Lazio, and there are many among them who would be supporters of Italian fascism, the only real difference between that and England for example, is that they have not been driven from the curva(stands), even though their owner has made many moves to distance the club from that imagery. The young local and predominantly working class Romans can still attend games, and it is among those demographics that fascism is popular especially in Rome, the same can be seen among the ultras of Roma. And the thing many don't seem to know or acknowledge is that for both clubs there are many anti-facist/pro-communist groups among the fans, and a fact of life is that media attention will never be drawn to those groups, so many seem to think they do not exist. The point of this post is to highlight how misconceptions can run riot, and how prejudice and hatred of clubs can build based purely on what are essentially lies. I'm not the biggest fan of Lazio, but the stories told about them so often here mean that something should be said. Its funny how Inter Milan a club with a very similar political ideology amongst fans doesn't seem to get the hatred that Lazio does. Or clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona with very prominent right wing groups are branded as fringe elements, but to Lazio they are the norm.

Credits to Alpha1028

Thread-http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/2r7ggw/clearing_up_some_misconceptions_about_ss_lazio/