On This Day: The formation of CUCS, and a new Curva tradition

9 January is the birthday of the Curva Sud.

It was on this day, 44 years ago to be exact, that the 'Commando Ultra Curva Sud' (CUCS) banner first appeared on the wall of the old Olimpico.

Roma were playing Sampdoria that day but the match itself (and the result: 3-0) soon paled into significance alongside everything unleashed by that acronym.

Speaking to in La Roma magazine in 2015, Antonio Bongi, one of the founders of the 'Boys' and also one of the young fathers of the Commando, described the dawn of that golden era as follows:

“The sky was grey. It had been raining on and off in the morning and stopped around lunchtime. There was something strange in the air. The letters of the banner were white on a red background. Why? 'Yellow is better,' they said. 'No, white stands out better and the word COMMANDO looks nicer in white.' Mr Fortunato, the artist who designed the banner, agreed: 'Yes, white is clearer.'

“From the old ground-level stand, where we would kick a ball about together while eating a sandwich, I looked at the banner lying on the right-hand side of the half-empty Curva. I could see the drawing I had made on a piece of paper turned into a life-size version in gargantuan letters, Helvetica Bold style. 'I don't want anyone standing in front of it covering up the letters,' I thought.”

Those letters read 'COMMANDO ULTRA CURVA SUD'.

Bongi continued: “There were two big flags, one like the US flag and the other a Roma flag, attached to an old Curva Sud flagpole. The drums began to beat – there weren't a lot of drums but they sounded fantastic. The match kicked off at 2:30 and the lads never stopped singing. There weren't many of them but they didn't stop for 90 minutes. Something never seen before. Some of the older season-ticket holders weren't impressed: 'Is it always going to be like this? Those kids make such a racket...'”

Yes, it will always be like that.

You would go to the stadium and not know where to look. On the one side football was being played, on the other football was being sung. That was the Commando.

The 'Ultras' entry on Wikipedia has a quote by Tonino Cagnucci, a journalist, writer and Roma fan: “Fans can be divided into two macro categories: those who focus on the pitch and those who focus on the Curva. This second category can be classified as 'ultras'.”

It was impossible to go to the Olimpico and not be amazed by the sound of the drums, the colours and the chants. By the Commando.

You could hear Roma on that wall. And that is why the CUCS was legendary.

Roberto Stracca, a young member of the Commando who became a journalist by chance and remained a Roma fan until his death on 16 November 2010, once said: “We are only temporary performers in the play. Tomorrow I'll be gone and another 100 better than me will take my place.

"One will say, 'I was there in '77' and be submerged by laughter. Another will say, 'I'm the boss' and 20,000 raspberries will be blown. Who can stir the soul?”

That was the Commando Ultra Curva Sud. A soul stirrer.

That is why it belongs to nobody and everybody. To all those who founded it, who followed it, who watched it and who felt part of it.

Youths initially, then fathers and now – perhaps – grandfathers.

The Commando stirred the soul. To take another of Stracca's quotes: “The Commando is a force of nature. Like the wind.”

A wind that still blows strong thanks to word of mouth.

“Let me tell you, my dear boy, of when the Commando Ultra was born.”

My dear boy, it was 9 January 1977.