The Roma ASR Crest history

On Sunday AS Roma will take to the pitch for the Derby with the ASR crest on their shirts, a return after years of waiting especially for a large part of the Giallorossi fan base. The historic symbol that adorned the Giallorossi jerseys from the 1996/97 to 2012/13 seasons was replaced at the behest of then-president James Pallotta amidst strong protests. It will return to the first jersey after having already been included on the fourth jersey this year. In fact, the Friedkins have made no secret of the fact that they prefer a softer line and meet the demands of the fans, who are sentimentally attached to the shield with the she-wolf and the three intertwined letters, and together with New Balance have decided to use it more and more on special occasions, such as a derby.

The ASR logo, as it is commonly called among fans, is associated with one of the happiest periods in Roma's history, coinciding with the Sensi presidency and the Scudetto in the 2000/01 season, in addition to other trophies raised to the sky by Totti and his teammates. In addition, the logo at the time marked a historic return, that of the she-wolf and the three initials that had been present on the Roma shield since its foundation in 1927. The initials refer to the three local teams, Alba Roma, Roman and Fortitudo Pro Roma, which, by merging, gave rise to the history of the Capitoline team and have always remained intertwined as a testimony to the founding pact. The Lupa Capitolina was also always present on the first editions of the Giallorossi's Scudetto, until the City Council had the sculpture removed from the Campidoglio and did not grant the club permission to use it. 

During the legal battle that ensued, Roma used the "Lupetto" designed and created by Piero Gratton, which became the club's symbol for twenty years - from 1977 to 1997 - until the city finally gave the club the chance to restore the Giallorossi shield with the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus. The ASR logo of 1997 therefore not only represents the Roma of Totti and Batistuta, but above all that of the reconquest of its own historical identity. An identity that, according to many, Pallotta erased once again with the restyling he carried out as soon as he bought the shares from the Sensi family. 

"How many people live in Rome? Four million, something like that? I get 21 and no one understands what AS means and, in the end, it's a football team in Rome. Rome is pretty simple, at all ages," Pallotta said to those who criticized him for choosing to remove the initials ASR and replace it with a more straightforward ROMA. Readability, especially for those arriving from abroad, and marketability were the most important of the motivations behind the change, which also included the year the Capitoline club was founded and replaced the image of the she-wolf with a less photorealistic one. The other more subtle changes involve the fonts chosen, Trajan Pro for the main and Helvetica Neue Light for the complementary, and the complementary color, a metallic silver integrated into the logo. In 2016 also, the Roma Yellow of the top of the logo was lightened with a brighter shade.

The contestation was fierce, with banners, choruses and communications from the curves, as well as online petitions and sit-ins in stores around the capital. A rift that contributed to complicating the relationship between organized fans and the American presidency, up to the point of no return that eventually pushed Pallotta to sell the company. Dan Friedkin and New Balance do not want to make the same mistakes as their predecessors, balancing the continuous revolutions to keep the brand of the Giallorossi team modern and sellable while keeping the tradition and its symbols alive. In fact, in recent years we've seen an overbearing return to the scene of traditional team logos, after a period of minimalism and restructuring, and few in Italy possess the deep history of Roma's ASR logo.