View source for Rodolfo Volk

{{Short description|Italian footballer (1906–1983)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Rodolfo Volk
| image = Rodolfo Volk (anni trenta).jpg
| full_name = 
| birth_date = {{birth date|1906|1|14|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Rijeka|Fiume]], [[Austria-Hungary]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1983|10|2|1906|5|22|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Nemi]], Italy
| height = 
| position = [[Forward (association football)|Forward]]
| years1 = 1925–1926
| clubs1 = [[C.S. Gloria Fiume|Gloria Fiume]]
| caps1 = 15
| goals1 = 10
| years2 = 1926–1927
| clubs2 = [[ACF Fiorentina|Fiorentina]]
| caps2 = 14
| goals2 = 11
| years3 = 1927–1928
| clubs3 = [[U.S. Fiumana|Fiumana]]
| caps3 = 16
| goals3 = 16
| years4 = 1928–1933
| clubs4 = [[A.S. Roma|Roma]]
| caps4 = 157
| goals4 = 103
| years5 = 1933–1934
| clubs5 = [[Pisa Calcio|Pisa]]
| caps5 = 30
| goals5 = 16
| years6 = 1934–1935
| clubs6 = [[Unione Triestina 2012 S.S.D.|Triestina]]
| caps6 = 6
| goals6 = 1
| years7 = 1935–1942
| clubs7 = [[U.S. Fiumana|Fiumana]]
| caps7 = 145
| goals7 = 74
| years8 = 1945–1946
| clubs8 = [[R.O.M.S.A. Fiume]]
| caps8 = 2
| goals8 = 0
| years9 = 1946–1948
| clubs9 = [[Proleter Fiume]]
| caps9 = 
| goals9 = 
| years10 = 1948–1949
| clubs10 = [[Montevarchi Calcio Aquila 1902|Montevarchi]]
| caps10 = 14
| goals10 = 5
| nationalyears1 = 1929–1930
| nationalteam1 = [[Italy national football team|Italy B]]
| nationalcaps1 = 5
| nationalgoals1 = 5
}}
'''Rodolfo Volk''' (Sometimes [[italianization|italianized]] in '''''Rodolfo Folchi''''') (14 January 1906 – 2 October 1983) was an Italian [[association football|footballer]] who played as a [[forward (association football)|forward]].

Volk is regarded as one of the most prolific goalscorers in the history of [[A.S. Roma|Roma]] and is remembered as the club's first goalscorer in an official match.<ref name="volk_siamolaroma"/> As of May 2020 he is the [[A.S. Roma statistics and records#Top 15 all-time goalscorers|fourth best goalscorer]] in Roma's history, having scored 103 goals in 157 league appearances.<ref name="volk_siamolaroma"/><ref name="volk_lastampa"/> In 2018, he was inducted into the club's [[A.S. Roma Hall of Fame|Hall of Fame]].<ref name="volk_siamolaroma"/>

==Career==
Volk was born in [[Fiume]] in 1906 and began to play football for [[U.S. Fiumana]], the team of his city; he was known to be a powerful [[Forward (association football)#Striker|striker]].

He played a non-official match with [[A.C.F. Fiorentina|Fiorentina]] under the fake surname of ''Bolteni'', this was because he was [[Military service#Italy|serving in the military]], and was not permitted to do any other activity.

In 1928 he was signed up by the newly formed Italian club [[A.S. Roma]] and became one of its most important players during the 1920s and the 1930s. He was the first official goalscorer in [[Campo Testaccio]], the club's first-ever stadium.

Playing a total of 150 games with the ''Giallorossi'', he scored 103 goals for the club, and scored the first goal in the first ever [[Derby della Capitale]], a 1–0 victory against cross-city rivals [[S.S. Lazio]] in 1929.

During the [[1930–31 Serie A|1930–31 season]], he was the [[Capocannonieri|Serie A top scorer]] with 29 goals in 33 games, helping Roma to finish as runners-up in the league.

He left Roma in 1933, due to personal problems with [[Enrique Guaita]] and [[Elvio Banchero]], and was signed up by [[Pisa Calcio|Pisa]].

==Personal life==
Rodolfo Volk was born in 1906 in the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]] port city of [[Rijeka|Fiume]], [[Austria-Hungary]] (today [[Rijeka]], [[Croatia]]), to an ethnic [[Slovenes|Slovene]] family.<ref name="volk_delo">{{Cite news | url=https://www.delo.si/sport/nogomet/celar-kot-mlakar-snl-namesto-serie-b-260013.html | title=Celar kot Mlakar, SNL namesto Serie B | author=Gorazd Nejdely | trans-title=Celar like Mlakar, SNL instead of Serie B | publisher=[[Delo (newspaper)|Delo]] | language=sl | access-date=29 May 2020 | date=29 May 2020 }}</ref> The meaning of his family name Volk in [[Slovene language|Slovene]] is [[wolf]],<ref name="volk_lastampa">{{Cite news | url=https://www.lastampa.it/roma/2019/02/08/news/volk-primo-bomber-della-roma-il-dramma-del-suo-esodo-da-fiume-riemerge-in-un-libro-1.33679620 | title=Volk, primo bomber della Roma: il dramma del suo esodo da Fiume riemerge in un libro | author=Adriano Stabile | trans-title=Volk, first striker of Roma: the drama of his exudos from Fiume re-emerges in a book | publisher=[[La Stampa]] | language=it | access-date=29 May 2020 | date=8 February 2019 }}</ref> a symbol of the club Roma where he spent his most prolific playing days and is considered a club legend.<ref name="volk_siamolaroma">{{Cite news | url=https://www.siamolaroma.it/2020/01/14/amarcord-14-gennaio-1906-nasce-rodolfo-volk-il-primo-a-scrivere-la-storia-giallorossa-foto-video/ | title=14 gennaio 1906: nasce Rodolfo Volk. Il primo a scrivere la storia giallorossa | author=Davide Aprilini | trans-title=14 January 1906: Rodolfo Volk is born. The first to write Giallorossi history | publisher=Siamolaroma | language=it | access-date=29 May 2020 | date=14 January 2020 }}</ref><ref name="volk_lastampa"/><ref name="volk_triesteprima">{{Cite news | url=http://www.triesteprima.it/sport/rodolfo-volk-associazione-sportiva-roma.html | title=La storia dimenticata del fiumano Volk, attaccante della Roma morto in una casa di riposo | author=Nicolo Giraldi | trans-title=The forgotten story of Rodolfo Volk, Roma striker who died in a nursery home | publisher=Trieste Prima | language=it | access-date=29 May 2020 | date=13 April 2020 }}</ref> During the [[interwar period]] and the [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|fascist state policy]] of forced [[Italianization]] he was known under the Italianized name of Rodolfo Foschi (or Folchi).<ref name="volk_siamolaroma"/><ref name="volk_triesteprima"/> In 1934 his first wife Giovanna died prematurely.<ref name="volk_lastampa"/> After [[World War II]] he and his second wife Maria, together with his two sons, were [[Istrian-Dalmatian exodus|forced to leave]] Rijeka and were eventually settled in a refugee camp in [[Laterina]].<ref name="volk_lastampa"/> Later in life he moved to [[Rome]] and made a living with the help of a number of low-paying jobs.<ref name="volk_siamolaroma"/><ref name="volk_lastampa"/><ref name="volk_triesteprima"/> Volk died, on the night between 2 and 3 October 1983, impoverished and forgotten in a nursery home in a small town of [[Nemi]].<ref name="volk_siamolaroma"/><ref name="volk_lastampa"/><ref name="volk_triesteprima"/>

==Honours==
'''Fiumana'''
*[[Serie C]]: [[1940–41 Serie C|1940–41]]

'''Individual'''
*[[Capocannoniere|Serie A top scorer]]: [[1930–31 Serie A|1930–31]] (29 goals)<ref name="Serie A Top Scorers">{{cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablesi/italtops.html|title=Italy - Serie A Top Scorers|author1=Roberto Di Maggio|author2=Igor Kramarsic|author3=Alberto Novello|date=11 June 2015|website=[[RSSSF]]|access-date=2 December 2015}}</ref>
*[[A.S. Roma Hall of Fame]]: 2018<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.asroma.com/it/club/hall-of-fame/volk |title=Volk|website=ASRroma.com |language=it |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123153309/https://www.asroma.com/it/club/hall-of-fame/volk|archive-date=23 January 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=23 January 2019 }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.unmondoaparte.it/rodolfovolk.html Rodolfo Volk's Biography]
*[http://www.asroma.ilcannocchiale.it/post/1565962.html Rodolfo Volk's Biography]

{{Navboxes
|title= Awards
|fg=navy
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|list1=
{{Serie A top scorers}}
{{ACF Fiorentina Hall of Fame}}
{{A.S. Roma Hall of Fame}}
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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volk, Rodolfo}}
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1983 deaths]]
[[Category:US Fiumana players]]
[[Category:HNK Rijeka players]]
[[Category:AS Roma players]]
[[Category:Pisa SC players]]
[[Category:Italian men's footballers]]
[[Category:Footballers from Rijeka]]
[[Category:Italian people of Slovenian descent]]
[[Category:Serie A players]]
[[Category:Serie B players]]
[[Category:Serie C players]]
[[Category:Men's association football forwards]]
[[Category:World War II refugees]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian sportsmen]]