Michelangelo Rucci

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Michelangelo Rucci (born 10 November 1963) is an Australian journalist and reporter.

Of Italian descent, "The Rooch", as he is nicknamed, is a sports writer in Adelaide, South Australia. He is the chief Australian rules football writer for The Advertiser, Adelaide's only daily newspaper. A noted supporter of the Port Adelaide Football Club, he is criticised by some for the bias evident in his writing towards Port, as well as his bias against the Adelaide Crows, a rival club in the AFL. ^[1]

[edit] Relationship with Adelaide supporters

Rucci's relationship with supporters of the Adelaide Football Club has been soured by his perceived bias against the club, which led to a supposed campaign by Adelaide supporters to raise $3 million for Rucci to retire from sportswriting. The campaign turned out to be a false rumour which was started by Rucci himself.

While the imaginary appeal by 2007 had failed to raise any significant funds, the administration of the Adelaide Football Club in March that year sought to use its commercial clout to have Rucci fired. ^[2]^[3]

In 2006, Rucci alerted the AFL Tribunal to the fact that Adelaide player Brett Burton could not have his suspension reduced by one week with an early guilty plea due to the carry-over points from previous indiscretions - this led to the Tribunal overturning its decision and giving Burton a 2-match ban instead of one. ^[4] ^[5]

[edit] Early career

In the early 1980s as a university student, Rucci was the official club historian for the Port Adelaide Football Club, before moving to New York to act as The Advertiser's foreign correspondent. He returned to Adelaide in the mid-90s, where he has since been The Advertiser's chief football writer.

Rucci also covered hockey for News Limited in the 2000 Olympics.