L'Aquila Rugby

L'Aquila Rugby
Full name L’Aquila Rugby 1936 S.S.D. A.R.L.
Union Federazione Italiana Rugby
Founded 1936
Location L'Aquila, Italy
Ground(s) Stadio Tommaso Fattori (Capacity: 10,000)
President Italy Giacomo Pasqua
Coach(es) Italy Massimo Di Marco
League(s) National Championship of Excellence
2010-11 9th
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
www.laquilarugby.com

L'Aquila Rugby 1936 are an Italian rugby union club currently competing in National Championship of Excellence. The club is based in L'Aquila which is the capital of Abruzzo. The official colours of the club are black and green, the colours of the city of L'Aquila.

History

The roots of L'Aquila Rugby date back to the 1930s when, between 1936 and 1942, L'Aquila took part in tournaments organized by the Comandi Federali della GIL. It reached its peak in the 1937–38 season when, after Tommaso Fattori, a legendary figure for the history of the club (the stadium of L'Aquila, Stadio Tommaso Fattori is named after him), joined the team, the club won the local tournament qualifying for the final one, where it finished the season fourth out of 54 participants. It first played in a championship in 1948.

In 1949–50 L'Aquila participated in the Serie B and were in contention for promotion to Serie A up to the final game of the season, Genoa eventually winning out. The following year the team won promotion to the Serie A then the highest division in Italy. In 1958–59 they were losing finalists in the Serie A Grand Final. In 1963–64 they were relegated to Serie B, but returned to Serie A the following year. They won their first title in 1967 defeating Fiamme Oro Padova 6 to 0. Two years later they won their second title after having won 18 games out of 22 without losing a match.

The 1970s weren't a good decade for the Aquilani, as they won only one Italian Cup in 1973. In the 1980s they won two more titles in 1981 (league and cup double) and 1982. These were the years of Massimo Mascioletti (54 caps with the Italian national team), Serafino Ghizzoni (60 caps) and Luigi Troiani (47 caps). Then another period of not brilliant results followed, before they could celebrate their fifth title in 1993–94 after having defeated Milan 23-14 in the historical final in Padua. In 1999–2000 L'Aquila Rugby played another final for the Italian title, losing 35-17 against Roma in the match played in the Flaminio stadium.

In 2001–02 L'Aquila were part of the newly formed Super 10 (now National Championship of Excellence), where it is currently playing. During the past decades, L'Aquila has been one of the most important centre for Rugby in Italy, thanks to the passion and commitment of a lot of people from the city, who with the enthusiasm that had always accompanied them brought up several champions.

In 2009-10 L'Aquila were promoted back to the National Championship of Excellence, finishing 8th in this season.

Current squad

2011/2012 Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union
Nicola Breglia Hooker Italy Italy
Alessio Cocchiaro Hooker Italy Italy
Francesco De Gioia Hooker Italy Italy
Giovanni Marchetto Hooker Italy Italy
Antonio Brandolini Prop Italy Italy
Aldo Colaiuda Prop Italy Italy
Marco Di Paolo Prop Italy Italy
Tiziano Perugini Prop Italy Italy
Andrea Pozzi Prop Italy Italy
Marco Rotilio Prop Italy Italy
Dario Subrizi Prop Italy Italy
Alessandro Cialone Lock Italy Italy
Alfio Mammana Lock Italy Italy
Andrea Pegoretti Lock Italy Italy
Simone Ceccarelli Flanker Italy Italy
Luca di Cicco Flanker Italy Italy
Alessio Mereghetti Flanker Italy Italy
Talal Massod Rathore Flanker Italy Italy
Christofer Long Number 8 Canada Canada
Maurizio Zaffiri Number 8 Italy Italy
Player Position Union
Sebastiano Dusi Scrum-half Italy Italy
Nicola Leonardi Scrum-half Italy Italy
Loki Crichton Fly-half Samoa Samoa
Michele Fattore Fly-half Italy Italy
Pietro Antonelli Centre Italy Italy
Marco Di Massimo Centre Italy Italy
Lorenzo Maria Lolli Centre Italy Italy
Riccardo Lorenzetti Centre Italy Italy
Federico Del Pinto Wing Italy Italy
Alex Panetti Wing Italy Italy
Riccardo Pezzopane Wing Italy Italy
Francesco Santavicca Wing Italy Italy
Giacomo Sebastiani Wing Italy Italy
DuRandt Gerber Fullback Italy Italy
Stefano Paolucci Fullback Italy Italy

Honours

Notable players

Statistics

European Challenge Cup

Season Played Won Drawn Lost For Against
2001-02 6204107239
2002-03 200219133
2003-04 200211125
2004-05 200248109
2005-06 6006103358

See also

External links