L'Aquila Rugby

L'Aquila Rugby
Full name	L’Aquila Rugby 1936 S.S.D. A.R.L.
Union	Federazione Italiana Rugby
Founded	1936
Disbanded	2018
Location	L'Aquila, Italy
Ground(s)	Stadio Tommaso Fattori (Capacity: 10,000)
President	Mauro Zaffiri
Coach(es)	Massimo Di Marco
League(s)	Top12
2014–15	9th (Excellence)
1st kit	2nd kit
Official website
	laquilarugbyclub.it

L'Aquila Rugby 1936 was an Italian rugby union club based in L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo. The official colours of the club were black and green, the colours of the city of L'Aquila. The club went into liquidation and disbanded in 2018.^[1]

History[edit]

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 Top12), 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[edit]

2014-15: Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player	Position	Union
Nicola Breglia	Hooker	Italy
Alessio Cocchiaro	Hooker	Italy
Nicola Rettagliata	Hooker	Italy
Giovanni Marchetto	Hooker	Italy
Luigi Milani	Prop	Italy
Stefano Iovenitti	Prop	Italy
Davide Di Roberto	Prop	Italy
Davide Sebastiani	Prop	Italy
Antonio Brandolini	Prop	Italy
Dario Subrizi	Prop	Italy
Alessandro Cialone	Lock	Italy
Vittorio Flaminni	Lock	Italy
Adolfo Caila	Lock	Italy
Lorenzo Fiore	Lock	Italy
Rossano Fagnani	Flanker	Italy
Luca di Cicco	Flanker	Italy
Andrea Lofrese	Flanker	Italy
Domiziano Gorla	Flanker	Italy
Mattia Catelan	Flanker	Italy
Michele Boccardo	Flanker	Italy
Simone Ceccarelli	Number 8	Italy

Player	Position	Union
Nicolò Speranza	Scrum-half	Italy
Guido Leone	Scrum-half	Italy
Simon Picone (c)	Scrum-half	Italy
Giulio Forte	Fly-half	Italy
Simone Matzeu	Fly-half	Italy
Joaquin Andrés Riera	Fly-half	Argentina
Giorgio Erbolini	Centre	Italy
Alessio Mattocchia	Centre	Italy
Josateki Brown	Centre	Fiji
Ezequiel Cortes	Centre	Argentina
Alberto Bonifazi	Wing	Italy
Jonathon Edwards	Wing	Sweden
Lorenzo Crotti	Wing	Italy
Valerio Santillo	Wing	Italy
Marco Ferrini	Fullback	Italy
Francesco Palmisano	Fullback	Italy

International are capped in Bold

Honours[edit]

National Championship of Excellence:
- Champions: 1967, 1969, 1981, 1982, 1994
Coppa Italia:
- Champions: 1973, 1981
Reserves Championship:
- Champions: 1967, 1970, 1973, 1975, 1985
Under 19/20:
- Champions: 1950, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1979, 1981, 1995, 1997
Under 17/18:
- Champions: 1977
Coppa Primavera Under 17:
- Champions: 1967
Under 15/16:
- Champions: 1977

Notable players[edit]

Statistics[edit]

European Challenge Cup[edit]

Season	Played	Won	Lost	For	Against
2001–02	6	2	4	107	239
2002–03	2	0	2	19	133
2003–04	2	0	2	11	125
2004–05	2	0	2	48	109
2005–06	6	0	6	103	358

References[edit]

^ "L'Aquila Rugby Club non parteciperà alla prossima Serie A". On Rugby. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2021.

External links[edit]

Official site

[Dissolves-1] "L'Aquila Rugby Club non parteciperà alla prossima Serie A". On Rugby. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2021.

[1]

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