Rugby is a sport that in the last thirty years, in Italy, has seen its popularity increase a lot. By now there are many who know how to distinguish the All Blacks and the Springboks, who know the fundamental types of action, and who know how to keep the score. However, relatively few are still able to do it at the club level.
The Italian national team and the most prestigious international competitions have in fact managed to breakthrough, but the same has not happened with the Italian championship. A championship which, thanks to the abandonment of Benetton Treviso and the newborn Zebre di Parma, was also technically impoverished.
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Yet the history of club rugby in Italy is very long. The first championship was held in 1928/29, and since then the title has been awarded more than 80 times. Various teams took turns on the top step of the podium, but some were able to create real dynasties. Suffice it to say that about half of the titles are concentrated in the triangle formed by Treviso, Padua, and Rovigo. It is, therefore, worthwhile to find out which are the most successful Italian rugby teams and to reconstruct some of their histories.
Milan Amateurs
The glorious and sad parable of Milanese rugby
The history of rugby in Italy, or at least of the successes in the field of rugby, begins with Amatori Milano. The Milanese team founded in 1927 won 14 of the first 16 championships, earning the title of being the most successful team in Italy already in the pre-war period. Its foundation is due to the journalist Stefano Bellandi, as a branch of that Ambrosiana that would later turn into Inter. After the first championship, however, the rugby section broke away from the football one, giving life to Amatori Milano.
After the magnificent period from 1927 to 1946, the Juventus team faced a long crisis. In the 1950s he only sporadically fought for the title, while in the late 1960s and early 1970s he was relegated twice, finding himself in Serie C. The rebirth came in the 1980s: one step at a time the team managed to win back the top flight, while in 1988 the company was bought by Silvio Berlusconi. In those years the patron of Milan had in mind to set up a sports club under the Rossoneri colors and had therefore also bought volleyball, hockey, and baseball teams. Under his leadership, Amatori returned to buying important players such as Diego Domínguez and won four further league titles.
In 1998, however, Berlusconi withdrew from the club and Amatori sold players and sports titles to Calvisano, a team from Brescia that has achieved important successes in recent years. The titles were returned in 2002 when the company reconstituted itself in Serie C. Thanks to a merger, Amatori then returned to Serie A1 in 2008, but in 2011 relegated to Serie B and was soon excluded from the championship due to a lack of players. . Since then, the team has not trod the rugby fields anymore, even if the Amatori Ruby Milano Junior survives, a youth section that also has a senior team that, with the glorious Juventus colors, plays in Serie C.
Benetton Treviso
Domination in the 90s and 00s and the transition to Pro12
If Amatori Milano has a history of glories mostly from the past, Benetton Treviso is instead the team that has dominated the league since the 90s. Here, too, recent successes are linked to an entrepreneurial group, which however has not left the business: the Benetton family. The Treviso club was founded in 1932 and lived up to the 1950s. When the domination of the Venetian teams began, which we will also discuss in the next points, the Treviso team managed to be in the game, winning the 1956 and 1978 championships. The shirt, in those years, showed the white and blue colors.
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Soon after, Benettons began to take an interest in sport, first by sponsoring and then acquiring the team. In 1983, a further championship followed, followed by large investments. New Zealand nationals such as John Kirwan and Craig Green, as well as some of the best Italian players, were called to wear the new green-and-white jersey. Other championships thus arrived in 1989 and 1992. From 1997 then began real domination that led the green-and-whites to win 10 championships in 14 years.
However, since 2010, the Treviso team no longer plays in the Italian top league. The birth of Pro12, the elite European championship heir to the Celtic League, has led the team to focus on that competition and the Champions Cup.
Petrarch Padua
The triumphs of the 70s and 80s
Petrarca Padova is, at 12, only 3 scudetti behind Benetton, and therefore the most titled team among those currently in the top rugby league. Founded in 1947, the club uses black and white colors and since its creation has been part of a larger sports club that also includes football, five-a-side football, basketball, and fencing sections. For years it has been the protagonist of a heated rivalry both with Rovigo – often also based on the exchange of players and coaches – and with the Fiamme Oro, at least as long as they had their headquarters in Padua itself.
The first Scudetto was won after twenty years of activity, in 1970, but from then on Petrarca dominated the Italian scene for almost twenty years. Five consecutive titles came immediately, followed by the 1977 and 1980 championships. Between 1984 and 1987, then, were another four championships in a row, which also led to the star. Years of decent placements in the top flight followed, but it was impossible to reach the title, given the supremacy of Benetton Treviso, Milan, and Calvisano. In 2011, however, another triumph finally arrived: with the two strongest teams involved in the European championship, Petrarca managed to conquer the championship by surprise, winning the final against rivals Rovigo in Polesine.
Rugby Rovigo
The third point of the Veneto triangle
For someone who, like myself, was born and raised in Rovigo, the local rugby team is not just a club like any other, but an institution. That of Rovigo is in fact a very particular reality: while Milan, Treviso, and Padua boast or have had results of great prestige also in other sports, Rovigo is practically known only for the oval ball. Well-deserved fame, however, on the pitch. Even with very limited means, the Bersaglieri (as they are nicknamed) has in fact won 11 league titles in their history and are the only team to have always played in the Italian top league.
Founded in 1935, the company uses red and blue colors. The first championship came in 1951, with the legendary Mario Battaglini on the field; three more were put on the showcase, one in a row to the other. The second blaze came between 1962 and 1964, with three more consecutive championships before the shot was taken by Petrarch’s rivals. A third golden period was the one between the mid-70s and the end of the 80s, kissed by fewer successes than the team would have deserved. In fact, four other championships arrived at this stage (in ’76, ’79, ’88, and ’90), but also three defeats in the final and a second place.
In recent years the Rosso Blu have repeatedly touched the twelfth title: in 2011 they finished the season in the first place but were defeated at home in the final, just like last May against Calvisano. Finally, in 2014 they played another final, which was also lost.
Gold Flames
The State Police team
In fifth place in the ranking of the most successful teams in Italian rugby is the Fiamme Oro, which in addition to 5 championships can also boast five Italian Cups. Calvisano, who has the same number of national titles, has a couple of cups less, even if, given his current strength, he could soon grab the fifth place. As for the Fiamme Oro, this team has also been part of the Veneto triangle for a long time. Born in Padua as a rugby division of the State Police, it has won almost all of its titles in Veneto. However, in 1987 she moved to Rome, experiencing mixed fortunes.
The rugby section was founded in 1955 but immediately began to achieve excellent results. Already in 1958, he graduated as a champion of Italy, winning four consecutive championships and interrupting the dominion of Rovigo. He then returned to victory in 1968, with his fifth and last title, before giving the city primacy to Petrarch. Between 1969 and 1972, however, the first four Italian Cups also arrived, while the last one is much more recent and dates back to 2014. The Paduan team disbanded in 1978, but the group was reconstituted a few years later before in Milan and then in Rome. The most important result of the last forty years is probably the playoff semifinal played last season, in 2015.
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