L'Aquila Rugby

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L'Aquila Rugby
Full name	L’Aquila Rugby 1936 S.S.D. A.r.L.
Founded	1936
Union	Federazione Italiana Rugby
Location	L'Aquila, Italy
Ground	Stadio Tommaso Fattori
President	Francesco Aloisio
Coach	Neil Loader
League	Super 10
2005-06	?
Team colours
Official Website
www.laquilarugby.com

L'Aquila Rugby is an Italian rugby union club currently competing in Super 10. It 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.

The roots of L'Aquila Rugby dates 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 1937-1938 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 1949-1950 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 1958-1959 they were losing finalists in the Serie A Grand Final. In 1963-1964 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 1993-1994 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 2001-2002 L'Aquila were part of the newly formed Super 10, 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 this city, who with the enthusiasm that had always accompanied them brought up several champions.

[edit] Club Honours

• Italian championship 1967 1969 1981 1982 1994
• Italian Cup 1973 1981
• Reserves Championship 1967 1970 1973 1975 1985
• Under 19/29 1950 1960 1965 1966 1979 1981 1995 1997
• Under 17/18 1977
• Coppa Primavera Under 17 1967
• Under 15/16 1977

[edit] External links

• Official site