Amatori Catania Rugby is an Italian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club based in

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

. They are the only professional rugby union team in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. The club was founded in 1963, and play at the

Stadio Santa Maria Goretti Stadio Santa Maria Goretti is a multi-use stadium in Catania, Italy. It is currently used mostly for american football and rugby union matches and is the home of Amatori Catania team. The stadium holds 10,000 persons and is named after the Cath ...

. Amatori Catania have thus far not won the Italian championship, but have qualified for European competition, competing in both the 2004–05 and

2005–06 European Challenge Cup The 2005–06 European Challenge Cup was the tenth year of the European Challenge Cup, the second tier rugby union cup competition below the Heineken Cup. The tournament was held between October 2005 and May 2006. Group stage Pool 1 Pool 2 ...

seasons, defeating

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

and

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

in the last season. They currently competing in the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

History

Between 1963 and 1965 the first team played in Serie C but won promotion to Serie B. In 1969–70 they won promotion to Serie A, but managed to survive at this level for only one season. From the 1972–73 season to the 1987–88 season, for sixteen consecutive seasons, he always plays in Serie A. After a season in Serie A2, he won the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, obtaining again the promotion to Serie A, where he remained for seven years. In the 1996–97 season they were relegated back to Serie A2 and two years later back to Serie B but managed to return to Serie A four years later. The 2004–05 season, mark the return to the top division, which in the meantime has changed its name to

Super 10 The Super 10 was a rugby union football tournament featuring ten teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Tonga, and Western Samoa. The competition ran for three years from 1993 to 1995 and was the predecessor of Super 12 and Super 14, ...

, under the technical guidance of

Orazio Arancio Orazio "Bimbo" Arancio (born 15 November 1967 in Catania) is a former Italian rugby union player and a current coach and sports director. He played as a flanker. Career Arancio first played at Fiamma Catania, moving to Amatori Catania in 1986 ...

. The Amatori Catania, guided by the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Jean-Michel Vuillemin, is the revelation team: from newly promoted to the semifinals, but they were knocked out by Benetton Treviso with the scores of 20–25 at the Santa Maria Goretti and 21–41 at the

Monigo The Monigo concentration camp was a prison camp opened during World War II aimed at civilian prisoners (mostly Slovenes and Croats). It was located in Monigo, a suburb of the town of Treviso. The camp was active between 1942 and 1943. The total n ...

. The following season is certainly more troubled despite the experience of the international head coach

Laurent Rodriguez Laurent Rodriguez (born 25 June 1960) is a retired French rugby player. He made his international debut for France on 5 July 1981 in a test against Australia. Rodriguez was called for the 1987 Rugby World Cup, where France was runners-up to New ...

, but after a complicated start the Amatori Catania managed to hit a difficult salvation after a strenuous fight with the Veneziamestre which ended only on the last day. Worthy of note are the victories in the

against

and

at the Santa Maria Goretti. In the 2007-08 season, the Amatori Catania, guided by Michel Ringeval, disputed a decidedly subdued league, which on the sixteenth day sees it relegated with mathematical certainty in

Statistics

European Challenge Cup

Selected former players

Italian players

Former players who have played for Amatori Catania and have caps for Italy: *

* Ambrogio Bona * Benjamin de Jager * Alessandro Fusco * Elio Fusco * Jacob Gaina * Salvatore Garozzo * Marcello Gambino Urbanczyk *

Andrea Lo Cicero Andrea Lo Cicero Vaina (; born Catania, 7 May 1976) is an Italian rugby union footballer, who retired from playing in 2013. Born in Catania, Sicily, Lo Cicero began his professional career in the town of his birth with Amatori Catania. Later he ...

* Massimiliano Perziano *

Juan Manuel Queirolo ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

* Diego Varani

Overseas players

Former players who have played for Calvisano and have caps for their respective country: * Galo Alvarez Quiñones * Lucas Barrera Oro * Gonzalo Beccar Varela * Gastón de Robertis * Marcello Gambino Urbanczyk * Alejandro Krancz * Juan Pablo Lagarrigue * Benjamín Madero * Carlos Neyra * Horacio San Martín * Fabián Turnes *

Daniel Quate Daniel George Quate (born 2 April 1980) is a New Zealand-born Japanese former international rugby union player. Rugby career Born in Napier, Quate was a NZ Colts representative, who played his rugby as a lock and back-rower. Quate played two Sup ...

* Sebastian Levaggi *

André Joubert André Johan Joubert (born 15 April 1964 in Ladysmith) is a former South African rugby union player, widely known as "The Rolls-Royce of Fullbacks" for his pace, class, and seemingly effortless style. He was capped 34 times at fullback for the Sp ...

* Jono Fabian *

Paul Emerick Paul Emerick (born January 24, 1980) is the head coach of the American Raptors in Glendale, Colorado. He was the defense and skills coach and the 2019 interim head coach for the Houston SaberCats of Major League Rugby. He was a former USA intern ...

External links

Official site
{{Rugby union in Italy Italian rugby union teams Catania