The Italy national rugby league team represents

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

football. With origins dating back to the 1950s and 1960s, the team has competed regularly in international competitions since 2008, when their current governing body, the

Federazione Italiana Rugby League The Federazione Italiana Rugby League is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in Italy. The association was formed in 2008. They acquired full membership status of the RLEF in March 2017.https://www.rlef.eu.com/teams/8 See a ...

, was formed. They are currently ranked 16th in the IRL World Rankings.

History

In 1950, a team from Turin toured the North of England. Italy later started a domestic competition. A year later the first official match of the Italian national team took place in

Cahors Cahors (; oc, Caors ) is a commune in the western part of Southern France. It is the smallest prefecture among the 13 departments that constitute the Occitanie Region. The main city of the Lot department and the historical center of the Quer ...

, France. Italy lost 29–17 although the Azzurri ended the first half leading 10–7. Sixteen official matches were played against English teams in the season 1952–53, as well as a triangular tournament between Italy, France and England. In 1958, in Treviso under the Italian Federation of Amateur Rugby 13 (FIAR 13) was formed and was recognised by the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

. With this recognition and funding from England, the sport of rugby league became popular in Italy. In their first year, the FIAR had 24 clubs and 620 players. In 1960, Italy played

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in two international matches held in Italy, the results were 37–15 and 67–22 losses. In the late 1960s, threats made by the rugby union governing body, the

Italian Rugby Federation The Italian Rugby Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Rugby) or FIR is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Italy. The FIR has one seat on the 28-member World Rugby Council, the governing body of World Rugby. (All other members of ...

, to ban players who played rugby league from their sport had the effect of killing off the sport in Italy by the 1970s. As a consequence the Italian national team ceased to exist. In the mid-1990s the team were revived by two Italian-Australians, Domenic Pezzano and John Benigni, known as 'The Italian Rugby League A XIII' (IRL A XIII) was formed in 1993. Pezzano coached Italy in the Coca-Cola

Rugby League World Sevens The Rugby League World Sevens, usually referred to as the World Sevens and sometimes as the World Cup Sevens, was a pre-season rugby league sevens tournament made up over the years primarily of New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL), Australian Rug ...

in Australia with the team being predominantly players from Italy and one Italo-Australian player captained the team – Orazio D'Arrò in this tournament, Pezzano also coached the Italian team that participated in the first ever Super League World Nines tournament which was hosted by Fiji, that team was made up of Italian players, Italian Origin players and included 1st Graders such as

Dean Schifilliti Dean Schifilliti (born 30 March 1968) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Primarily a , Schifilliti played for the Illawarra Steelers, South Sydney Rabbitohs, North Queensland C ...

Mark Corvo Mark Corvo (born 17 June 1973) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a prop-forward for the Canberra Raiders, Adelaide Rams and the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL. Background Corvo was born in Canberra, ACT, ...

Luke Davico Luke Davico (born 16 May 1973) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of Italian descent. He previously played for the Canberra Raiders (where he was named the club's rookie of the year in 1995) and the Newcastle Knights. ...

and Italian dual international

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 1986/8 ...

. After that event, the Italia Rugby League began competing in various international tournaments, such as the Super League rugby league nines tournament in Fiji, World Sevens, St.Marys Sevens, Wollogong Sevens and the Mediterranean Cup in 1999. They attempted to qualify for the 2000 Rugby League World Cup and ended up in the

Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament In 1995 and 2000, the Rugby League International Federation held an Emerging Nations Tournament alongside the Rugby League World Cup. The competition was designed to allow teams who have failed to qualify for the World Cup proper a chance to play o ...

in which they were runners-up to

British Amateur Rugby League Association The British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) is an association for social and recreational rugby league. It works jointly with the Rugby Football League through the RFL Community Board. History BARLA was created in 1973 in Huddersfiel ...

. In 2002, the Azzurri were back playing internationals in Italy with a triangular tournament featuring Scotland and Russia. Italy lost to Tatarstan of Russia but tied their second game with Scotland 16 all. In 2003 Italy played Scotland again and contested the Ionio Cup against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, which they won. In 2006, Italy played three matches, two against South Africa and one against

. The Federazione of Italia Rugby League was officially moved to the "official observer" status by the

Rugby League European Federation The European Rugby League (ERL) is the umbrella body for nations playing the sport of rugby league football across Europe. In the absence of other continental federations, ERL also controls rugby league in North America (including Central America ...

from an unranked position on 15 April 2008. Italy won the RLEF European Shield in 2008 and 2009, and as such were drafted into the

2009 European Cup The 2009 European Cup, known as the rugbyleague.com European Cup due to sponsorship, was a rugby league football tournament. The revamped European Cup 2009 involved six teams competing in two groups of three. Participating teams were: Ireland, Sco ...

following

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

's withdrawal from the tournament. During this tournament, Italy were handed their record defeat by Scotland, but they did manage to record one victory, over

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

at The Old Parish in Maesteg, Wales. In Autumn 2010 Italy embarked on a short tour of Wales, culminating in a match in Wrexham on 6 October in which they faced

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

for the first time in a full Rugby League international. The Italian side obtained a remarkable 13–6 victory, the first against a national team of the British Isles. In 2013 they won a warm up match against 3rd ranked

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

15–14 making it their most stunning victory.

2013 World Cup qualifying

In 2011, Italy contested the qualifying tournament for the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...

, competing against

and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. Coached by

Carlo Napolitano Carlo Napolitano is an Italian rugby league coach and former player. He is the former head coach of Italy, having taken charge of the national side in 2004, and being succeeded by Trent Barrett in 2014. Career He coached Italy during the 2013 Rug ...

and captained by

Anthony Minichiello Anthony Minichiello (born 24 May 1980) is a former professional rugby league footballer who captained the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League, and retired having set records for most games and most tries in the club's history. An Austr ...

, Italy's draw with

was enough for them to gain the 14th and final place in the 2013 World Cup.

2013 World Cup

Italy were drawn in Pool C alongside

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

and they also played an inter-group match against co-hosts

. Their tournament began with an upset victory over the co-hosts at Cardiff's

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

. In their second match, the 'Azzuri' took on Scotland who were coming off an upset win of their own against Tonga. The match turned out to be a thriller and it was tight with a high scoring draw being the result. Italy then had to just win their last pool match against Tonga after Scotland won their match and finished their pool-stage campaign with the same points differential the Italians were currently on. Tonga had nothing but pride to play for after their hopes of qualification had vanished but they shocked Napolitano's men by keeping them scoreless and therefore eliminating Italy from having any chance to play in the 2013 World Cup knockout round.

2017 World Cup qualifying

Italy participated in the

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

for the

2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...

. The first stage of qualifying involved having to finish in the top 3 in their 2014–15 European Shield competition. Italy only managed to secure qualification for the 'final qualification tournament' after winning their second to last game against bottom placed Ukraine. Italy finished the Shield in third place with 3 wins and 3 defeats in six matches. The final qualification tournament consisted of 6 teams - the top three teams from the European B tournament, the winners of the European C tournament and seeded nations Wales and Ireland. The tournament featured two groups of three teams playing in a single round-robin format. The winners of each group qualified for the World Cup, while the runners-up faced each other in a play-off match on 5 November 2016 to determine the final spot. A seeded draw took place to determine the groups on 5 November 2015. Italy are placed in

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles w ...

alongside European B tournament champions Serbia, and Wales.

2021 Rugby League World Cup

Italy started off their World Cup campaign with a 28-4 victory over Scotland. This was followed by heavy defeats against Fiji and Australia which left Italy third in the group which meant their elimination from the tournament.

Players

Current squad

Squad selected for

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £2 ...

Notable representatives

The following is a list of Italian representative players who have played 50 more or matches in a professional rugby league competition i.e. the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

and/or the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

: * Daniel Alvaro * Nathan Brown *

Terry Campese Terry Campese (born 4 August 1984) is a former professional rugby league footballer. A former Australia, Italy and New South Wales State of Origin representative , he is also the nephew of rugby union player David Campese. He previously played ...

Mason Cerruto Mason Cerruto (born 22 January 1996) is an Italy international rugby league footballer who most recently played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NSW Cup. Cerruto is a utility back capable of playing at and . He was a member of Ital ...

Cameron Ciraldo Cameron Ciraldo (born 30 October 1984) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL, and a former professional rugby league footballer. He is known as the defens ...

Aidan Guerra Aidan Guerra (born 25 February 1988) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Sydney Roosters, with whom he won the 2013 NRL Grand Final, and the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League, NRL. He represented bot ...

Anthony Laffranchi Anthony Laffranchi (born 16 November 1980) is a former professional rugby league footballer. An Australia and Italy international, and New South Wales State of Origin representative forward, he played in the National Rugby League for the Wests ...

Josh Mantellato Josh Mantellato (born 21 April 1987) is a former Italy international rugby league footballer who most recently played on the for The Entrance Tigers in the Denton Engineering Cup. He previously played for the Wyong Roos in the Central Coast Di ...

Mark Minichiello Markus Antonio "Mark" Minichiello (born 30 January 1982) is a former Italy international rugby league footballer who played as a forward. He previously played for the Sydney Roosters, South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Gold Coast Titans in the NRL ...

* Joel Riethmuller *

Brenden Santi Brenden Santi (born 5 August 1993) is an Italy international rugby league footballer who plays as a or for the Keighley Cougars in the Championship. He previously played for the Wests Tigers in the NRL. Background Santi was born in Banksto ...

Kade Snowden Kade Snowden (born 31 December 1986) is a former professional rugby league footballer of the Biddabah nation, who played as a in the 2000s and 2010s. He began his career at the Newcastle Knights and made his first grade debut in 2005 in the o ...

James Tedesco James Tedesco (born 8 January 1993), nicknamed "Teddy", is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a and captains the Sydney Roosters in the NRL, New South Wales rugby league team and Australia. He previously played for the Wests ...

Paul Vaughan Paul William Vaughan (24 October 1925 – 14 November 2014) was a British journalist, radio presenter (of art and science programmes) throughout the 1970s and 1990s, semi-professional jazz and classical musician and a narrator of many BBC Telev ...

Paul Franze Paul Franze () (born 3 March 1982) is a former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. He played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and the Penrith Panthers in the NRL, and for the Castleford Tigers ( Heritage № 856) in the S ...

* Shannon Donato * David Penna *

Results and fixtures

Competitions

The Italian team has competed in the following matches and tournaments since the reintroduction of rugby league to the country in the 1990s: *

World Sevens The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for Naming rights, sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as ...

in 1995, 1997, plus the qualification tournament in 2003 * Superleague World Nines in 1996 *

Emerging Nations Tournament In 1995 and 2000, the Rugby League International Federation held an Emerging Nations Tournament alongside the Rugby League World Cup. The competition was designed to allow teams who have failed to qualify for the World Cup proper a chance to play ...

in 2000 * Ionio Cup vs

in 2003 and 2004 * St.Mary's World Sevens - Australia * Wollongong Sevens - Australia * Columbus Cup vs

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 2006 * Australian-Mediterranean Shield in 2009 *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

qualifying for the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

tournament Since 2008, Italy has competed in the following Test match tournaments: *

European Shield The European Shield (known as the Parker Pen Shield for sponsorship reasons) was a repechage tournament for teams knocked out in the first round of the European Challenge Cup. As such, it formed Europe's third-tier club rugby union competition ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, and

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, and their respective qualifying tournaments held in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

International record and ranking

''Italy's competitive record as of 23 December 2020''

Kits

Italy's kit suppliers are FI-TA.

Notes

References

External links

Official Website

FIRFL Website

Med Cup
{{DEFAULTSORT:Italy National Rugby League Team National rugby league teams