Rugby San Donà 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

San Donà di Piave San Donà di Piave (; vec, San Donà ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy. It is one of the historical main towns of the ''Eastern Veneto'' territory, although it was totally reconstructed in the ...

, in the

Metropolitan City of Venice The Metropolitan City of Venice ( it, Città Metropolitana di Venezia) is a metropolitan city in the Veneto region, Italy. Its capital is the city of Venice. It replaced the Province of Venice and includes the city of Venice and 43 other municipal ...

. “Associazione Rugby San Donà” was founded in 1959, by a group of passionate pioneers, and, in the same year affiliated to 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 ...

. The first team played in

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 ...

since the 1979-80 season and in 4 times reached the semifinals for the Coppa Italia title. During the years, there were various players who had test caps for the Italy national team, both in the main team and in the youth teams, and several players were also called up in inter-regional and representative teams. Among all the players, some notable players who captained the Italy national team: Adriano Fedrigo, Giancarlo Pivetta and Andrea Sgorlon.

History

Rugby arrived in

during the late 1950s by initiative of some students, led by Mario Pacifici and Corrado Teso, who learnt rugby union at the Brandolini College, in

Oderzo Oderzo ( la, Opitergium; vec, Oderso) is a ''comune'' with a population of 20,003 in the province of Treviso, Veneto, northern Italy. It lies in the heart of the Venetian plain, about to the northeast of Venice. Oderzo is crossed by the Montican ...

. After persuading some friends, they founded ''Associazione Rugby San Donà'' debuting officially in the 1960-61 season. The success arrived and after two seasons, the team was promoted to

serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

at the end of the 1962-63 season. At the end of the 1975-76 season, the club's stint in

, where Rugby San Donà remained for some years, deserving the appreciation of all the rugby union environment, in the various structurations that the top championship had. The first team played four times in Serie A1 final stage for the Scudetto in the 1989–90, 1991–92, 1992–93 and 1995-96 seasons. Various players represented the Italian team: between the most representatives there are the captains: Adriano Fedrigo (41 caps from 1972); Giancarlo Pivetta, prop for Italy between 1979 and 1993 (46 caps for Italy and two World Cup caps:

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

and

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, the latter also as captain) and coach of the senior team in the 2004 and 2005 seasons; Andrea Sgorlon (37 caps between 1993 and 1999, a World Cup cap in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

and European Champion in the 1995-1997 FIRA Trophy). During the 1992-93 season,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n representative Joël Stransky, who was part of the 1995 World Cup winning team, played for the club, which arrived in the second place at the end of the regular season, arriving at the quarter-finals beating Tarvisium before being defeated by Benetton Treviso in the semifinal during the home and away match with the results being 27-28 and 17-25. San Donà remained in the top division until the early

2000s File:2000s decade montage3.png, From top left, clockwise: The World Trade Center on fire and the Statue of Liberty during the 9/11 attacks in 2001; the euro enters into European currency in 2002; a statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled durin ...

, when

professionalism A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

and the transformation of the top league in

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, ...

arrived in the 2001-02 season, the club was relegated in Serie A, where they remained until the 2004-05 season. 2005 was a year of big changes for Rugby San Donà: the team was relegated to Serie B after the defeat in the last

play-off 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 ...

match, which made the club rebuild itself and solidify its bases, variating its composition to the technical staff, in order to dedicate to the feeder team and to revitalise the main team. The ''Amatori'' group was formed, led by numerous young local entrepreneurs, among them some former players, with the precise goal to bring the club back to its old times of glory. Such attentions brought the first results: after only a year in Serie B, l'Amatori Rugby San Donà returned again to compete in the Serie A championship during the 2006-07 season. The 2011-12 Serie A1 season marked San Donà's return in the top series, thanks to the final won in

Prato Prato ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 i ...

against Fiamme Oro with the 13-9 score, thus, earning the promotion in

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football. It is a regional league, composed of 28 divisions divided geographically. All 20 regions are represented by at least one division except for Piedmont and Ao ...

. From the 2012-13 season, the club changed logo and name to Rugby San Donà, the club stably takes part to the Eccellenza championship under the ''Lafert San Donà'' name, due to

sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...

. During the 2017-18 season, the team arrives fifth in the championship ladder, almost making it to the

semifinals, and won the Trofeo Eccellenza in the final against Fiamme Oro with the score 24-0. In the titular team which entered to the pitch at Battaglini in

Rovigo Rovigo (, ; egl, Ruig) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of Northeast Italy, the capital of the eponymous province. Geography Rovigo stands on the low ground known as Polesine, by rail southwest of Venice and south-southwest of P ...

, led by the coach Zane Ansell, featuring the Italian representative players Paul Derbyshire,

Jaco Erasmus Jaco Erasmus (born 31 July 1979) is a South African-born Italian rugby union naturalized player. He plays as a flanker. He played for Rugby Viadana where he gained qualification for the Italian national team. In March 2008 he received a call up ...

, Andrea Pratichetti, who scored a

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

, and Matteo Falsaperla, Italy sevens

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Current squad (2019-20)

Notable players

Here are listed some international and domestic-level notable players who played for San Donà: *

James Ambrosini James Ambrosini (born Brisbane, 5 June 1991) is an Australian-born Italian rugby union player. He plays for Rovigo Delta as a fly-half. His father was born in Ari, Abruzzo, Italy and his mother is from Australia. Due to his father, Ambrosini ...

* Steven Bortolussi * Enrico Bacchin * Roberto Bertetti *

Aldo Birchall Aldo may refer to: * Aldo (given name), male given name ** Aldo (footballer, born 1977) ** Aldo (footballer, born 1988) * Aldo Group, a worldwide chain of shoe stores * Aldosterone Aldosterone is the main mineralocorticoid steroid hormone pr ...

Matt Cornwell Matt Cornwell (born 16 January 1985 in Leicester, England) is a former English rugby union player. He played as a fullback, fly-half and centre. Learning his early rugby at Syston RFC and Oakham School, Cornwell played in two Daily Mail Cup F ...

* Paul Derbyshire *

* Adriano Fedrigo * Bogdan Iovu * Gino Lupini * Gustavo Milano * Pino Patelli * Gonzalo Padrò * Umberto Pilla * Giancarlo Pivetta * Andrea Pratichetti * Andrea Sgorlon *

Joel Stransky Joel Theodore Stransky (born 16 July 1967) is a South African former rugby union player. A fly-half, he is known for scoring all of South Africa's points, including the winning drop goal, against New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final. ...

* Ruggero Trevisan * Fabián Turnes * Gianmarco Vian *

Michael Van Vuuren Michael Thomas van Vuuren (born 28 September 1991) is an English qualified, South African rugby union footballer. His regular playing position is Rugby union positions#Hooker, hooker. Career Youth and Varsity rugby He was schooled at Grey H ...

* Matteo Zanusso

References

Sources

* *

External links