Rugby San Donà is an Italian

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club based in

San Donà di Piave San Donà di Piave (; ) 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 early 1920s aft ...

, in the

Metropolitan City of Venice The Metropolitan City of Venice () is a metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city in the Veneto region of Italy, one of ten metropolitan cities in Italy. Its capital is the city of Venice. It replaced the province of Venice in 2015 and incl ...

. “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 () 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 Six Nations have two seats ...

. The first team played in

serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

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 (; ) is a ''comune'', with a population of 20,003, in the province of Treviso, in the Italian region of Veneto. It lies in the heart of the Venetian plain, about to the northeast of Venice. Oderzo is crossed by the Monticano river, a tri ...

. 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 (), officially known as Serie 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 season. It had b ...

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 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

and

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, 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 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

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 Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

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 Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center (1973–2001), World Trade Center on fire and the Statue of Liberty on the left during the September 11 attacks, terrorist attacks on Sep ...

, when

professionalism Professionalism is a set of standards that an individual is expected to adhere to in a workplace, usually in order to appear serious, uniform, or respectful. What constitutes professionalism is hotly debated and varies from workplace to workplac ...

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 eith ...

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 municipality (''comune'') in Tuscany, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Prato. The city lies in the northeast of Tuscany, at an elevation of , at the foot of Monte Retaia (the last peak in the Calvana ch ...

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.Official ...

. 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 (, ; ) is a city and communes of Italy, commune in the region of Veneto, Northeast Italy, the capital of the province of Rovigo, eponymous province. Geography Rovigo stands on the low ground known as Polesine, by rail southwest of Veni ...

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

Paul Derbyshire Paul Derbyshire (born 3 November 1986) is an Italian rugby union player. Derbyshire, who is a flanker, plays club rugby for Mogliano in Top12. Derbyshire joined Benetton Treviso from Petrarca in June 2010 for their first season in the Cel ...

, Jaco Erasmus, Andrea Pratichetti, who scored a try, and Matteo Falsaperla, Italy sevens

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

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 *

* Jaco Erasmus * Adriano Fedrigo * Gino Lupini * Gustavo Milano *

Pino Patelli Pino or Piño may refer to: People Surname * Danny Pino (born 1974), American actor * Domenico Pino (1760–1826), Italian general of the Napoleonic Wars * Fernando Solanas (1936–2020), aka "Pino" Solanas, Argentine filmmaker * Frank J. Pino ...

* Giancarlo Pivetta * Andrea Pratichetti * Andrea Sgorlon *

Ruggero Trevisan Ruggero Trevisan (born 12 March 1990) is a former Italy, Italian rugby union player who played as a Fullback (rugby union), fullback. After Aironi collapsed because of financial problems, Trevisan moved to the Italian franchise Zebre, along with ...

* Gianmarco Vian * Michael Van Vuuren * Matteo Zanusso * Bogdan Iovu * Gonzalo Padrò *

Fabián Turnes Fabián Turnes (born January 12, 1965, in Buenos Aires) is a former Argentine rugby union player and a current coach. He played as a centre. Turnes played at Banco Nación, from 1983/84 to 1988/89, where he won two titles of Argentine Champion, ...

* Umberto Pilla * Matt Cornwell *

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 ...

Hilton Lobberts Hilton Lobberts (born 11 June 1986) is a South African rugby union player for the in the Currie Cup and Rugby Challenge competitions. Career In 2013, he joined for the 2012 Currie Cup Premier Division season. Hilton Lobberts starts for the ...

* Maama Molitika

References

Sources

* *

External links