words by Carol King
Italy will host the European rugby-club finals for the first time in 2015 reports online rugby-news site ‘ESPN Scrum’.
The news outlet reports that stakeholders are yet to reach a long-term agreement but that the signs are positive after a meeting with the organiser European Rugby Cup (ERC). Former rugby player for Italy’s national team and Federazione Italiana Rugby (Italian Rugby Federation, FIR) representative Fabrizio Gaetaniello told ‘ESPN Scrum’: “Italy will host the European Rugby Cup finals in 2015. The decision has of course been halted by the general ERC participation agreement renewal process that is ongoing, but it has been in the pipeline since last year.”
The most likely venue for the prestigious sports event is either Rome’s Stadio Olimpico or Milan’s San Siro. Both stadia have hosted international games during the Six Nations Championship, which is an annual international rugby-union tournament involving Italy, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France.
ERC chief executive Derek McGrath told ‘ESPN Scrum’: “The board of ERC has expressed a strong desire to see the two European club rugby finals come to Italy in the near future... Italian club rugby has been a core element of the European tournaments since the inaugural Heineken Cup in 1995 and has made a very significant contribution over the past 17 years as the tournaments have grown... Italy has never hosted either final and I think fans across Europe, including Italians, would embrace a European club rugby finals weekend in Italy.”
The ERC organises two European rugby-union club tournaments: the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup. There are the six rugby unions involved in the Heineken Cup that involves leading club, regional and provincial teams from the nations that compete in the Six Nations Championship. The participants in the Amlin Challenge Cup come from Italy, England, Ireland, Wales, France and Romania. Each of the six unions involved in the Heineken Cup is hosting the finals in successive years.
Italian rugby came to prominence in 2000 when it joined the Five Nations international tournament to create the Six Nations. Although the Azzurri suffered some heavy defeats initially, the national side has improved over the years and finished fourth in 2007. Italy should be able to provide a good home crowd because Italians’ enthusiasm for rugby is growing, partly thanks to the efforts of the FIR governing body for the sport. Over the past 16 years FIR’s budget has increased ten-fold to nearly €40 million and membership has almost quadrupled to nearly 100,000.
