State of the Nation - Italy

Keith Whitelock 15/1/2010

There are four words that go straight to the heart of most international Rugby League fans: "what could have been". What could have been if rugby league wasn't outlawed in France during the second world war by the Vichy government, what could have been if South Africa had continued their development from the 1960's, what's looking like what could have been if Russia got their act together, and to a lesser known extent, what could have been in Italy.

Italy, of course is a fanatical football (soccer) country with an ever growing rugby union viewership and participation rate. This rugby union following has in some ways helped in establishing a small yet vocal league following centred around Padova. Essentially, "the oval ball game has already been introduced to Italy, laying a lot of the groundwork" says Carlo Napolitano, head coach / technical director of Italian Rugby League and the man responsible for the bi-annual Mediterranean cup, in a recent interview with Rugby League Planet.

League was established prior to the 1950's in Italy and went on throughout the decade to become somewhat of a shining light for European teams. So much so in fact that the most prestigious team in the world, Australia, toured the country playing games in Padova and Treviso. Each of these games attracted crowds of over 3,000. Italy was regularly thought to have a bright future in world rugby league. This was not to be, at least not yet, as Italian Rugby League declined throughout the 1960's to become non existent for an entire 30 years.

As is the case with many rugby league playing nations, Italy's renascence is credited to enthusiastic supporters that grew up on the game in Sydney, Australia. Mick Pezzano and John Benigni, passionate about their heritage wanted the see the game they love played by the country of their heritage. Their wish was granted when Italy played in the 1995 rugby league world sevens.

Italy continued chipping away at progress for the next 15 years with the limited resources they had managed to acquire. They participated in a couple more 7's and 9's games, managing a runners up performance in the emerging nations world cup 2000 before graduating to the lower tier European tournaments such as the European Shield and European Bowl. Buoyed by ambition to compete with larger fish in European Rugby League, Italy weren't content to compete annually in what Carlo calls "development tournaments" which they won convincingly in 08 and 09.

Their big break came when Russia pulled out of the 2009 European Cup due to "internal restructuring". Italy took this opportunity with both hands. Although given extremely limited preparations of only one month, Italia XIII managed to put together a competitive squad and successfully promote their home game in Padova. In fact this home game received one of the highest crowds of the growing tournament; 2,139. "I think getting 2000 people to a Rugby League game in Italy is beyond our wildest dreams but a lot of thanks must go to the Italian Rugby League Federation (FIRL) committee on getting the promotion of the game. But we have set a bench mark and it would be good to achieve this again" says Carlo.

Unfortunately, Italy struggled to compete with more developed and prepared teams going down to a well trained Scotland side 104-0 in their first game. "you have to remember, some of these players had had only three games of Rugby League in their life. I was worried that it would be a safety concern" says Carlo. Italy followed this up with an improved performance in Lebanon going down 86-0.

Undeterred and still full of enthusiasm and passion for the game, the Italians managed to qualify for the 2010 European Cup by defeating Serbia 42-14 in a relegation match. "I think being in the Euro Cup in 2010 will help immensely in procuring some major sponsorship from big companies" says Carlo.

With the uniqueness of international Rugby League, inequities often present themselves. One of the major inequities that contribute towards development of a country is migration to traditional league countries such as Australia, thus providing some countries with a lot more "heritage" options than others. For example, Russia does not have a history of significant migration, especially to Rugby League powerhouses. This is a continuing problem for organisations such as the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) and the Rugby League European Ferderation (RLEF) to moderate. "I would be happy for the European Cup quota be a named 30 man squad with 10 being on the domestic quota; reside in Italy, have an Italian passport or have played in the domestic league" says Carlo.

Italy however, has a lot of heritage players that will help develop the game both domestically and internationally. This is partly due to the highly successful Australian - Mediterranean Cup. "After another hard stint in Italy I sat down in my house physically and mentally exhausted and thought to myself 'there must be a way we can get other people interested to assist in the development of Rugby League in European countries'. Hence, I started to write the plan for the Aus-Med cup and sent it to Malta, Lebanon and Greece". With Lebanon declining, an invitation went out to Portugal who now compete bi-annually in the tournament that helps develop heritage players.

With what appears like an abundance of heritage players at their disposal, Italy will more than likely have a very different looking team competing in 2010. With time to prepare for the European Cup this year, great things are expected in many circles.

2009 marked the year of Italy's inaugural domestic competition. Four teams participated in what has generally been considered a success. 2010 will see two new teams added to this competition with another two in 2011, A major positive for Rugby League is the emphasis that the FIRL is placing on developing their domestic competition. As part of a broad 10 year plan the FIRL hopes to have a growing 10-12 team competition in place, possibly with a "Serie A" and "Serie B" grade system. Eventually a Southern Italy Competition is hoped to be formed to run alongside the already established Northern Italy competition. Emphasis is also placed on having a junior league up and running by the end of 2010.

So what's in store for the future of Italian Rugby League? The nation will be aiming to make the 2013 Rugby League World Cup to be hosted by Britain. This will be Italy's first senior level World Cup. It is also hoped that the country's domestic competition gain a solid foothold and go from strength to strength. Oh and "you cant rule out the possibility of having a Super League side in the near future playing out of the Venice/ Padova area". Some food for thought those who wish to see a truly European Super League.

To see the full interview with Carlo Napolitano and discuss this article with fellow international rugby league fans go to the rugby league planet forum by clicking the link below.

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