Watch out!!! A Zebra!!

http://www.therugbyblog.co.uk/zebre-announced-as-new-italian-franchise-in-rabodirect-pro12


Animals are invading the RaboDirect Pro12 following the announcement by the Italian Rugby Federation that Aironi will be replaced next season by Zebre, which means Zebras. Below is the full press announcement:

Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) announced today “Zebre” (Zebras) as the new team to replace Aironi Rugby in the Rabodirect Pro12 and Heineken Cup in the 2012/13 season. “Zebre” was originally founded in 1973 as invitational club for North-Western Italy. FIR announced as well Zebre will be based and will play in Parma, at the “XXV Aprile” Stadium, which is currently being refurbished and expanded.

Technical staff

Director of rugby: Roberto Manghi
Technical director: Christian Gajan
Coaches: Vincenzo Troiani, Alessandro Troncon
Team Manager: Fabio Ongaro
Fitness coach: Massimo Zaghini

FIR appointed 53-years-old Roberto Manghi as Director of Rugby. Manghi, coming from Rugby
Reggio in the 2011/2012 Eccellenza championship, was general manager with Gran Parma and
Rugby Parma, reaching with both clubs the Eccellenza semifinals.

Christian Gajan was indicated by Italy Head Coach Jacques Brunel and appointed as technical
director: 53-years-old frenchman has a strong knowledge of the italian rugby having coached
Benetton Treviso from 1998 to 2000 and VeneziaMestre in 2008/09 season. Gajan also coached
Stade Toulousain and Castres Olympique, winning the European Shield in 2003 with Castres.

Gajan will be assisted by Vincenzo Troiani and Alessandro Troncon as coaches. Troiani reached
the Eccellenza semifinals as head coach in 2005/2006 season winning the Italian Cup in the same
year. He then coached Italy U18 and Italy U20 and was part of the technical staff at the U20 and
U18 National Academies. Troncon, all-time most capped italian player with 101 appearances, retired
in 2007 from rugby and was then appointed as Italy backs coach, position he held until the end of
the 2012 RBS 6 Nations.

Fabio Ongaro, 81 times capped as hooker for Italy, announced today his retirement from rugby and
was appointed Zebre’s team manager.

Massimo Zaghini, now attending Junior World Championship 2012 in South Africa with the Italian
U20 team, will be the fitness and conditioning coach after covering the same position with the U20
National Academy this year and taking part in the 2011 Italy Rugby World Cup preparation as Alex
Marco’s assistant.

Well I think they butchered the name for the side. Granted Ospreys wasnt brilliant at the time but at least that has a ring about it.

I wonder if they will play in a Zebra Stlye Rygby Shirt.

Crossing infringements will be easy to spot.

Cardiff Dave wrote:Crossing infringements will be easy to spot.

Cardiff Dave wrote:Crossing infringements will be easy to spot.

Nay this can't be true, they must be horsing around.

Crossing the try line will be easy too, if there's nothing coming of course.

Cardiff Dave wrote:Crossing infringements will be easy to spot.

Classic!

It makes more sense to base the team in the much larger city of Parma. Aironi were based in Viadan, which has a smaller population than the average attendance at Welford Road.

Let's hope the Lions from South Africa never tour Italy. They'd eat them alive.

I wanted a team from Milan!

We've known for a couple of weeks it was going to be Parma though

Notch wrote:We've known for a couple of weeks it was going to be Parma though

But not a Zerbra!

Now all I'm waiting for is the heading "Zebo Zonks Zebre"........................ ok, so I don't read those kind of em..........papers, shall we call them? Or in other words, trailertrash tabloids innit! The rest of you keep me informed

This is going to be another disaster

Can't wait for the away trip, ain't been to Treorchy in years.

gcBlues wrote:Can't wait for the away trip, ain't been to Treorchy in years.

Not nicknamed the Zebras for nothing as Treorchy is like the Serengeti - wild and dangerous.

knew Treorchy did well this year...but promotion to the Pro12?! bit of a step up!

I have my fears about this too gowales.

I was reading the 'Loose Pass' feature on Planet Rugby and they did a bit on Zebre. One comment below the line really jumped out as being written by someone who knows the deal and is really switched on about the issues in Italian Rugby. I'm going to reproduce it in full here whilst giving full defence to it's author

curates egg, poster on Planet Rugby website wrote:As regards the Italian teams and financial constraints, the financial problems at Aironi were not the fault of the Viadana club or living beyond their means. They were twofold: (a) their sponsor Banca Montepaschi failed to deliver promised sponsorship funding (b) the two Parma clubs that formed part of the Aironi franchise never delivered their share of the funding.

If the FIR is willing to bankroll this new Parma side, well that is its choice. It is a real slap in the face though - not only to Viadana (which invested a considerable amount in the Aironi team and redeveloped its stadium, and was let down by the Parma section of the franchise) but also to other clubs with real fan bases in northern Italy.

As posted elsewhere: Parma has no rugby supporting base; the team finished second from bottom in the Italian Eccelenza this year; it will have to redevelop its stadium to meet Pro12 standards.

The logical (and cheaper) thing for the FIR to do would have been to back Aironi in Viadana (which has a good fan base and a regulation stadium, and was starting to put in some consistently good performances), and help it overcome the financial problems that were not of its making. Failing that, it could have moved the franchise to a rugby heartland (with a fan base) or Rome (as the capital and with economies of scale). The selection of Parma - the hometown of the FIR president - is just GUBU.

All rugby fans want (or should want) the professional game to properly take off in Italy, so lets hope the blazers haven't set its development back with this political decision.

Now, you have to take everything you read on the internet with a pinch of salt because you don't know if the poster has an agenda or not, or what it might be. But assuming this comment isn't omitting some key facts that would contradict the posters argument- I'm worried. This kind of thing has really held back regional rugby in Wales and it can be a killer.

To be achieve success in professional rugby, the people running the game off the pitch have to be professional. This makes a lot of parties key to the success of Italian Rugby sound like rank amateurs at best and bent and self-interested at worst. Thats bad for the credibility of the Pro12 by proxy if true.

Imo they should have gone with Rome/another big city franchise or said feck it let's go back to clubs because Zebras certainly isn't going to do any good.

If the FIR are backing it I don't really understand why they didn't go for Rome (other than the suggested bias in the post quoted by Notch above).