User:Neozelandese/sandbox

History
The game of rugby was first bought to Italy in the 19th century by British communities living in Genoa. The sport however was relatively unknown until after the First World War when sports journalist and treasurer for La Scala theatre in Milan, Stefano Bellandi, formed a team which played each Sunday afternoon on a football pitch in Milan. Bellandi had learnt the game whilst living in France and he formed the National Propaganda Committee for the Game of the Oval Ball (Rugby) to attract new players to the Sport Club Italia in Milan.

On 25 July 1911 a "Propaganda Committee" was formed to promote the sport of rugby union in Italy. In 1928 this body became the Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR). In 1934 the Federazione Italiana Rugby were founder members of the.

To help promote the game throughout the rest of Italy, Bellandi asked for help from Henry Desgrange, a Parisian newspaper editor, who in turn spoke to rugby coach Gaston Bénac. Bénac decided to organise a match between a French selection and an Italian selection. The first match was on 1 November 1927 in the Italian city of Bologna with the French selection winning 27-18. The following day they played again, this time in Milan where the French prevailed 46-35. The following months saw additional matches played between Italian and French sides, including a Paris selection touring Italy and playing games in Milan, Turin and Brescia, and in March 1928 a Milan selection travelled to Paris and played at the Parc du Prince. By this time interest in the sport of rugby had also reached Rome and in the summer of 1928 a Selection XV from the northern Italian city of Brescia travelled to the capital to play the newly formed Lazio Rugby Club, with the Roman club winning 17-0.

Formation of the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR)
In July 1928 16 clubs mainly from Milan, Turin, Udine, Padua, Bologna, Rome and Naples made a formal request to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) to form a national rugby association. The request was granted and on 28 September 1928 the Italian Rugby Federation was constituted, with the first president being Giuseppe Vaccaro, based in Rome.

In 1930 the FIR was dissolved by CONI as Mussolini’s fascist regime was forceful in suppressing both rugby and football along with any other pastimes that were deemed to be too Anglo-Saxon. In 1932 rugby was brought under the control of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) who rebranded the sport as the Game of the Oval Ball. FIGC was not able to properly manage the sport and in 1933 the FIR was resurrected as the Federazione Italiana Rugbi, slightly changing the name of the sport to sound more Italian.

International Activities
As the FIR, along with many other non Anglo-Saxon countries, had not been invited to join the International Rugby Board (IRB) an alternative was proposed between the Italian, French and German rugby federations. On 2 January 1934 the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur, now Rugby Europe, was formed and also included the rugby federations from Belgium, Catalonia, The Netherlands, Portugal and Romania. One of the first actions of the newly formed federation was to organise the FIRA Tournament, which is now know as the European Nations Cup. Italy participated in every tournament up until 1997 when the competition was modified to only include second tier rugby nations.