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Fifteen minutes into the biggest game of his life, Alessio Panebianco saw the looks in his teammates’ eyes and realized: We’re gonna lose. This was on a sunny afternoon in December at the Stadio Giuseppe Rizzo in Catania, Sicily, at the foot of Mount Etna. Panebianco’s team, Briganti di Librino, was in its first-ever playoff, against San Gregorio,...

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Gloria Mertoli’s shift is over when the first light of dawn shines on the goalposts of a rugby pitch in the Librino district of Catania, a stronghold of the Cosa Nostra, the feared Sicilian mafia. Since mobsters torched the clubhouse and team bus, she and other players on the women’s rugby team, Briganti Librino RUFC, have taken turns to stay after...

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For every sports fan out there, sports in Italy has a superb sporting pleasure to offer. The big 4 “F’s” Italian swear to: Family, Friends, Food & Football. Yes, I know all you football fans have a big smile on your face now and a warm feeling around your heart.  Historically speaking Italian sport is not very rich, but that doesn’t mean they are l...

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The Broncos have yet to play a down of football in 2019. But already, we’re getting more and more evidence that Vic Fangio is the nose-to-the-grindstone type of coach the Broncos have been missing. “Just his mentality. You really get the vibe that there’s no playing around. We’re here to work. We haven’t been in the playoffs in the last three years...

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Italy comes into Chicago hoping to get the city's huge Italian-American community behind it, but there are other points to prove, too. FloRugby checked in with Ian McKinley and Luca Morisi, who will be part of the Azzurri arriving in Chicago. Both have had their struggles. McKinley retired after a rugby clear went into his eyeball (yes, it is as gr...

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Some of the best Rugby players in Italy and Ireland will compete in Chicago in November as part of a Rugby Weekend hosted by USA Rugby and TLA Worldwide in conjunction with Chicago Sports Commission and Soldier Field. All matches will take place at Soldier Field on Nov. 3 The USA Women’s Eagles will open the match line-up against the 2017 Women’s R...

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The football world lost an icon over the weekend with the passing of the legendary Vito ‘Babe’ Parilli. The veteran of the NFL, AFL and CFL played 18 professional seasons before moving on to a lengthy coaching career. Parilli’s Denver ties ran deep, as a quarterbacks coach for the Broncos from 1977-79, as head coach of the Denver Dynamite of the Ar...

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Carlo Canna and Ornel Gega helped Italy past the United States in their rugby Test in San Jose, California.Italy have claimed their first win of the year with a hard-fought 24-20 victory over the United States at Avaya Stadium on Saturday. The boot of Carlo Canna led Italy to their win as the fly-half contributed 14 points, while Ornel Gega crosse...

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Did you know that Italy is joining the United States and other nations as appassionati of the sport of rugby? Indeed, the popularity of the sport has been on the rise in the bel paese recently as many Italians are tuning into the matches of the Italian National Team.   Introduced from Britain to Genova just after the Italian reunification, r...

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By Andy Furillo The roads to professional rugby run through the basketball courts of Middle America, a bloody gunshot attack in Santa Rosa, the Cal football program and a town about 25 miles inland from the Adriatic coast of Italy.   They will meet Sunday at an intersection known as Bonney Field, in an American pro version of the ruffian's...

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