ConnachtCows wrote: A rugby team in Rome would be great I feel. It might take a few years to grow, but the bigger population would really help.
They'd need to be smart though, and start off in a small stadium. No point having a huge stadium with no fans. I cant believe Edinburgh are still playing in Murrayfield. It's a disaster for their home games

I don't know about having one of the franchises in Rome much as I love the city, it's great for the 6N but would be a pricey Pro12 trip for visitors. Also like the Parisian clubs in France, it's out of Italian Rugby heartlands.

Currently from what I see there seem to be only two seriously clubs in Rome

Unione Rugby Capitolina
S.S. Lazio Rugby 1927

Rugby Roma went bust apparently a season or two back..

Both play in the top domestic league and look like decent clubs. They also look to be doing a lot of development, but neither have grounds that could currently host HEC games or even Pro12 crowds big enough to make them viable.

Personally I wouldn't be in favour of merging two clubs just in case the finances went south and Rome ended up having to start from scratch for it grassroots clubs..

If FIR want a club in Rome they should probably look to invest some money in these clubs development programmes and set up a Franchise independently with a Senior & a Development Squad (maybe competing in the Italian championship)

BTW FifthColumn: Rome - Jealous. That is all...

A rugby team in Rome would be great I feel. It might take a few years to grow, but the bigger population would really help.
They'd need to be smart though, and start off in a small stadium. No point having a huge stadium with no fans. I cant believe Edinburgh are still playing in Murrayfield. It's a disaster for their home games

Recently moved to Rome on a permanent basis. Thought I'd reach out to any Clan members/Forum users/rugby fans already based in Italy in order to pool information on best places to watch games and/or best ways to get to games here.

Also read in the local papers that there is the possibility that Treviso may up sticks and move their home games to the Flaminio in Rome, the ex-international stadium which is currently not in use (to the best of my knowledge). This is pending renovations and agreements and obviously can't see it getting much support from Treviso supporters so don't see it happening anytime soon, but the idea is out there.

When the league expanded to include the two Italian clubs I remember reading that the teams originally suggested were Aironi and the Praetorians (cool name) based in Rome. Both were new franchises created to amalgamate a number of small clubs afaik, but for whatever reason (politics, poor organisation or lack of established rugby structures) the Praetorians option fell through to be replaced by Treviso.

It's odd though that when Aironi collapsed they didn't think to re-establish this franchise; I appreciate that Rome doesn't have the same tradition of rugby as the Northern provinces but there would be enough interest in a large city like Rome to support a professional local team, and I think away supporters would increase dramatically (easier to access, and probably easier to persuade a significant other to travel to Rome than to Treviso).

Doubt we'll hear much about this for a while (if ever), but obviously for selfish reasons I hope it happens!