Rovigo, 16 May 2024 – It will take place on Saturday 18 May from 2pm on the main pitch of the Mario Battaglini stadium the 21st edition of the rugby tournament “City of Rovigo”category old-over 35, organized by the “I Veci del Rugby” company of Rovigo, with the collaboration of Rugby Rovigo Delta, Monti Rugby, Aics and with the patronage of the municipality. This edition of the tournament is dedicated to Leonardo Tamiso, player of the old rossoblù recently passed away due to ALS.
The event, in the “Old Rugby” category, is one of the main national ones, with the participation this year of 16 formations coming from every corner of Italy. The matches will take place on the three pitches of the stadium until 7pm 30 minute games. Each formation will be engaged in at least three comparisons, in rotation in the three fields of the Rovigo facility.
They will open the tournament the matches Rovigo-Belluno (field 1); Bergamo-Turin (field 2) and Como-Ravenna (field 3). There will be a total of 24 matches and there is no final ranking, in line with international regulations which do not provide for any competitive initiative for rugby over 35s.
“We are at 21st birthday of this important event for old rugby and also this year requests for participation they would have gone well beyond our organizational possibilities, especially as regards the 3rd half – he says Angelo Visentincoach of the Old rossoblù – We had to limit ourselves to 16 teams, it is not easy to find structures capable of hosting about 500 peopleFortunately, thanks to the collaboration of the Polisportiva Tassina, we have been able to satisfy this need for some years. Obviously even the organization of the event at Battaglini is anything but simple and is entirely the responsibility of the members of our small sports club. I obviously thank Rugby Rovigo Delta and La Monti Rugby who make everything possible available to us every year for the realization of this event”.
It is important to remember that in Old rugby there are some variations compared to the official regulations. The most obvious concerns the orderly mix. In fact, it is not possible for the two packs to make the push at the moment of introduction and the third rows cannot be untied until the ball is collected by the scrum half. Another relative change to kicks: The player can only take free kicks if his position is within 22 metres, otherwise he is forced to advance with ball in hand seeking support from his teammates. Furthermore in the lineouts players are not allowed to be lifted. In all remaining cases the official rules apply.
These the participating teams: Rovigo, Belluno, Badia, Livorno, Monselice, Modena, Bergamo, Genoa, Como, Trieste, Velate Monza, Turin, Arnoldo Rome, Ravenna, Rubano Padova, Gr Roma.
