GranDucato Parma Rugby

Gran Ducato Parma Rugby was formed in June 2010 through the merger of Gran Parma Rugby, Rugby Colorno and Rugby Viadana. With the formation of Aironi

Aironi

Aironi Rugby are an Italian professional rugby club competing in the RaboDirect Pro12 and the Heineken Cup. They represent the Italian regions of Lombardy and Emilia Romagna.- Home ground :...

 to play in the Magners League the best players and sponsorship from the three participating clubs was concentrated in this new single club Aironi. As a result of Aironi these three teams decided to merge their senior and U-20 teams in order to better compete in the Super 10

Super 10

Super 10 may refer to:*Super 10 , the national rugby union competition in Italy*Super 10 , a Southern Hemisphere rugby union competition held between 1993 and 1995 which predated the Super 12...

 for the 2010/2011 season. The three teams will still exist below the U-20 level independently with the goal of producing players for GranDucato, and ultimately Aironi and the national team. The club will also be able to provide players to the Aironi team and also to give game time in the Super 10 to Aironi Magners league players in need of it.

History

SKG Gran Parma Rugby is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 club, that competed in Super 10

Super 10 (Italian premiership)

The withdrawal of Viadana and Benetton Treviso from the league has been compounded by club mergers. Rugby Viadana, Gran Parma and Colorno have merged to form GranDucato Rugby. Overmach Parma and Noceto have merged to form Crociati, both new clubs to be based in Parma. These changes created 2...

 until 2010. They now only compete as an amateur club. They will compete independently of GranDuchy with a senior team but only in the lower divisions. They will also maintain a youth club. They are based in Parma

Parma

Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....

 in Emilia-Romagna

Emilia-Romagna

Emilia–Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of and about 4.4 million inhabitants....

. The Gran Parma team was founded in 1999 following the merger of Amatori Parma Rugby and Rugby Noceto.

Between 1999 and 2002 they competed in Seria A2 and won promotion to Serie A1. They finished eighth in their first season in the top flight which gave them the right to join the newly formed Super 10

Super 10 (Italian premiership)

The withdrawal of Viadana and Benetton Treviso from the league has been compounded by club mergers. Rugby Viadana, Gran Parma and Colorno have merged to form GranDucato Rugby. Overmach Parma and Noceto have merged to form Crociati, both new clubs to be based in Parma. These changes created 2...

. They made their European debut in 2002-2003 in the European Shield

European Shield

The European Shield was a reprechage tournament for teams knocked out in the first round of the European Challenge Cup in 2002-03 and 2003-04. The name "European Shield" had previously been used for the now renamed European Challenge Cup....

.

Current squad

2010/2011

European Challenge Cup

European Challenge Cup

The European Challenge Cup, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Amlin Challenge Cup, is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup. The cup was known as the Parker Pen Shield from 2001 to 2003 and Parker Pen Challenge Cup from 2003 to 2005. The European...

Season	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
2001-02	6	0	0	6	104	277
(Shield) 2002-03	2	1	0	1	41	46
2002-03	2	0	0	2	22	97
(Shield) 2003-04	2	1	0	1	58	75
2003-04	2	0	0	2	16	76
Shield 2004-05	2	1	0	1	26	55
2004-05	2	0	0	2	37	66
2006-07	6	0	0	6	84	296
2007-08	6	0	1	5	82	259