Leicester Tigers has announced a new partnership with Italian club Rugby Colorno as Tigers’ latest Global Partner Club.
Representatives from Rugby Colorno, whose first team currently play in the second tier of Italian rugby union, joined Tigers on the Welford Road pitch at half-time during their Round 4 Heineken Champions Cup fixture against Racing 92.
Founded in 1975, the club has progressed year on year thanks to a strong community development programme and projects with local schools.
The Men’s first team’s continue to fight for promotion to the country’s Premiership equivalent - Top 12 – whilst the Women’s team, which was formed in 2009, are Italy’s current reigning champions of the sport.
Eight members of the Rugby Colorno Women’s team were also involved in their recent Autumn International victory over Scotland and South Africa.
The club is the fourth Global Partner Club to build links with Leicester Tigers joining India’s Delhi Hurricanes, Belgium’s reigning champions Dendermonde RFC and KL Tigers based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tigers Global Partner Clubs help to drive the development of rugby across the world as well as building sustainable links between players, partners and communities.
The Colorno club fields 10 teams from the under-6 age group up to senior Men’s and Women teams and regularly hosts summer camps and rugby camps for young players to develop their game.
Members from Rugby Colorno’s operations teams recently visited Welford Road to learn about the way the club is run, as well as go behind the scenes at Oval Park training ground and with Tigers community and partnership teams.
Speaking on the announcement, Clarke said: “We are delighted to welcome Rugby Colorno to the Tigers Family. On visiting the club in October, it was clear to see they are a strong community based club excelling on and off the pitch.
“What really impressed me was the fact that although they have a quality professional set up for the Men’s team and the best Women’s team in Italy, as well as a real community presence supporting a huge schools outreach programme.
“We hope that by entering into this partnership we can explore the opportunities to develop both the mini, junior and academy offer, support both the Men’s and Women’s senior teams and work with Colorno Rugby as they look to continue their development plans to take Colorno Rugby to the highest levels of the game.
“With four Global Partner Clubs, we’re all now working together through Tigers to exchange ideas, create exciting opportunities for players and coaches and build on their own strong foundations.”
Nick Scott, director of rugby at Rugby Colorno added: “At Colorno we have a vision that is to become the best club in Italy to play for, to work for and to visit. In trying to achieve this we want to work with the best in the world and we know Leicester Tigers can help us.
“This will be a genuine partnership with opportunities for people involved in both clubs – and maybe, with nearby Parma as the only UNESCO world heritage site for Gastronomy, we can offer expertise in areas important to every rugby person – good food and wine! We look forward to working together in future”.
For anyone interested in finding out more about our Global Partnership Plan and working with Tigers around the world, please contact Scott Clarke at 0116 217 1283 or email [email protected]
