Venezia Mestre Rugby FC, also known as ''Casinò di Venezia'' for sponsorship's reasons, was an Italian rugby union club based in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

. It was formed in 1986 following the merger of Venezia Rugby Football Club (founded 1948) and Rugby Mestre (founded 1965). In 1993-1994, the club finished first but was denied promotion to Serie B because a regulation requiring an under-14 team was not met. Promotion to Serie B finally came in 1999-2000 and, two years later, it took part in Serie A. In 2004-2005, it was promoted again to the

Super 10 The Super 10 was a rugby union football tournament featuring ten teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Tonga, and Western Samoa. The competition ran for three years from 1993 to 1995 and was the predecessor of Super 12 and Super 14, ...

, the top tier of Italian rugby union. Financial problems led the club to bankruptcy and eventual disbandment in 2011.

References

Rugby union teams in Italy Rugby clubs established in 1986 Rugby clubs disestablished in 2011 {{Italy-rugbyunion-team-stub