Marco Bollesan

Marco Bollesan (born 7 July 1941) is an Italian former rugby union player, coach and manager.

Marco Bollesan

Marco Bollesan (on top) jumping in lineout against Germany, in 1968
Birth name	Marco Bollesan
Date of birth	7 July 1941
Place of birth	Chioggia, Venice, Italy
Occupation(s)	Iron worker, Management, Public relations
Rugby union career
Position(s) Number 8 Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1959-1965 1965-1966 1966-1976 1976-1981 CUS Genova Partenope Brescia Amatori Milano () Correct as of 3 June 2009 National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1963-1975 Italy 47 (24) Correct as of 3 June 2009 Teams coached Years Team 1981-1985 1985-1988 1989-1992 1992-1997 1997-2003 Amatori Milano Italy Livorno CUS Genoa Alghero Correct as of 3 June 2009

Biography

Born in Genoa; later he got a job as iron worker at the Italsider and started playing rugby as senior at the CUS Genoa Rugby (the University of Genoa rugby union team).

During the conscription period he practiced rowing for the Italian National Military selection, but afterwards he returned to rugby. He made his international debut with the Italian team in 1963 at Grenoble against France (Italy lost 12-14).

Until 1975 he won 47 full caps and played 37 matches as captain.

In 1965 he moved from Genoa to Naples to play with the Partenope that had just won the Italian championship. In order to get that the Neapolitan club's managed to get from Italsider the moving of the player from Genoa to the steel mill located in Bagnoli, near Neaples. In 1966 Partenope won its second in a row - and to date, last - Championship.

In 1967 Bollesan moved to Genoa, then, in 1974 to Brescia winning another Championship in 1975. He was then at Amatori Rugby Milano, until 1981 as player and until 1985 as coach.

From 1985 to 1988 he was the Italian National Team's head coach and took part at the 1987 Rugby World Cup.

Later he managed Rugby Livorno, CUS Genova and Rugby Alghero.

In 1997, when Amatori Milano was facing dire straits due to lack of money, he offered to coach the team for free.

From 2003 to the 2008 Six Nations he has been responsible for public relations for the Italian Rugby Federation, and is currently the chairman of SportinGenova, a company that manage all the sport venues owned by the comune of Genoa.

Honours

As player

• 2 Italian Championships:
  • Partenope 1965-1966
  • Rugby Brescia 1974-1975
• Italy national rugby union team: 47 full caps (37 as captain) 1963-1975

As coach

• Manager of the Italian team at the 1987 Rugby World Cup

Awards

On 7 May 2015, in the presence of the President of Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), Giovanni Malagò, was inaugurated in the Olympic Park of the Foro Italico in Rome, along Viale delle Olimpiadi, the Walk of Fame of Italian sport, consisting of 100 tiles that chronologically report names of the most representative athletes in the history of Italian sport. On each tile are the name of the sportsman, the sport in which he distinguished himself and the symbol of CONI. One of these tiles is dedicated to Marco Bollesan.[1]

See also

• Legends of Italian sport - Walk of Fame

References

1. "Inaugurata la Walk of Fame: 100 targhe per celebrare le leggende dello sport italiano" (in Italian). coni.it. Retrieved 11 October 2018.

External links

• Marco Bollesan at ESPNscrum