Rugby league is a team sport played in Italy. History Rugby league was established in Italy prior to the 1950s, during which they played a host of other European teams. Jean Galia's efforts in the mid-1930s to persuade his fellow countrymen in France to adopt rugby league soon attracted the attention of a trainee commercial lawyer and rugby union player in Turin, Vincenzo Bertolotto. But an exhibition game suggested for Rome did not materialise. But after the Second World War, discontent with the policies of the Italian rugby union in refusing to strengthen their game to put it on a level with France, led to thoughts of alternatives and the Italian Rugby League was launched in 1950 after several years of talks between then RFL secretary, Bill Fallowfield, and a group of Italian rugby union dissidents. The first game in Italy, an exhibition match in Turin by two French sides, was attended by over 4,000 fans. A local resident, Dennis Chappell, once of Wakefield helped to foster the "rebels", among them one Vincenzo Bertolotto, then an elder statesman of Italian rugby at 38 years old. Together, they organised a six-game tour to England and Wales which included a game against a "South Wales 13" at the Brewery Field in Bridgend, future home of Celtic Crusaders. Around 2,500 attended to see South Wales win comfortably 29-11 with Ystradgynlais' Les Lewis notching a hat-trick of tries. The Italians went on to lose all of their matches but on returning home, a Turin-based side joined the French league. The 1950s were a high point in international rugby league, after which a few European teams would lose interest. Despite playing host to the World Champions twice in 1960 when Australia defeated Italy 37-15 in Padua and defeated Italy again 67-22 at Treviso, by 1962 the game had died out due to pressure on players from the Italian Rugby Union threatening to ban anyone caught playing rugby league. It would be left to two pioneering Australians to get the game back up and running when international rugby league began to expand again in the late 1990s. In January 1960 at the end of their 1959–60 Kangaroo Tour, the Australian national rugby league team played two internationals against an Italian representative team. The first game, played on 23 January at the Stadio Appiani in Padua in front of 3,500 curious fans, saw the Kangaroos defeat Italy