ITALY RUGBY INTERNATIONAL Sami Panico has had his contract terminated by his club Zebre.
Gazzetta Dello Sport reported last Sunday that Panico was arrested for alleged “possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking” after 1.5kg of marijuana, 330 grams of hashish and €10,000 in cash were found in the garden of his Rome home.
According to the police, this sum of money discovered comes from illegal activities”. He was placed under house arrest pending further proceedings.
Panico, who has 10 caps for Italy, was suspended by Zebre on 8 September. Today, the Pro14 club have confirmed that “proceedings have been completed to terminate the contract.”
“This decision has been taken in keeping with the ethics and principles of the Franchise and the contractual arrangements, and of the Federation from which it depends, and follows the suspension of the player from the Zebre Rugby Club team notified on 8 September 2018,” a statement from Zebre read.
“The player had arrived in an unsuitable physical condition for the pre-season training, and was subsequently unreachable and had ignored all formal reprimands from the Team, thus initiating formal proceedings for the final termination of the contract.
“Zebre Rugby Club, certain of interpreting the feelings of the Federation and clubs that have contributed to the growth of the player, wishes to express its disappointment at the events that have unfolded while being quite certain that everything has been done so that rugby could be an opportunity for Mr Panico to demonstrate personal and professional growth, allowing him to make full use of his talents.
“The club also wishes to confirm its commitment to all its registered players, both on and off the field, and will continue to support the players as people, not only as athletes, in view of their full and unconditional acceptance of the institutional and ethical values which are intrinsic in sport, and in particular rugby.”
Panico has a chequered history and was dropped from the Zebre team a year ago after he broke a team-mate’s jaw in a training ground bust-up.
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Big result for Rovers and Irish Football
Thank god this wasn’t televised, people might have been entertained god forbid
@Ave it: Tallaght holds 8000. Average Rovers gate is 5000. When Dubliners aren’t interested enough to fill a smallish stadium you hardly expect RTE to broadcast it?
@Ave it: it was televised on LOI TV
@sean o’dhubhghaill: 3000 showed up in Croker for Camogie semi finals, wall to wall live coverage.
@Eamonn Duggan: Fair Point!
@Eamonn Duggan: that’s probably because the TV deal that RTE have with Croke Park requires Camogie coverage.
Yet RTE are showing a rerun of Top Gear followed by 5 bedrooms. This is what your TV licence fee contributed to.
@Gregson from the Block: I watched it on LOI TV so it was shown somewhere.
Fair play Rovers, some result.
Well done Rovers.
Superb. Group stages again. Let’s beat the Hungarians next round and get into the europa league. No reason we can’t. Super Hoops.
As a bohs fan congratulations rovers all good for the league of Ireland. Now my British profile picture apart id like to offer tosh moher (shelbourne fan)a chance to say the same.
@Paul Gorry: Nice one Paul, your not a bad bloke considering you follow Liverpool/Bohs ;-)
Big result for Shannon Airport
That’s class! We’ll done all involved
pico and jack to come back into the side too, magic. If we learned anything in Bulgaria, we need to go out to Budapest with intent.
€2.9M guaranteed – how big of a deal is that? Can it lead to longer term contracts for players?
@Micheal O Brodair: to put the €2.9m in context the total prize money available to clubs from the FAI in the 2022 men’s League of Ireland season is €600,000. Thats not what the winners get, its the total prize money. Sometimes it seams like the league is just a competition to see who gets a crack at the european money.
@Kingshu: I think that’s a fair summary of every national league, its sad but unfortunately money rules all.
@Kingshu: where should the money be put now that they have it? Seems to be a lot of good players leaving the league in last few years for little or no transfer fee for the club!
Would longer contracts for players help sort that or am I missing something?
Well done Rovers the aristocrats of Irish football
Brilliant result for the hoops….no doubt the Macedonians travel problems ruined them
It’s great to see but I’m also worried about what it means for the rest of the league who will no longer be able to even feign interest in competing with Rovers in the transfer market. It’s almost like watching Utd as they were the first to get the big money from the Prem/Champs League…long time before everyone else caught up.
@Garreth Fitzpatrick: really? Blackburn, Newcastle and Arsenal were well able to compete with them and their dominance had little or nothing to do with Champions League money. Roseberry in Norway would be a far better example, and that didn’t last either, it’s all cyclical.
@Garreth Fitzpatrick: Weren’t rovers in the group stage of Europa back in 2011? And didn’t win a LOI again til 2020? Doesn’t always work out so easy.
@Eoghan Ryan: *Rosenberg
@Garreth Fitzpatrick: I worried the same would happen Dundalk when they won a similar amount. Dont think it all gets used on players.