Michelangelo Rucci

Michelangelo Rucci (born 10 November 1963) is a writer.

Of Italian descent, "The Rooch", as he is nicknamed, is an award-winning sports writer in Adelaide, South Australia. He is the chief Australian rules football writer for The Advertiser, Adelaide's only daily newspaper. He is a long-standing supporter of the Port Adelaide Football Club, which in 2003 named him a club ambassador. He has repeatedly iratated Crows supporters. This led in March this year for the senior management of the Adelaide Football Club, in particular chairman Bill Sanders, to ask The Advertiser management to sack Rucci. Asked to submit evidence of the supposed bias against the Crows, the Adelaide Football Club came up empty handed and was exposed for pointing to articles it said was written by Rucci when they were not.

Rucci makes an annual retreat to the central Italian mountains when the AFL season goes into recess.

He is a devoted supporter of the Boston Red Sox baseball team.

Relationship with Adelaide supporters

Adelaide supporters accuse Rucci of being biased. He responds: "Bias suggests I care. I don't. I am totally indiffered to the Crows." Rucci's relationship with supporters of the Adelaide Football Club has been soured by his perceived bias against the club.

In 2006, Rucci alerted the AFL Tribunal to the fact that Adelaide player Brett Burton could not have his suspension reduced by one week with an early guilty plea due to the carry-over points from previous indiscretions - this led to the Tribunal overturning its decision and giving Burton a two-match ban instead of one. While Crows fans find this action intolerable, it is evidence of the media doing due diligence on the failings of the AFL.

Rucci's supposed bias towards Port Adelaide was put to rest for many in Season 2008 when he made searching analysis of the club, on and off the field drawing the ire of coach Mark Williams.

Early career

Rucci was born in Adelaide and was a student of Alberton Primary, Woodville High School and the University of Adelaide where he graduated as a Bachelor of Science.

In the early 1980s as a university student, Rucci was the official club historian for the Port Adelaide Football Club, before moving to New York to act as The Advertiser's foreign correspondent in 1989. He returned to Adelaide in 1993 to be The Advertiser's chief football writer.

Standing 5'11 (180cm) and nicknamed "The Rooch", Rucci also covered hockey for News Limited in the 1988 and 2000 Olympics. He also was a consultant to the president of the International Hockey Federation, Etienne Glichitch, in the 1990s and won the sport's high honour, the President's Award, in 1999.

In 1999 Rucci published and co-authored the story of legendary Port Adelaide coach Fos Williams and his family's dynasty in football. The book, titled Dynasty, was a best-seller.

The SANFL in 2007 awarded Rucci its Gold Media Award for his outstanding contribution to covering football in South Australia.

The AFL in 2006 appointed Rucci to the selection panel for Australian football's Indigenous Team of the Century. The league also had Rucci as a judge for the Norm Smith Medal at the 1994 and 2005 grand finals, the Michael Tuck Medal at the 2008 NAB Cup pre-season grand final and the Allen Aylett Medal at the 2008 AFL Hall of Fame tribute match at the MCG.

Personal Life

Rucci lives alone with several cats, much to the amusement of colleagues and football identities, due to obnoxious personality. He spends much of his free time posting on the Adelaide Crows forum at the AFL supporter website, Big Footy and making threats of legal action against the site's administrators.