, 26 December 1973) is a retired Italian rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 player. He played as a loosehead prop forward.

Amateur career

Gianluca Faliva didn't start playing rugby until he was 20, when he joined CUS Padova Rugby under pressure from some of his colleagues in the Italian Police

Polizia di Stato

The Polizia di Stato is one of the national police forces of Italy.It is the main police force for providing police duties and it is also responsible for patrolling motorways , railways , airports , customs as well as certain waterways, and assisting the local police...

 who also played for the club. Until then, he played football as a centre back in a low-level local amateur side.

Coached by former international Marzio Innocenti

Marzio Innocenti

Marzio Innocenti is a former Italian rugby union player and a current coach. He played as a flanker and a number 8.-Playing career:...

, he soon developed into a physical but very dynamic prop, becoming one of the linchpins of the side.

In 1996, still working as a policeman, Faliva made his Serie A1

Super 10 (Italian premiership)

The withdrawal of Viadana and Benetton Treviso from the league has been compounded by club mergers. Rugby Viadana, Gran Parma and Colorno have merged to form GranDucato Rugby. Overmach Parma and Noceto have merged to form Crociati, both new clubs to be based in Parma. These changes created 2...

 debut with the still amateur CUS Padova.

Pro and international career

In 1997 Faliva signed a professional contract with Benetton Treviso

Benetton Rugby Treviso

Benetton Rugby Treviso are an Italian professional rugby union club currently competing in the RaboDirect Pro12 and the Heineken Cup.They are based in Treviso in Veneto, and owned by the Benetton clothing company....

, one of the highest-ranked clubs in Italy.

With Treviso, Faliva proved to be a class player and earned his first international call-up from coach Georges Coste

Georges Coste

Georges Coste is a French rugby union coach and former player.-Biography:Coste debuted playing as fly half in the local club U.S.A. Perpignan, and scored several caps for French junior national teams before his career was halted by a serious injury.As a coach, he trained U.S.A...

 against then-World Champions South Africa

South Africa national rugby union team

The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...

 in Durban

Durban

Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

 in June 1999. Italy suffered its worst defeat ever, but Faliva was handed his first cap after coming in as a sub.

The next-in-charge head coaches Massimo Mascioletti

Massimo Mascioletti

Massimo Mascioletti is an Italian rugby union coach and a former player. He used to play as a wing and as a centre....

 and Brad Johnstone

Brad Johnstone

Bradley Ronald Johnstone , known as Brad Johnstone, is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer and a current coach...

 dismissed Faliva, who had to wait for three years before his second cap (and his first start); it happened against New Zealand in 2002 under coach John Kirwan. Kirwan also awarded Faliva his third and fourth caps, against Argentina

Argentina national rugby union team

The Argentina national rugby team, nicknamed Los Pumas, represents Argentina in international rugby union matches. The team, which plays in sky blue and white jerseys, is organised by the Argentine Rugby Union .Argentina played its first international rugby match in 1910 against a touring British...

 and Australia

Australia national rugby union team

The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...

.

In the meanwhile, Faliva's club career with Treviso continued flourishing on a national and European level. He is presently second for number of national titles won (7) after Massimiliano Perziano (8) and alongside other players such as Denis

Denis Dallan

Denis Dallan is an Italian rugby union footballer.His usual position is on the wing.He plays for Italian club Amatori Milan....

 and Manuel Dallan

Manuel Dallan

Manuel Dallan is an Italian rugby union footballer. His usual position is in the centres. Since June 2008 he plays for Italian club Venezia Mestre Rugby FC...

, Carlo Checchinato

Carlo Checchinato

Carlo Checchinato was an Italian rugby union player and is the current team manager for the Italian national team....

 and Romano Bettarello.

Excluded from the Italian squad due to the presence of Andrea Lo Cicero

Andrea Lo Cicero

Andrea Lo Cicero is an Italian rugby union footballer.Born in Catania, Sicily, Lo Cicero began his professional career in the town of his birth with Amatori Catania. Later he moved to Bologna and then to Rugby Rovigo, winning his first Italian Championship in 2000 with Rugby Roma...

, Martin Castrogiovanni

Martin Castrogiovanni

Martín Leandro Castrogiovanni is an Italian Argentine rugby union footballer. He played for Ghial Calvisano, with whom he won the Italian championship in 2005. He has since signed a new contract with Leicester Tigers, and after a successful 2006/07 season with them was named Guinness Premiership...

, Salvatore Perugini

Salvatore Perugini

Salvatore Perugini is an Italian rugby union player, currently playing for Aironi in the RaboDirect Pro12 club competition. He has also been capped for the Italian national team, making his debut in 2000 against Italy. His usual position is at prop...

, Carlos Nieto

Carlos Nieto

This article is about the Italian rugby player. For the Third Watch character, see Carlos Nieto .Carlos Nieto is an Italian Argentine international rugby union player....

 and Federico Pucciariello

Federico Pucciariello

Federico Pucciariello was an Italian Argentine rugby union footballer. He played at both tighthead and loosehead prop, and played for Munster Rugby up to the end of the 2008-2009 season...

 amongst others, Faliva remained one of the best props in the national league. This earned him a much-valued call-up to the most prestigious invitational side in international rugby, the Barbarians

Barbarian F.C.

The Barbarian Football Club, usually referred to as the Barbarians and nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", is an invitational rugby union team based in Britain...

. He played his only game for them in March 2005, in a defeat against Leicester Tigers

Leicester Tigers

Leicester Tigers is an English rugby union club that plays in the Aviva Premiership.Leicester are the most successful English club since the introduction of league rugby in 1987, a record 9 times English champions - 3 more than either Bath or Wasps, the last of which was in 2010...

. Curiously, all of Faliva's international games (including this one) ended with a defeat for his side.

In 2007, Faliva left Benetton Treviso to join Rugby Rovigo

Rugby Rovigo

Rugby Rovigo Delta are an Italian rugby union club currently competing in Super 10.They are based in Rovigo in Veneto....

. In 2009 he decided to quit the professional game after having been sidelined throughout the previous season due to injury.

Doping allegations

In 2003 Faliva, alongside fellow international and Treviso player Fabio Ongaro

Fabio Ongaro

Fabio Ongaro is an Italian rugby union footballer. Although he now plays as a hooker, he played in the Italian youth teams as a flanker.-Career:...

, has been accused of having made use of Epoetin beta

Epoetin beta

Epoetin beta is a synthetic, recombinant form of erythropoietin. It stimulates erythropoiesis and is used to treat anemia, commonly associated with chronic renal failure and cancer chemotherapy....

 (NeoRecormon) for doping purposes. He was also accused of selling such substance, at which point the trial went out of the sporting circles to reach the penal courts. The Public Prosecutor for this case recommended a 18-months jail spell and a 15,000 Euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

fine for the player, but in 2009 the trial was concluded with a sentence of absolution for Faliva and Ongaro, as no proof of either of them using or detaining the doping substance could be presented. even though some witnesses insisted on his involvement.