{"id":537585,"date":"2026-03-13T10:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/537585\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T10:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:38:10","slug":"italian-rugby-world-cup-player-hame-faiva-announces-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/537585\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian Rugby World Cup player Hame Faiva announces retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former Italy<\/a> hooker Hame Faiva, who won 10 caps for his country, has announced his retirement from rugby.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old has called time on a career which has seen him at the top end of the game for more than a decade, proudly representing the Italian national team from 2021-2023, including the last Rugby World Cup, as well as playing for Waikato, The Blues, Benetton, The Hurricanes, Worcester, Bath<\/a> and, most recently, Newcastle<\/a> Red Bulls.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing to Newcastle during such an exciting time for the club has been phenomenal,\u201d said Faiva, who is retiring on injury grounds having played his last game away to Saracens<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Red Bull has done here so far \u2013 and it\u2019s still only in its early stages \u2013 has been unbelievable, as has the welcome I\u2019ve received from all the boys.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot just the players, but all the coaches, staff and supporters up here. They have made me feel such a part of the place since the first day I arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faiva has nothing but positive memories from his time on Tyneside, despite having it cut short.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI love Newcastle as a place because I like the quieter kind of life, and my family and I are really grateful for the time we got to spend here.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunity to represent such a historic club has been an honour, and I wish nothing but the best for the Red Bulls<\/a> and our fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur supporters make the players\u2019 role even more special, and despite the club having gone through some difficult times you guys have come out rain, hail or shine to inspire us.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family and I are forever grateful for that. And for all the people behind the scenes at the club, you don\u2019t get the public recognition, but we as players see all the work you do to keep the wheels turning and to make this such a special place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you all \u2013 fans, players and staff \u2013 enjoy the next part of the Newcastle Red Bulls story, because it\u2019s going to be super exciting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be watching on from afar, and if one good thing comes out of my retirement it\u2019s the fact that other players will be able to come in and have this incredible experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sporting general manager Neil McIlroy said: \u201cHame is an outstanding character who can look back on a fantastic career, and it has been a pleasure having him as part of our group.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is obviously very sad to see him step away on injury grounds, but you can see from his comments what a quality individual he is. Despite such a major blow his first thought is for other people, and the respect he has within our group demonstrates how highly he is regarded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I will speak for everybody here when I thank Hame for his contribution on the field and behind the scenes, and I have no doubt that whichever direction he chooses, he will go on to succeed in his life after rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Italy hooker Hame Faiva, who won 10 caps for his country, has announced his retirement from rugby.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-537585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}