The FT Adler Kiel Rugby is a German

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

from

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

, currently playing in the

2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East The 2. Rugby-Bundesliga is the second-highest level of Germany's Rugby union league system, organised by the German Rugby Federation. Its set below the Rugby-Bundesliga, the top-tier of German rugby, and above the Rugby-Regionalliga, the third tie ...

. It is part of a larger club, the FT Adler Kiel, which also offers other sports like

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

. The term ''Adler'' is the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

word for

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

History

Origins

Kiel rugby began in the 1930s, when the local

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

s workers and

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...

members, then called the ''

Reichsmarine The ''Reichsmarine'' ( en, Realm Navy) was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the ''Reichswehr'', existing from 1919 to 1935. In 1935, it became known as the ''K ...

'', formed the ''1. Kieler Rugby Fussball Verein''.FT Adler Kiel Rugby website - History
accessed: 7 April 2010 In post-

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Germany, competitive rugby in Kiel resumed in 1949, when three local clubs competed in a league with clubs from

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. The three clubs were the ''1. Kieler Rugby Fussball Verein'', ''PSV Kiel'' and ''FT Adler''. Rugby in Kiel greatly benefited from a strong support through the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, which was stationed at Kiel-Holtenau. Towards the end of the 1950s, Kiel rugby declined and the clubs were only able to field a combined team. In 1963, even this team had to be disbanded. As a form of farewell to rugby in Kiel, a final friendly match was organized. The match was against a team selected from a visiting detachment of the

Japanese Navy , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...

. After this, rugby disappeared from the city for almost 30 years.

Current club

Rugby returned to Kiel in the late 1980s through the efforts of foreign students at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

. The current rugby department of ''FT Adler'' was formed in 1997 however. ''FT Adler'' took out the 2008 championship in the Regionalliga North but failed in the promotion round, losing on aggregate to

RU Hohen Neuendorf The RU Hohen Neuendorf is a German rugby union club from Hohen Neuendorf, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga. The club is located in the Oberhavel district, north west of Berlin. The district is home to two more rugby union clubs, Stahl H ...

. The club earned promotion from the Rugby-Regionalliga North, after another championship there, to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga, the second tier of German club rugby, in 2009. Kiel lasted for only one season at this level before being relegated again to the Regionalliga, where it came fourth in 2010-11. At the end of the 2014–15 season the club was promoted back to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga after a Regionalliga championship.

Club honours

* Rugby-Regionalliga North ** Champions: 2008, 2009, 2015

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the club:RugbyWeb Ergebnisarchiv
rugbyweb.de - Results archive, accessed: 24 July 2012

References

External links

*
Official website
*
Official website of the rugby department
*
FT Adler Kiel club info at totalrugby.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiel Rugby, FT Adler German rugby union clubs Sports clubs established in 1893 Rugby clubs established in 1999 Rugby union in Schleswig-Holstein 1999 establishments in Germany