The German Rugby Federation (german: Deutscher Rugby-Verband or ''DRV'') is the governing body for

rugby union in Germany Rugby union in Germany is a minor but growing sport with 124 men's clubs and 5 women's clubs competing in 4 men's and 1 women's national leagues. Governing body The German Rugby Federation (german: Deutscher Rugby-Verband or DRV), founded in 19 ...

. It organizes the German national team and the three league divisions: the

Rugby-Bundesliga The Rugby-Bundesliga is the highest level of the league system for rugby union in Germany, organised by the German Rugby Federation. The league is predominantly amateur, with only one club in the league being officially a professional outfit, t ...

, the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga and the

Rugby-Regionalliga The Rugby Regionalliga is the third-highest level of Germany's Rugby union league system, organised by the German Rugby Federation. It is set below the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga and is organised in eight regional divisions. Since 2010, the ''Regiona ...

. It was founded on November 4, 1900, in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

, and is the oldest national

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 ...

in ''continental'' Europe. After the

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 ...

, the DRV was restored on May 14, 1950. The ''DRV'' publishes the ''Deutsches Rugby-Journal'' with 11 issues per year. It is the official organ of the federation.

History

Prior to its foundation several initiatives were taken to syndicate the German clubs. When the efforts of the north German clubs failed in 1886, DFV Hannover 1878 joined the "German Football and Cricket federation", while the southern clubs opted for the "South German Football Union". Despite the well pronounced individualism of the clubs, representatives from Heidelberg and from FV Stuttgart 93, the later

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

, met in February 1898 for the first Rugby-Day (german: Rugby-Tag) in Frankfurt. Led by Professor Dr. Edward Hill Ulrich this group went on looking for closer contact to the north German clubs. Additional Rugby-Days followed in August 1898 and September 1899. It was not until the fifth of this gatherings, taking place in Hannover on 4 November 1900, that 19 clubs formally decided on a joint operation to form a German Rugby Football Union under the governing body of the

German Football Association The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of t ...

. On 4 November 1901, only one year after the foundation the Rugby-Football Federation made the decision to leave the association football players and form the self-governed German Rugby Federation.

Centenary and Barbarians Tour

In 2000 the German Rugby Federation celebrated its centenary. Centenary celebrations included a banquet in the

Heidelberg Castle Heidelberg Castle (german: Heidelberger Schloss) is a ruin in Germany and landmark of Heidelberg. The castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps. The castle has only been partially rebuilt since its demoli ...

and the hosting of the European leg of the

Rugby World Cup Sevens Rugby World Cup Sevens (RWCS) is the quadrennial world championship of rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union. Organised by World Rugby, it currently consists of men's and women's tournaments, and is the highest level of competition in the sport ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, in which the German team came close to upsetting

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, who had

Gordon D'Arcy Gordon William D'Arcy (born 10 February 1980, in Ferns, County Wexford) is a retired Irish rugby player who played most of his career at inside centre. He played for Irish provincial side Leinster for his entire professional career and is secon ...

in their line-up. The tournament was won by the

Welsh team Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

, which featured

Andy Marinos Andy Marinos is a Zimbabwean former rugby footballer who played rugby league and rugby union professionally and represented Wales at rugby union. Rugby league career Marinos signed for Australian rugby league club the Sydney Bulldogs in 1996, p ...

and

Arwel Thomas Arwel Camber Thomas (born 8 November 1974) is a native of Trebanos in Swansea Valley. He is a former Wales international rugby union player. An outside-half, he played his club rugby for Swansea RFC. Career Arwel Thomas won his first of his 23 ...

. The highlight of the Centenary season was the Centenary Match against the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

. The Barbarians included a host of internationals including Scott Hastings,

Peter Stringer Peter Alexander Stringer (born 13 December 1977) is an Irish former rugby union player who played at scrum-half. He played 13 seasons with Irish province Munster from 1998 to 2011; he then played seven seasons from 2011 to 2018 in England wit ...

Shaun Longstaff Shaun Longstaff (born 3 January 1972)

Jeff Probyn Jeff Probyn (born 27 April 1956 in Bethnal Green, London) is an English former Rugby Union player. The Old Albanian, Streatham and Wasps prop was selected in England's squad for the 1987 Rugby World Cup, but Probyn did not make his internat ...

Frankie Sheahan Frankie Sheahan (born August 27, 1976) is a retired professional Irish rugby union player. During his career, Sheahan played for Munster from 1996 until 2009 and for Ireland from 2000 until 2007. Sheahan played his whole career as a hooker. H ...

Russell Earnshaw Russell Dean Earnshaw (born 8 April 1975) is a rugby union coach currently working in sport and business with the Magic Academy. Club rugby Earnshaw has played Premiership rugby with West Hartlepool, Bath Rugby and Rotherham Titans, winning the ...

, Shaun Connor, John Langford and Derwyn Jones and won 47–19 against a determined German team.

Proposed reform 2009

The ''DRV'' proposed a reform of its structure in October 2009, with the view of rugby having become an Olympic sport once more.Der DRV-Arbeitsplan "Rugby auf dem Weg nach Olympia 2016"
totalrugby.de, author:

Claus-Peter Bach Claus-Peter Bach was the President of the German Rugby Federation from 2005 to 2011. He succeeded Bernd Leifheit at this position.

, published: 19 October 2009, accessed: 27 March 2010 Also, from 2010–11, every club has to field a minimum of ten players per game who are eligible to play for the German national team, and can only field twelve non-eligible players at the same game. For the national teams, the aim was set to have the men's side achieve qualification for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

, at the latest, and qualification for both the men and women for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Financial Crisis

The German Rugby Federation suffered a major crisis in 2011, finding itself close to insolvency, being €200,000 in debt. The situation was brought on by the annual grant of the German federal ministry of the interior, ''BMI'', not being paid in 2010 after the ministry voiced concerns that the ''DRV'' was not using the money for the desired purpose, to support the sport. A legal battle that the ''DRV'' chairman

Claus-Peter Bach Claus-Peter Bach was the President of the German Rugby Federation from 2005 to 2011. He succeeded Bernd Leifheit at this position.

fought with the ministry did not bring the desired result but instead worsened the situation. Bach consequently announced he would not stand for another term in July 2011 and was replaced by

Ralph Götz Ralph Götz (born 15 May 1967) was the President of the German Rugby Federation from 2011 to 2013. He succeeded Claus-Peter Bach at this position. Götz, whose father was for many years the President of the Baden-Württemberg Rugby Union, started ...

. The ''DRV'' was able to secure a private loan to survive and hopes to attract sponsors that had withdrawn under Bach as well as to reach a settlement with the ''BMI''. At the ''Deutsche Rugby Tag'' (DRT) in mid-July 2012, the ''DRV'' announced that it was able to avoid insolvency and regain its annual grants from the German government on the condition that it sticks to a strict financial plan that would see the ''DRV'' debt free by 2018. Any violation of this plan would see the funding withdrawn and the association confronted with insolvency again.

Structure

The ''DRV'' is located and registered as a non-profit organisation in Hannover and combines the 13 regional unions (''Landesverbände'') with 11,656 members total of which 10,023 are male and 1,633 are female players. The 108 registered clubs have 319 referees (as of January 2011). The ''DRV'' has three sub-organisations these are the German Rugby Youth (german: Deutsche Rugby-Jugend or ''DRJ'') since 1967, the Referees Association (german: Schiedrichtervereinigung or ''SDRV'') since 1996 and the German Women's Rugby Association (german: Deutsche Rugby-Frauen or ''DRF'') since 2003. As an outcome of the ''Rugby-Tag'' in July 2010 the integration of Touch Rugby was scheduled for January 2011.Protokoll des DEUTSCHEN-RUGBY-TAGS, Haus des Sports, Hannover, 03.07.2011, DRV

Membership

The DRV is a foundation member of

Rugby Europe Rugby Europe is the administrative body for rugby union in Europe. It was formed in 1999 to promote, develop, organise, and administer the game of rugby in Europe under the authority of World Rugby (the sport's global governing body). However, it ...

(1934), and became affiliated to the International Rugby Football Board, now known as

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

, in 1988. Moreover, it is a founding member of the German Olympic Sport Federation ''

Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund The German Olympic Sports Confederation (german: Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund or DOSB) was founded on 20 May 2006 by a merger of the ''Deutscher Sportbund'' (DSB), and the ''Nationales Olympisches Komitee für Deutschland'' (NOK) which dates ...

''.

President

Since the formation of the association in 1900, its presidents were: Source:

Sources

* ''

Brockhaus Enzyklopädie The ''Brockhaus Enzyklopädie'' (German for ''Brockhaus Encyclopedia'') is a German-language encyclopedia which until 2009 was published by the F. A. Brockhaus printing house. The first edition originated in the '' Conversations-Lexikon'' p ...

'' (1973 edition), vol 16 )

References

External links

Deutscher Rugby-Verband
- Official Site {{Authority control

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

Rugby union in Germany Rugby union governing bodies in Europe Sports organizations established in 1900 1900 establishments in Germany