RC Lokomotiv Moscow is a professional Russian

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

club based in Moscow, which from 2010 will field teams in both

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

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 ...

. The club is one of the oldest in Russia. Originally a club for those who worked on the railways, they participated in the first

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

championship in 1937. Lokomotiv were Soviet Championship winners in 1983. During the existence of the

, RC Lokomotiv Moscow club was a part of the Lokomotiv Voluntary Sports Society. In 1991, following

York City Knights The York Knights are the men's professional rugby league team of York RLFC (known as the York City Knights from 2002 to 2022) based in York, England. The Knights played their home games at Huntington Stadium before moving to Bootham Crescent. ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

's tour to the country, the club switched from

, owing mostly to rugby union's amateur status at the time, and the desire by players to be paid. Lokomotiv have gone on to dominate

Russian rugby league Russian Rugby League Federation (russian: Федерация Регбилиг России) was the governing body for rugby league in Russia until 2010. It was founded in 1978 mainly as a governing body for Moscow-based teams, and became the head ...

. They have won seven Championships, including league and cup doubles in 2002–2005. Twelve players from the club were in the Russian national team in 2005. Lokomotiv had their best season ever in 2005, winning the league and cup double in Russia, winning 21 out of 22 matches and scoring 1,560 points in the process. However, they have not yet transferred this success over to the Rugby League

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

. In their three previous games in this competition, they have failed to register a win. In 2009 the club announced its intention to play rugby union in addition to rugby league from the 2010 season onwards, fielding their junior side in rugby league still and thereby partially reversing the club's 1991 switch from rugby union to rugby league. The decision to return to rugby union was primarily due to the desire of the Lokomotiv club to compete in the Russian rugby union sevens championship following the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

's October 2009 decision to readmit rugby union as an Olympic sport in its seven-a-side format and the unwillingness of the

Rugby Union of Russia Rugby Union of Russia (russian: Союз регбистов России) is the governing body for rugby union in Russia. It was founded in 1936 originally as the Rugby Union of the Soviet Union. The Rugby Union of Russia became affiliated to Wor ...

to admit the Lokomotiv club to play in its rugby union sevens competition without also committing to the full 15-a-side version of rugby union.

2009 squad

Notable international players

* Vadim Postnikov * Petr Sokolov

Honours

*Russian Championship: 9 :: 1983^†, 1993, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 *Russian Cup: 12 :: 1978^†, 1986^†, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 ^†

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 ...

honours

Notes

External links

Official websiteOfficial message boardUnofficial message boardRC Lokomotiv on youtube
{{Rugby union in Russia

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москв ...

Rugby clubs established in 1937

2009 squad

Notable international players

Honours

See also

Notes

External links