Real Madrid Rugby was the

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 ...

section of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Real Madrid C.F. Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally worn ...

Established in 1924, the team achieved 4 unofficial regional titles and 1

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

title in 1934, before being closed in 1948.El Real Madrid retoma su sección de rugby
/ref> Although the section is currently extinct, there were some attempts to re-introduce the practise of rugby, but they were not finally carried out, including an unsuccessful agreement with rugby club

CRC Madrid The Club de Rugby Pozuelo, also known as CRC Pozuelo, is a Spanish rugby union club sited in Pozuelo de Alarcón. The club currently competes in the División de Honor, the top division of Spanish rugby. The senior squad plays its matches at Cam ...

to have a team representing them at División de Honor, the first division of Spanish rugby.

History

The rugby section of Real Madrid was established by some young members of the club, with former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

Eulogio Aranguren among them. On 10 January 1925, the squad played its first match v.

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

in the Stadium Metropolitano, which was won by Real Madrid 27–0. During its first years of existence, Real Madrid Rugby played at different venues, such as Chamartín, El Estadio, El Campo de Los Suizos and Canillejas. Realmadrid rugby 1933-34

On 25 January 1925, Real Madrid played Infantry Academy of Toledo at

Estadio Chamartín Estadio Chamartín was a multi-use stadium in Madrid, Spain. It was initially used as the stadium of Real Madrid matches before the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium opened in 1947. The stadium held 22,500 people and was built in 1924. The stadium wa ...

, with a new win for Real Madrid by 23–9. After the match, the team was also awarded its first trophy. At regional level, Real Madrid Rugby won four consecutive Campeonato Regional Centro, during the first years of the 1930s.El CRC escenificará un Real Madrid-Barcelona
by Fermín de la Calle, ''As'', 2 Mar 2008 In 1934, Real Madrid won its first national title, the

Copa del Rey de Rugby The Copa del Rey de Rugby (previously known as Campeonato de España de Rugby) is the national rugby cup. The competition was founded in 1926 and, currently is the second most important competition after the División de Honor de Rugby. All champ ...

, after defeating Universitario de Valencia by 14–6. It would be its only title in that competition. Some of the most notable players of that final were

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

Carlos García San Miguel and Ramón Resines. After a hiatus due to the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

(1936–39), the rugby section of Real Madrid fell in popularity and was discontinued in 1948. In an attempt to bring the sport back to the club, in 2008 Real Madrid made arrangements with rugby club

(also known as CRC Pozuelo) to be represented in the Spanish premier league, División de Honor. When the agreement was about to be signed, president of Real Madrid

Ramón Calderón José Ramón Calderón Ramos (born 26 May 1951) is a Spanish lawyer who is the former President of Real Madrid. He got his Law Degree in the University of Navarra, Spain in 1974 and he worked in London, England, as a lawyer, in 1975 and 1976. A ...

, who had been the main architect of the return of rugby to the club, resigned from his role following allegations of vote-rigging for the confirmation for the financial budget. Real Madrid exploded into a crisis that suspended many projects and operations in the club, including the rugby section. With the coming of

Florentino Pérez Florentino Pérez Rodríguez (; born 8 March 1947) is a Spanish businessman, civil engineer, former politician, and the current president of Real Madrid as well as Chairman and CEO of Grupo ACS, a civil engineering company. He was also the first ...

to the club for a second term, past negotiations were not resumed. Therefore, rugby section has remained inactive since then. After that, Atlético de Madrid made a deal with CRC Madrid to have a rugby team in the División de Honor. The CRC squad agreed to use the name, shield and colors of Atlético Madrid during the time the agreement was in force.Los colchoneros, tendrán un equipo de rugby en División de Honor
22 Aug 2012

Honours

(1): 1934

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Real Madrid Rugby R 1924 establishments in Spain 1948 disestablishments in Spain Rugby union teams in Spain Defunct rugby union teams