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The Rugby-Bundesliga is the highest level of the league system 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 ...
, organised by the
German Rugby Federation The German Rugby Federation (german: Deutscher Rugby-Verband or ''DRV'') is the governing body for rugby union in Germany. It organizes the German national team and the three league divisions: the Rugby-Bundesliga, the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga and ...
. The league is predominantly amateur, with only one club in the league being officially a professional outfit, the
Heidelberger RK The Heidelberger Ruderklub (Heidelberger RK or HRK for short) is a German rowing club and rugby union club from Heidelberg, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga. The club is one of only two professional rugby clubs in Germany, the other bei ...
. From 2012 to 2015 the Bundesliga was expanded from ten to 24 and the league divided into four regional divisions of six teams each. Below the Bundesliga the 2. Bundesliga was organised in a similar fashion. From 2015 onwards the league returned to sixteen clubs.


History

The German rugby championship was first played in 1909 and, with the exception of 2002, has always been determined by a final. The Rugby-Bundesliga was first played in two divisions in the 1971-72 season and soon consisted of six teams in the North and ten teams in the South. However, of the eight southern teams, five were located in
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 ...
and after 1975 all northern teams were from
Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
. The founding members of the league were SV Odin Hannover, SV 1908 Ricklingen,
DSV 1878 Hannover The DSV 78/08 Ricklingen was a German rugby union team from the Ricklingen suburb of Hannover, playing in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East in 2008-09. The team was an on-the-field union of DSV 78 Hannover and SV 1908 Ricklingen, two successful ...
,
TSV Victoria Linden The TSV Victoria Linden is a German rugby union club from the Linden suburb of Hannover, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga. Apart from rugby, the club also offers other sports, such as triathlon and athletics. The club is Germany's record ...
, SC Siemensstadt and
FC St. Pauli Rugby The FC St. Pauli Rugby is the rugby union section of German sports club FC St. Pauli, based in Hamburg. The squad currently plays in the Rugby-Bundesliga, the highest level of the German rugby league system. Other sports practised at St. Pauli are ...
in the north and SC Neuenheim,
RG Heidelberg The RG Heidelberg (''german: Rudergesellschaft Heidelberg'', literally "Heidelberg Rowing Club") is a German rugby union club from Heidelberg, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga. Apart from rugby, the club also offers the sport of rowing. ...
,
Heidelberger RK The Heidelberger Ruderklub (Heidelberger RK or HRK for short) is a German rowing club and rugby union club from Heidelberg, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga. The club is one of only two professional rugby clubs in Germany, the other bei ...
,
Heidelberger TV The Heidelberger TV is a German rugby union club from Heidelberg, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga. Apart from rugby, the club also offers other sports like basketball, tennis and badminton. The club has three German rugby union champio ...
,
TSV Handschuhsheim The TSV Handschuhsheim is a German rugby union club from Heidelberg, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga. Apart from rugby, the club also offers other sports like association football, handball and tennis. History The club was formed in 18 ...
,
RC Hürth R&C, RC, R/C, Rc, or rc may refer to: Science and technology Computing * rc, the default Command line interface in Version 10 Unix and Plan 9 from Bell Labs * .rc (for "run commands"), a filename extension for configuration files in UNIX-like ...
,
Bonner SC Bonner SC is a German association football club based in Bonn. The club was formed in 1965 through the merger of ''Bonner FV'' and ''Tura Bonn''. Its former women's football department won the German national championship in 1975. History ''B ...
,
ASV Köln Rugby The following meanings of the abbreviation ASV are known to Wikipedia: * Adaptive servo-ventilation, a treatment for sleep apnea * Air-to-Surface Vessel radar (also "anti-surface vessel"), aircraft-mounted radars used to find ships and submarines * ...
,
SC 1880 Frankfurt The Sport-Club Frankfurt 1880 e.V. (or SC 1880 Frankfurt) is a German sports club from Frankfurt am Main. The club is mainly known for its rugby union team, which currently plays in the Rugby-Bundesliga, the highest level of the league system for ...
and
Eintracht Frankfurt Rugby The Eintracht Frankfurt Rugby is a German rugby union club from Frankfurt am Main, currently playing in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga, the second tier of rugby in Germany. It is part of a larger club, the Eintracht Frankfurt, which also offers other s ...
. The league has changed its format a number of times over the years. In 1997-98, it played as a single-division league with eight teams. From 1998 to 2001, it was divided into two regional divisions again. The top-three teams from each of the two divisions then qualified for the finals round, held in a home-and-away format. The top two teams out of this round then played the German Final in a home-and-away format. The bottom three teams in each division played a spring round together with the top three teams of the
2nd Rugby-Bundesliga 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 ti ...
to determine the clubs who would play in the Bundesliga in the next season. Since 2001, the Bundesliga has been organised as a single division again with eight teams playing each other in a home-and-away season. The top two teams play each other in the championship final. In its first season, 2001–02, no final was held and the regular season winner was also the German champions. In the first 34 editions of the Final, there was always a team from Hanover present. Only in 2006 did this stop, and no team from Hanover has played in the final since. Below the Bundesliga, two 2nd Bundesligas, north and south, form the second tier of the league system, with the winners promoted to the Bundesliga. The third tier of rugby is formed by the nine '' Regionalligen'', regional leagues.
SC 1880 Frankfurt The Sport-Club Frankfurt 1880 e.V. (or SC 1880 Frankfurt) is a German sports club from Frankfurt am Main. The club is mainly known for its rugby union team, which currently plays in the Rugby-Bundesliga, the highest level of the league system for ...
, the 2007-08 champions, had to wait 83 years for its fifth title, having last won the championship in 1925. The club is the only rugby club in Germany considered semi-professional. On 19 July 2008 at the annual general meeting of the German rugby association, the ''DRV'' decided to expand the Bundesliga and slightly change its modus. It was decided to expand the league to nine teams for 2008-09 and ten teams for 2009-10, meaning only one club will be relegated in 2009, and two promoted. Also, the play-off format was changed, with four teams qualifying for the finals. At the bottom end, in 2008-09, the last two teams would determine one relegated club via playoff. From 2009-10, the bottom four clubs will play-off to determine two relegated teams. The women's Rugby-Bundesliga consists of six teams in 2008 and also plays a final between the top two clubs at the end of the season. As a sign of the gap between the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga,
TSV Victoria Linden The TSV Victoria Linden is a German rugby union club from the Linden suburb of Hannover, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga. Apart from rugby, the club also offers other sports, such as triathlon and athletics. The club is Germany's record ...
, who only won the 2009-10 North/East division in the last round of the championship, declined promotion, citing the additional cost of travelling and the limited player pool as their reason. The South/West champion, Stuttgarter RC, has also indicated that it would not take up promotion, leaving the Bundesliga with only eight clubs for the next season. It also meant, for the first time ever, that no club from
Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
would compete at the top level of German rugby. ''DSV 78'' protested the decision to reduce the league to eight teams again and thereby relegating the club. The annual convention of the German Rugby Federation however decided in early July 2010 to allow ''DSV 78'' to stay in the Bundesliga. In February 2011, the ''DRV'' decided that the league would continue to play with ten teams in the near future. In mid-July 2012 the ''Deutsche Rugby Tag'', the annual general meeting of the ''DRV'' decided to approve a league reform proposed by German international
Manuel Wilhelm Manuel Wilhelm (born 15 December 1980 in Ludwigsburg) is a German List of Germany national rugby union players, international rugby union player, playing for the RG Heidelberg in the Rugby-Bundesliga and the German national rugby union team. Manu ...
. The new system saw the number of clubs in the Bundesliga increased from ten to 24, the league divided into four regional divisions of six clubs each and the finals series expanded from four to sixteen teams. One of the main aims of the reform was to reduce the number of kilometres travelled by individual teams and therefore reduce the travel expenses. The system will remain mostly unchanged for the 2013-14 season. The only changes will be a play-off between the fourth and fifth placed teams in each group after the first stage to determine the clubs advancing to the second stage. The championship play-offs after the second stage will be reduced from sixteen to twelve clubs with the top two teams in each group advancing directly to the quarter finals while the remaining eight will play a wild card round to determine the other four quarter finalists. At the annual general meeting of the DRV in July 2015 it was decided to return to a sixteen club format with two regional divisions of eight. The last placed in each division would be relegated while the seventh placed teams would have to play-off against the third and fourth best team of the 2. Bundesliga. The German championship in turn will be contested by the best two teams in each group.Rugby-Bundesliga startet am Wochenende in ihre 45. Saison - Spielmodus erneut reformiert
totalrugby.de, published: 27 August 2015, accessed: 12 September 2015


Clubs participating in 2018


Championship finals

The German rugby champions are determined by a final (except in 2001-02), currently contested by the two top teams of the Bundesliga:


Finals

Source:


Winners & Finalists

As of 2016, this is the standing in the all-time winners list of the Bundesliga:


League placings

Since 1998, the following clubs have played in the league. From 1999 to 2001, the league consisted of two regional divisions of six teams each. After an autumn (A) round, the top three from each group would reach the championship finals round in spring (S). The bottom three, together with the top three from each of the two 2nd Bundesligas would play a promotion round in spring with the top three in each group playing in the Bundesliga the following autumn. In 1997-98 and from 2001 to 2012, the league has been played in a single-division format. From 2012–13 to 2014–15 it had been divided into a first (I) and second round (II), followed by play-offs: * 1
DSV 78 Hannover DSV 78 Hannover, founded as ''DFV Hannover'' in 1878, is Germany's oldest rugby club. The club played in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga under the name DSV 78/08 Ricklingen, having formed an on-the-field union with SV 08 Ricklingen, another club from ...
and
SV 08 Ricklingen The SV 08 Ricklingen is a German rugby union club from the Ricklingen suburb of Hanover. The team plays in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga, the second tier of German rugby. After having formed an on-the-field union with DSV 78 Hannover from 2003 to 2009 ...
fielded a combined team, the DSV 78/08 Ricklingen, from 2003 to 2009. * 2
Post SV Berlin Rugby The RK 03 Berlin is a German rugby union club from Berlin, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga. The club was formed in 2003, when the rugby department of the ''Post SV Berlin'' left the club. ''Post SV Rugby'' itself had been formed in 1967 ...
left ''Post SV'' in 2003 to form
RK 03 Berlin The RK 03 Berlin is a German rugby union club from Berlin, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga. The club was formed in 2003, when the rugby department of the ''Post SV Berlin'' left the club. ''Post SV Rugby'' itself had been formed in 1967 ...
. * 3
TuS Wunsdorf Tus or TUS may refer to: * Tus (biology), a protein that binds to terminator sequences * Thales Underwater Systems, an international defence contractor * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language, ISO 639-3 code Education * Technological Univers ...
and
SV 08 Ricklingen The SV 08 Ricklingen is a German rugby union club from the Ricklingen suburb of Hanover. The team plays in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga, the second tier of German rugby. After having formed an on-the-field union with DSV 78 Hannover from 2003 to 2009 ...
fielded a combined team, the 08 Ricklingen/Wunsdorf, from 2012 onwards.


Key


Player statistics

The top try and point scorers in recent season were:


References


attendance

Rugby Bundesliga has not got a lot of attendance Total attendance for tournament = 10,221
average attendance for match In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...
= 50


External links


German Rugby Community

German Rugby Federation website

Scrum.de - Result archive

Rugbyweb.de - Result archive
{{Rugby union in Europe National rugby union premier leagues 1971 establishments in West Germany Sports leagues established in 1971 Ger Professional sports leagues in Germany