The East German rugby union championship was a

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 it ...

competition in the

German Democratic Republic 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 **G ...

, commonly referred to as East Germany. The competition was first held in 1952 and had its last edition in 1990, being terminated by the events of the

German reunion German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

Competition

The competition was carried out via the ''DDR Rugby-Oberliga'', which consisted of, for a large part of its live time, eight clubs. Below it sat the ''2. Liga'', the second division.Post SV Berlin Rugby - Archiv
Chronik 30 Jahre - History of Post SV Berlin Rugby, accessed: 11 April 2010 The competition was carried out in a home-and-away season, a final was not played.

Participating clubs

The number of rugby clubs in East Germany was never large and the ''Rugby-Oberliga'' had, at times, even first and reserve teams playing in it. The following clubs played in the league and championship and some stage: * BSG Stahl Hennigsdorf, ''now SV Stahl Hennigsdorf Rugby'' * SC DHfK Leipzig, ''rugby department now part of

RC Leipzig The RC Leipzig is a German rugby union club from Leipzig, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga, the top tier of German rugby. The club, formed in 2004, traces its history back to the early 1950s, when a number of successful rugby clubs were ...

'' Rugby beim TSV 1893 Leipzig-Wahren
TSV 1893 Leipzig-Wahren website, accessed: 15 April 2010 *

ASK Vorwärts Berlin 1. FC Frankfurt is a German football club based in Frankfurt (Oder), Brandenburg. The club was founded as the army club SV VP Vorwärts Leipzig in Leipzig in East Germany in 1951. The club won six East German championships as ASK Vorwärts Berl ...

, ''rugby department defunct'' * BSG Lokomotive Wahren Leipzig, ''rugby department now part of

'' * BSG Stahl Leegebruch, ''club defunct'' *

BSG Stahl Brandenburg BSG Stahl Brandenburg is a German association football club based in Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg. History The club was formed in 1950 as ''BSG Einheit Brandenburg'' and played its earliest seasons in the II division of East German foo ...

, ''rugby department now SG Stahl Brandenburg Rugby'' * BSG Post Berlin, ''rugby department now

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 19 ...

'' * Dynamo Potsdam, ''became Polizei SV Potsdam, club defunct'' * Empor Velten, ''now Veltener RC'' * Ingenieurschule Hennigsdorf, ''club defunct'' * BSG Lok Berlin * BSG Gastronom Leipzig, ''rugby department now part of

'' * BSG Lok Falkensee *

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, are a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Ka ...

, ''rugby department defunct''

Winners

The

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

championship was held from 1952 to 1990, with the

Stahl Hennigsdorf Rugby The Stahl Hennigsdorf Rugby is a German rugby union club from Hennigsdorf, currently playing in the tier-four Regionalliga East B. The team is part of a larger club, the Stahl Hennigsdorf, which also offers other sports like volleyball, table ten ...

as the most successful team, winning 27 championships:.Rugby in Hennigsdorf - Eine Chronologie
Stahl Hennigsdorf website - club history, accessed: 10 April 2010
sport-komplett.de, accessed: 10 April 2010

Winners by number of titles

References

External links

DRV website
German rugby federation website {{Top sport leagues in East Germany

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Rugby union competitions in Germany Sports leagues established in 1952 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1990 1952 establishments in East Germany Defunct rugby union leagues in Europe

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 it ...