The FC Schwalbe Hannover is a German rugby union 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 a ...

, until recently playing in the Rugby-Regionalliga Lower Saxony. Apart from rugby, the club also offers other sports like tennis, basketball and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

. It is based in the Döhren suburb of Hanover and is the biggest sporting club there. ''FC Schwalbe'' has three German rugby union championship to its name, won in 1923, 1926 and 1936 but has not reached a final since.Die Deutschen Meister der Männer
''DRV'' website - German rugby union champions (men), accessed: 13 April 2010 The term ''Schwalbe'' is the German word for swallow.

History

''FC Schwalbe'' was formed in 1899 as a rugby club, despite the '' Fussball Club'' in its name. It took its name from the swallows that were at home in the area around its first playing field. ''Schwalbe'' reached its first German championship final in 1923, which it won 6-3, beating the SC Neuenheim. Another title followed in 1926, this time an 8-0 victory against SC 1880 Frankfurt. The club's third and final triumph came in 1936, when they beat ''Neuenheim'' once more, 11-0 on this occasion. The club was never able to achieve on a similar level again. In 2003, it won promotion to the tier-two 2nd Bundesliga, but was only able to survive at this level for one season, finishing last and being relegated again. After this, it formed a partnership with DRC Hannover and ''Schwalbe'' fielded a combined side, together with ''DRC's'' reserve team. In 2008, ''Schwalbe'' took out the title in the Rugby-Regionalliga Lower Saxony and then beat SC Siemensstadt on average in the promotion round, winning 19-0 at home and losing 7-16 away. This entitled the team to play in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East in 2008-09, where the club lost every game except one, which was a draw, and withdrew its team three rounds from the end. Relegated from the second division, the partnership between ''Schwalbe'' and ''DRC'' was terminated and the club now fields an independent team again in the Regionalliga, first in Lower Saxony and then in the Regionalliga North. In the 2012–13 season the club does not field a senior men's team.

Club honours

* German rugby union championship ** Champions: 1923, 1926, 1936

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the club:RugbyWeb Ergebnisarchiv
rugbyweb.de - Results archive, accessed: 24 July 2012 * From mid-2000s to 2009, the club played as ''SG Schwalbe/DRC Hannover II'', which was a combined team of ''FC Schwalbe'' and the reserve team of DRC Hannover.

References

External links

*
Official website
*
FC Schwalbe Hannover club info at totalrugby.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hannover, FC Schwalbe German rugby union clubs Rugby clubs established in 1899 Rugby union in Hanover 1899 establishments in Germany