Hamburger SV Rugby
Encyclopedia
The Hamburger SV Rugby is a German
rugby union
club from Hamburg
, currently playing in the Rugby-Verbandsliga North, the fourth tier of rugby in Germany. The team is part of a larger club, the Hamburger SV
, which also offers other sports like association football, baseball
and cricket
.
Despite this, the team, for its most part, stood in the shadow of local rival FC St. Pauli Rugby
. HSV only managed to take out two Hamburg championships, one in 1938 and another 40 years later, in 1978. The later did however earn the club promotion to the Rugby-Bundesliga
, the first division of German rugby, but its existence there was short lived.
In the 1990s, the club closed its rugby department because of a lack of members. In March 2006, the department was reestablished and a first team formed, made up to 90% of players who had not played rugby before.
The new rugby department continues to struggle however, suffering from a lack of players. It had to withdraw its team from the Regionalliga in 2008 and join the Verbandsliga instead because of a lack of players and has found it hard to win games. It does however continue to operate.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
club from Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, currently playing in the Rugby-Verbandsliga North, the fourth tier of rugby in Germany. The team is part of a larger club, the Hamburger SV
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...
, which also offers other sports like association football, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
.
History
HSV's rugby department was formed on 16 October 1925 through track and field athletes of the club and external rugby players. It is the oldest rugby department in Hamburg.Despite this, the team, for its most part, stood in the shadow of local rival FC St. Pauli Rugby
FC St. Pauli Rugby
The FC St. Pauli Rugby is a German rugby union club from Hamburg, currently playing in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East. The team is part of the multi-sport club FC St. Pauli, which also offers other sports like Association football, American football and Baseball.While the men's team has had...
. HSV only managed to take out two Hamburg championships, one in 1938 and another 40 years later, in 1978. The later did however earn the club promotion to the Rugby-Bundesliga
Rugby-Bundesliga
The Rugby-Bundesliga is the highest level of Germany's rugby union league system, organised by the German Rugby Federation.The league is predominantly amateur, with only two of the ten clubs in the league being professional outfits,the SC 1880 Frankfurt and Heidelberger RK.-History:The German rugby...
, the first division of German rugby, but its existence there was short lived.
In the 1990s, the club closed its rugby department because of a lack of members. In March 2006, the department was reestablished and a first team formed, made up to 90% of players who had not played rugby before.
The new rugby department continues to struggle however, suffering from a lack of players. It had to withdraw its team from the Regionalliga in 2008 and join the Verbandsliga instead because of a lack of players and has found it hard to win games. It does however continue to operate.
Recent seasons
| Year | Division | Position |
| 2006–07 | Rugby-Regionalliga North Rugby-Regionalliga The Rugby-Regionalliga is the third-highest level of Germany's Rugby union league system, organised by the German Rugby Federation. Its set below the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga... (III) |
8th |
| 2007–08 | Rugby-Verbandsliga North (IV) | 5th |
| 2008–09 | Rugby-Verbandsliga North | 7th |
| 2009–10 | Rugby-Verbandsliga North | 4th |
| 2010–11 | Rugby-Verbandsliga Hamburg | 4th |