| Full name | Hamburger Sport-Verein e. V. |
|---|---|
| Union | German Rugby Federation |
| Founded | 1887 (club) 1925 (rugby department) |
| Location | Hamburg, Germany |
| Ground(s) | Rugbystadion Saarlandstraße |
| League(s) | Rugby-Verbandsliga Hamburg (IV) |
| 2010–11 | 4th |
| Official website | |
| hsvrugby.jimdo.com/index.php | |
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.
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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.[1]
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.[1]
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.[1]
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.[2]
| Year | Division | Position |
| 2006–07 | Rugby-Regionalliga North (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 |