München RFC

München RFC
Full name München Rugby Football Club e.V.
Union German Rugby Federation
Founded 1977
Location Munich, Germany
Chairman Austria Helmut Kraiger
Coach(es) Republic of Ireland Rory Donoghue
Captain(s) Scott Warner (ENG)
League(s) 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga (II)
2014-15 Liga-Pokal South/West, 1st
Team kit
Official website
www.munich-rugby.de

The München RFC is a German rugby union club from Munich, currently playing in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga.

History

While rugby had been played in Munich and Bavaria before the interception of the MRFC in 1977, four clubs existed in the city in the 1920s and 1930s,[1] the club's game on 10 June 1978 was the first proper game of rugby played in the city of Munich in almost 50 years.[2]

Rugby had been in hibernation in Bavaria since the days of the Nazis and when US soldiers in the garrison of Augsburg formed a team in 1974, it was the first post-war rugby club to be formed in Bavaria.[3] After a number of other military teams were formed in the following years, MRFC became the first civilian club to be formed in the state in 1977, by British exiles, mostly from Wales. The club was formed in a pub in the Isarvorstadt and played its first game that autumn.[4]

The first game it played in Munich, in June 1978, was against the Bad Tölz US Army and it took another year to play its first German opponent, RC Rottweil, on 30 June 1979. Not until 1985 was a second non-military team established in Bavaria, the rugby department of TuS Fürstenfeldbruck.

The club was officially registered in 1982 and in July 1983 attained incorporated status (German: e.V.). However, it could not obtain a regular home ground in Munich and had to play its matches in Fürstenfeldbruck.

Due to Bavaria neither having a league nor a rugby federation in those days, the club had to join the Regionalliga in neighbouring Baden-Württemberg in 1984.

In 1990, the club's long term coach, Rory Donoghue, signed up and a generation change was carried out within it. A quick result of this was the winning of the South German Championship in 1991.

MRFC finally obtained a home ground within Munich, Am Hedernfeld and was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga South in 1992, where it only lasted for one season.

After two seasons back in tier three, the club once more won promotion to the second division in 1995. A year later, the club became one of the founding members of the Bavarian Rugby Federation, the RVBY.

In 1998, the club celebrated promotion to the Rugby-Bundesliga for the first time, only to be denied a licence and having to stay in division two.

In 2000, the MRFC finally reached the top-tier of German rugby through a third place in the Bundesliga qualification round. Its first season in the new league was reasonably successful and any other year, a second place in the spring qualification round would have been enough to hold on to its league place but a restructuring of the German league system, but the move from two to a single division Bundesliga meant, RFC had to return to the 2nd Bundesliga.

The club's greatest success to date, the championship in the 2nd Bundesliga in 2002, won against North/East champion Post SV Berlin, meant promotion back to the elite league.

Again, the stay in the Bundesliga lasted for only one season and the team was relegated back down immediately, without a win and 14 losses.

Since then, the club has been playing in the 2nd Bundesliga South/East as a mid-table side. In 2004, it was joined there by local rival StuSta München. Another promotion to the Bundesliga was not in sight in 2008-09 either, with the team coming fourth in the league once more.

In the 2012-13 season the club competed in the 2nd Bundesliga, finishing in the upper half of the table and qualifying for the play-offs for the DRV-Pokal. The club advanced to the semi finals of the play-offs where it was knocked out by Heidelberger TV.

The club once more qualified for the play-offs to the DRV-Pokal in 2013–14, where it was knocked out by USV Potsdam Rugby in the first round. In the 2014–15 season the club finished first in the south-west Liga-Pokal group and faces RC Dresden next in the quarter finals of the play-offs after a first round bye.

Since 2002, the club also has a women's team and with Yvonne Schwarzkopf its first German international.

Club honours

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the club:[5]

Men

First team

Year Division Position
1998-99 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West (II)
Bundesliga qualification round 4th
1999-2000 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 3rd
Bundesliga qualification round 3rd Promoted
2000-01 Rugby-Bundesliga South/West (I) 4th
Bundesliga qualification round 2nd Relegated
2001-02 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West (II) 1st Promoted
2002-03 Rugby-Bundesliga (I) 8th Relegated
2003-04 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West (II) 3rd
2004-05 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 3rd
2005-06 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 3rd
2006-07 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 6th
2007-08 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 5th
2008-09 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 4th
2009–10 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 2nd
2010–11 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 3rd
2011–12 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 7th
2012–13 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – South 2nd
DRV-Pokal – South-West 4th Semi finals
2013–14 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – South 2nd
DRV-Pokal – South-West 3rd — First round
2014–15 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – South 3rd
Liga-Pokal – South-West 1st

Reserve team

Year Division Position
2001-02 Rugby-Regionalliga Bavaria (III) 4th
2002-03 Rugby-Regionalliga Bavaria 3rd
2003-04 Rugby-Regionalliga Bavaria 4th
2004-05 Rugby-Regionalliga Bavaria 5th
2005-06 Rugby-Regionalliga Bavaria 4th
2006–07 Rugby-Regionalliga Bavaria 5th
2007–08 Rugby-Regionalliga Bavaria 4th
2008–09 Rugby-Regionalliga Bavaria 4th
2009–10 Rugby-Regionalliga Bavaria 7th
2010–11 Rugby-Regionalliga Bavaria 4th
2011–12 Rugby-Regionalliga Bavaria 5th
2012–13 Rugby-Regionalliga Bavaria 4th

Women

Year Division Position
2002-03 Women's Rugby Bundesliga (I) 4th
2003-04 Women's Rugby Bundesliga 4th Relegated
2004-05
2005-06 Women's 2nd Rugby Bundesliga (II) 3rd
2006–07 Women's 2nd Rugby Bundesliga 4th
2007–08 Women's 2nd Rugby Bundesliga 3rd
2008–09 Women's 2nd Rugby Bundesliga 6th
2009–10 Women's 2nd Rugby Bundesliga 6th

References

  1. History of Bavarian Rugby Bavarian rugby association website, accessed: 25 January 2009
  2. The History of München RFC MRFC website, accessed: 25 January 2009
  3. History of Bavarian Rugby Bavarian rugby association website, accessed: 25 January 2009
  4. The History of München RFC MRFC website, accessed: 25 January 2009
  5. RugbyWeb Ergebnisarchiv (German) rugbyweb.de - Results archive, accessed: 24 July 2012

External links