Berliner RC
 | ||
| Full name | Berliner Rugby Club e.V. 1926 | |
|---|---|---|
| Union | German Rugby Federation | |
| Founded | 1926 | |
| Location | Berlin, Germany | |
| Ground(s) | Hertha-Amateur-Stadion | |
| Chairman | Mark Temme | |
| Coach(es) | Uwe Maaser[1] | |
| League(s) | Rugby-Bundesliga | |
| 2015–16 | Rugby-Bundesliga North/East, 4th | |
| ||
| Official website | ||
| www | ||
The Berliner Rugby Club is a German rugby union club from Berlin, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga.
History
The club was formed in 1926.
While very successful in its youth department,[2] it has not managed similar achievements on the senior level.
The club has yet to win a national championship, having appeared in the 1989 German rugby union championship final, where it lost 6-20 to TSV Victoria Linden. Two lost Cup finals also stand to its name.
In the 2007-08 Rugby-Bundesliga season, the club finished in fourth place, its best result in the league since adoption of the single-division format in 2001. The 2008-09 season started not as successful with the team sitting in seventh place, just above the relegation zone but good results in the second half of the season saw it finish in fourth place and qualify for the finals. In the semi-finals, SC 1880 Frankfurt proved to strong, defeating BRC 36-15.
With the first team struggling in the Bundesliga because of a number of injuries, the club was forced to withdraw its reserve team from the second division in October 2011, with the players from the side being moved to the first and third team instead.[3]
A league reform in 2012 allowed the club to stay in the league after initially having been relegated as the Bundesliga was expanded from ten to 24 teams. BRC finished first in their group in the 2012-13 season and qualified for the north/east division of the championship round, where it came second. The club was knocked out in the quarter finals of the play-offs after a 7–49 loss to TV Pforzheim.
The club finished second in the north-east championship round in 2013–14, beat RG Heidelberg 31-24 first round of the play-offs and was knocked out by Heidelberger RK in the semi finals. In the 2014–15 season the club finished fourth in the north-east championship group but was knocked out of the first round of the play-offs after a 49–0 oss to RK Heusenstamm.
Club honours
- German rugby union championship
- Runners up: 1989
- German rugby union cup
- Runners up: 1983, 1989
- German sevens championship
- Runners up: 2006
Recent seasons
Recent seasons of the club:[4]
First team
| Year | Division | Position |
| 1997-98 | 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East (II) | 1st — Promoted |
| 1998-99 | Rugby-Bundesliga North/East (I) | 5th |
| Bundesliga qualification round | 7th | |
| 1999-2000 | Rugby-Bundesliga North/East | 5th |
| Bundesliga qualification round | 9th — Relegated | |
| 2000-01 | 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East (II) | 1st |
| Bundesliga qualification round | 7th - Promoted | |
| 2001-02 | Rugby-Bundesliga (I) | 7th |
| 2002-03 | Rugby-Bundesliga | 7th |
| 2003-04 | Rugby-Bundesliga | 5th |
| 2004-05 | Rugby-Bundesliga | 5th |
| 2005-06 | Rugby-Bundesliga | 7th |
| 2006-07 | Rugby-Bundesliga | 5th |
| 2007-08 | Rugby-Bundesliga | 4th |
| 2008-09 | Rugby-Bundesliga | 4th — Semi-finals |
| 2009–10 | Rugby-Bundesliga | 6th |
| 2010–11 | Rugby-Bundesliga | 6th |
| 2011–12 | Rugby-Bundesliga | 9th |
| 2012–13 | Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – East | 1st |
| Rugby-Bundesliga championship round – North-East | 2nd — Quarter finals | |
| 2013–14 | Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – East | 1st |
| Rugby-Bundesliga championship round – North-East | 2nd — Semi finals | |
| 2014–15 | Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – East | 2nd |
| Rugby-Bundesliga championship round – North-East | 4th – First round | |
| 2015–16 | Rugby-Bundesliga North-East | 4th |
- Until 2001, when the single-division Bundesliga was established, the season was divided in autumn and spring, a Vorrunde and Endrunde, whereby the top teams of the Rugby-Bundesliga would play out the championship while the bottom teams together with the autumn 2nd Bundesliga champion would play for Bundesliga qualification. The remainder of the 2nd Bundesliga teams would play a spring round to determine the relegated clubs. Where two placing's are shown, the first is autumn, the second spring. In 2012 the Bundesliga was expanded from ten to 24 teams and the 2nd Bundesliga from 20 to 24 with the leagues divided into four regional divisions.
Reserve team
| Year | Division | Position |
| 2003-04 | Rugby-Regionalliga East (North) (III) | 6th |
| Placings round 1 | 1st | |
| 2004-05 | Rugby-Regionalliga East A | 1st |
| North/East championship round | 4th | |
| 2005-06 | Rugby-Regionalliga East A | 2nd |
| North/East championship round | 6th | |
| 2006-07 | Rugby-Regionalliga East A | 2nd |
| North/East championship round | 2nd | |
| 2007-08 | Rugby-Regionalliga East A | 1st |
| 2008-09 | Rugby-Regionalliga East A | 2nd — Promoted |
| 2009–10 | 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East (II) | 8th |
| 2010–11 | 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East | 8th |
| 2011–12 | 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East | 10th — Withdrawn |
| 2012–13 | Rugby-Regionalliga East (III) | 2nd — Promoted |
| 2013–14 | Rugby-Regionalliga East | 2nd |
| 2014–15 | 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – East | 1st |
| DRV-Pokal – North-East | 7th | |
| 2015–16 | 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga East | 3rd |
Rugby internationals
In Germany's 2006–08 European Nations Cup campaign, Colin Grzanna, Krystian Trochowski, Gerrit van Look and Franck Moutsinga were called up for the national team.
In the 2008–10 campaign, Grzanna and van Look and appeared for the BRC and Germany again, while Raphael Hackl was a new addition to the club's list of internationals.
In the 2010–12 campaign, no player from the club was selected to play for Germany.
The club had one player selected for the German under-18 team at the 2009 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship, Samy Füchsel.[5] Füchsel also played at the 2010 tournament.[6]
References
- ^ https://berliner-rugby-club.de/1-herren/
- ^ BRC website - Club info Archived 2008-12-15 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed: 13 January 2009
- ^ Berliner RC zieht 2. Mannschaft aus der 2. Bundesliga Nord/Ost zurück (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 12 October 2011, accessed: 31 October 2011
- ^ RugbyWeb Ergebnisarchiv (in German) rugbyweb.de - Results archive, accessed: 24 July 2012
- ^ U18-EM: Deutschland feiert klaren Auftaktsieg[permanent dead link] (in German) Rugby-Journal - 2009 squad, published: 4 April 2009, accessed: 30 April 2010
- ^ U18 in Bestbesetzung zur EM nach Italien (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 23 March 2010, accessed: 30 April 2010