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RC Lechia Gdańsk

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Lechia Gdańsk
Nickname(s)Gdańskie Lwy (Gedanian Lions)
Pasiaki (The stripes)
Władcy Północy (Rulers of the North)
Biało-Zieloni (White-Greens)
Lechiści (Lechistas)
Founded1 May 1956; 68 years ago (1956-05-01) as "BKS Lechia"
1954 as "TWF" (unofficial)
LocationGdańsk, Poland
Ground(s)Gdańsk Athletics and Rugby Stadium (Capacity: 924)
ChairmanPoland Bogdan Jancen
Coach(es)Republic of Ireland Sana Govender
League(s)Rugby Ekstraliga
1st kit
2nd kit

Lechia Gdańsk is a Polish rugby union team playing in the Rugby Ekstraliga. It is one of the oldest and most successful teams in Polish rugby.

History

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In early days of Polish rugby in 1950's Gdańsk was one of the epicentres of the sport, mainly of interest among students. The very first 2 teams were "AZS Politechnika", the team representing the Gdańsk Polytechnic and the "Technikum Wychowania Fizycznego" team, the team of the Technical Sports College, abbreviated to "TWF". The main driving force behind the TWF team was a man named Henryk Hodiak. When in 1955 rugby became recognised by the Minister of Sport and a national rugby federation was set up, it allowed the start registration process of teams. When "AZS Politechnika" became one of the first teams to register, Hodiak started to look to register his own team in one of the local sports clubs. Thanks to Sławomir Zieleniewski, an activist at BKS Lechia and a lecturer at TWF, and Stanisław Michowski, the headmaster of TWF, talks began with Stefan Kowalski, the director of Lechia.[1]

The club was officially set up on 1 May 1956. The bulk of team was composed of TWF students, strengthened by Lechia players from other sections of the club. The first match was against the aforementioned Politechnic. The friendly match took place on 21 September 1956 with a disputed result of 14:0 win over AZS, which was disputed due to claims that no one was keeping score.[2]

Poland's first ever rugby season was in 1956 between September and December. There was no national league but only 5 regional divisions which were meant to determine who shall play in the top flight which was to be established later on. Lechia's first official match was played against Stal Gdańsk on 16 September 1956 and finished in a 6:6 draw. Few days later on 1 November Lechia won their first official match 6:3, away against Goplania Inowrocław.[3]

After that Lechia began to play in national competitions, and whereas most other teams quickly folded after the initial first few seasons, Lechia went to win numerous titles, and remain to this day the only team never to have been relegated from the top division.

Honours

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Senior

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  • Polish Championship Winners (13): 1960, 1961, 1970, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14
  • Polish Championship Runners-up (11): 1963, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1981–82, 1985, 1986, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2009–10, 2015–16
  • Polish Championship 3rd place (15): 1962, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1973–74, 1976–77, 1980–81, 1987, 1988, 1998–99, 2003–04, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2014–15
  • Polish Cup Winners (12): 1977, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2013

Junior

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  • Polish Championship Winners: 1960, 1967, 1980, 1998
  • Polish Championship Runners-up: 1959, 1961, 1962, 1976, 2012
  • Polish Championship 3rd place: 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996

League History

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Season League Position Played W D L Pts F Pts A Pts
1958 I liga 10 18 3 2 13 68 221 24
1959 I liga 7 11 5 2 4 57 71 24
1960 I liga 1 14 10 2 2 116 64 36
1961 I liga 1 15 14 0 1 311 45 43
1962 I liga 3 8 5 0 3 129 53 18
1963 I liga 2 6 3 0 3 61 73 12
1964 I liga 4 7 1 2 4 55 103 11
1965 I liga 4 10 3 0 7 108 128 16
1966 I liga 4 10 4 0 6 127 144 18
1967 I liga 3 12 7 0 5 137 116 26
1968 I liga 3 12 6 1 5 111 118 25
1969 I liga 3 14 9 1 4 172 89 33
1970 I liga 1 16 15 0 1 263 84 46
1971 Puchar Polski 2 9 7 0 2 151 47 23
1971–72 I liga 2 20 15 1 4 278 180 51
1972–73 I liga 2 20 14 1 5 528 187 49
1973–74 I liga 3 20 9 3 8 223 204 41
1974–75 I liga 4 20 10 0 10 277 253 39
1975–76 I liga 6 14 5 1 8 144 194 25
1976–77 I liga 3 14 10 0 4 248 128 34
1977–78 I liga 5 14 6 0 8 201 287 26
1978–79 I liga 5 14 5 2 7 269 246 25
1979–80 I liga 7 14 4 0 10 155 226 22
1980–81 I liga 3 14 9 0 5 191 140 32
1981–82 I liga 2 16 11 0 5 278 173 38
1983 I liga 6 14 5 1 8 255 193 25
1984 I liga 4 14 8 0 6 176 167 30
1985 I liga 2 14 9 2 3 205 96 34
1986 I liga 2 18 15 0 3 360 139 48
1987 I liga 3 17 9 1 7 272 216 36
1988 I liga 3 17 14 0 3 401 156 44
1989 I liga 5 14 9 0 5 269 214 32
1990 I liga 6 14 6 1 7 213 209 27
1991 I liga 2 12 8 1 3 272 134 29
1992 I liga 4 14 4 2 8 262 211 24
1993 I liga 2 16 11 2 3 350 176 40
1994 I liga 1 16 15 0 1 464 117 46
1995 I liga 1 14 12 0 2 574 171 38
1996 I liga 1 16 13 0 3 560 199 42
1997 I liga 2 16 11 0 5 565 262 38
1998 I liga 1 10 8 0 2 369 160 26
1998–99 I liga 3 14 10 0 4 536 225 34
1999–2000 I liga 1 14 12 0 2 447 123 38
2000–01 I liga 1 16 15 0 1 606 194 46
2001–02 I liga 1 18 15 1 2 557 196 49
2002–03 I liga 4 16 10 0 6 410 324 36
2003–04 I liga 3 16 11 1 4 475 238 39
2004–05 I liga 4 16 9 1 6 426 207 35
2005–06 I liga 5 18 11 0 7 490 265 40
2006–07 I liga 4 18 14 0 4 425 269 44
2007–08 I liga 3 18 11 1 6 565 221 59
2008–09 I liga 3 18 14 0 4 684 206 70
2009–10 I liga 2 14 10 0 4 348 162 50
2010–11 I liga 3 14 11 0 3 496 186 54
2011–12 I liga 1 14 11 0 3 613 191 55
2012–13 I liga 1 14 10 0 4 549 185 52
2013–14 I liga 1 14 11 0 3 545 217 52
2014–15 I liga 3 19 8 1 10 517 384 32
2015–16 I liga 2 14 12 0 2 603 202 60
2016–17 I liga 4 14 7 0 7 371 295 35
2018 I liga 4 18 10 0 8 453 391 49
2019 I liga 9 9 2 1 6 168 255 11
2019–20 [a] I liga 6 8 3 0 5 187 156 17
2020–21 I liga 6 18 7 1 10 454 488 42
2021–22 I liga 4 18 11 1 6 499 436 59
2022–23 I liga 5 18 8 0 10 527 507 43

Notes

  1. ^ The 2019–20 season was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic after 8 games.

Rugby sevens

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RC Lechia Gdańsk sevens is the rugby sevens section of Lechia Gdańsk formed in 1996. The team is one of the most successful in Polands Rugby 7's championships, finishing in the top 3 in every season they have participated.

The Lechia Gdańsk sevens team was created to take part in the newly formed Polish Rugby 7's Championships which took place in 1996. In the first championship Lechia performed strongly finishing in 3rd place, repeating the feat the following year. Despite Lechia starting strongly in the Polish championships first two seasons, the team was removed from the Lechia Rugby club from 1998 until returning in 2009. Upon Lechias return the team in 2009, the team once again showed their quality finishing as runners-up.[4][5]

Lechia won their first Polish Rugby 7's championship the following year in 2010, beating AZS-AWF Warsaw in the final. This win saw the toppling of AZS-AWF Warsaw being Polands dominant team and saw Lechia rising to take their place. Lechia won 7 championships in a row from 2010–2016 until their domination came to an end with defeat to Posnania in the final in 2017.[6] Lechia returned to the top of the sport the following year, winning a record equalling 8th championship (shared with AZS-AWF Warsaw) after a closely fought final with Posnania.[7]

After their record equalling season, the Lechia sevens team were once again removed from the league system for the next three years, returning again in 2021 when they secured a third-place finish.

Honours

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Polish Rugby Sevens Championship

  • Winners (8): 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
  • Runners-up (2): 2009, 2017
  • Third place (3): 1996, 1997, 2021–22

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Historia rugby w Polsce". pzrugby.pl.
  5. ^ "XV Polish Senior Rugby Championship "7" - Sochaczew, May 1, 2009". pzrugby.pl. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011.
  6. ^ "Mistrzostwo Polski 2015-2016 : Rozgrywki". pzrugby.pl.
  7. ^ "Mistrzostwo Polski 2015-2016 : Rozgrywki". pzrugby.pl.
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