2. Rugby-Bundesliga

The 2. Rugby-Bundesliga is the second-highest level of Germany's Rugby union league system, organised by the German Rugby Federation. Its set below the Rugby-Bundesliga, the top-tier of German rugby, and above the Rugby-Regionalliga, the third tier.

2. Rugby-Bundesliga
SportRugby union
Founded1990
No. of teams28
Country Germany
Most recent
champion(s)		RC Luxembourg

The league was undergoing a major revamp for the 2012-13 season with the number of clubs expanded from 20 to 24 and the league divided into four regional divisions of six teams each. Above the 2nd Bundesliga the Bundesliga was organised in a similar fashion.

History

The Second Bundesligas were formed after the German reunion in the early 1990s, originally as four regional leagues, North, East, West and South. Later, the four leagues were merged to form two leagues, South/West and North/East. By 2017 the league structure had been again divided into four groups.[1]

Since 2002, the two champions of the leagues play a 2nd Bundesliga championship final which also determines the clubs promoted to the Bundesliga.

The bottom clubs in the league are relegated to the Rugby-Regionalliga, the third tier of rugby in Germany. The top-teams of the Regionalliga are promoted in turn.

The four groups cover the following states in 2017:[1]

State associations in the 2nd Bundesliga, 2017
North East South West
Schleswig-Holstein Brandenburg Baden-Württemberg North Rhine-Westphalia
Hamburg Berlin Bavaria Hesse
Bremen Saxony Rhineland-Palatinate
Lower Saxony Thuringia

In the 2008-09 season, only nine of the sixteen German states have clubs at this level. Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia and Saarland have no 2nd Bundesliga club.

With the RC Luxembourg, a team from Luxembourg, a non-German side competes in the league. The inclusion of this side in the 2009 promotion round to the 2nd Bundesliga caused some debate in regards to its legality, as the club had not qualified through the German league system and was not a member of any of the German regional rugby federations. However, RC Luxembourg's application was declared valid in regards to the German rugby federations rules and regulations and the team finished second in the promotion round, earning a place in the 2nd Bundesliga for 2009-10.[2]

As a sign of the gap between the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga, TSV Victoria Linden, who only won the 2009-10 North/East division in the last round of the championship, declined promotion, citing the additional cost of travelling and the limited player pool as their reason. The South/West champion, Stuttgarter RC, has also indicated that it would not take up promotion, leaving the Bundesliga with only eight clubs for the next season. It also meant, for the first time ever, that no club from Hanover would compete at the top level of German rugby.[3][4] DSV 78 protested the decision to reduce the league to eight teams again and thereby relegating the club.[5] For the 2nd Bundesliga, this also meant, only one team each would be promoted to the two regional divisions to keep the strength at ten teams per league. In the North/East, this was SC Siemensstadt, the club being directly promoted, while, in the South/West, TV Pforzheim won the promotion tournament of the five southern Regionalliga champions in Nuremberg on 12 June 2010.[6]

On 22 August 2011, five days before the 2011-12 season start, the RG Heidelberg withdrew its reserve team from the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West, citing inability to guarantee a full player squad for the whole season and thereby forcing the South/West division to compete with nine clubs only.[7] The Berliner RC II withdrew during the season, also citing a lack of players as the reason while the RU Hohen Neuendorf was disqualified after not fielding a team in two league games.

In mid-July 2012 the Deutsche Rugby Tag, the annual general meeting of the DRV decided to approve a league reform proposed by German international Manuel Wilhelm. The new system saw the number of clubs in the 2nd Bundesliga increased from 20 to 24 and the league divided into four regional divisions of six clubs each. One of the main aims of the reform was to reduce the number of kilometres travelled by individual teams and therefore reduce the travel expenses.[8][9][10] The system will remain mostly unchanged for the 2013-14 season. The only changes will be a play-off between the fourth and fifth placed teams in each group after the first stage to determine the clubs advancing to the second stage. The championship play-offs after the second stage will be reduced from sixteen to twelve clubs with the top two teams in each group advancing directly to the quarter finals while the remaining eight will play a wild card round to determine the other four quarter finalists.[11]

From 2015 onwards the Bundesliga was reduced to sixteen clubs while the 2. Bundesliga remains at twenty four, divided into four regional groups. The winners of these four divisions would play each other for two direct promotion spots to the Bundesliga while the two losers of these games would face the seventh placed clubs from the Bundesliga.[12]

Clubs Participating in 2018
2. Bundesliga - 26 clubs
North

• Bremen 1860 • DRC Hannover • FT Adler Kiel von 1893 • FC St. Pauli • TSV Victoria Linden

 East

• Berliner RC II • Berliner SV 1892 e.V. • RC Dresden e.V. • USV Jena • USV Potsdam • Veltener RC

 West

• Grashof RC Essen • RC Aachen • RC Luxembourg • RSV Köln • Rugby Tourists Münster e.V. • SC Frankfurt 1880 II • TGS Hausen • TuS 95 Düsseldorf

 South

• Heidelberger TV • Karlsruher SV • München RFC • RC Rottweil • RC Unterföhring • StuSta München • Stuttgarter RC

2nd Bundesliga championship finals
Season North/East South/West Result
2001-02 Post SV Berlin München RFC 21-23
2002-03 SC Germania List BSC Offenbach 22-14
2003-04 RK 03 Berlin BSC Offenbach 28-23
2004-05 DSV 78/08 Ricklingen Heidelberger RK 6-18
2005-06 RK 03 Berlin SC 1880 Frankfurt 5-39
2006-07 SC Germania List RK Heusenstamm 10-52
2007-08 RK 03 Berlin ASV Köln 22-6
2008-09 DSV 78/08 Ricklingen SC 1880 Frankfurt II 10-24
2009-10 TSV Victoria Linden Stuttgarter RC 10-59
2010-11 TSV Victoria Linden TV Pforzheim 0-89
2011-12 FC St. Pauli Rugby SC 1880 Frankfurt II 22-32
2015-16 München RFC RC Luxembourg 9-12
  • Winner in bold.

2nd Bundesliga champions until 2001

Before the establishment of the single-division Bundesliga, the two 2nd Bundesligas determined their champion in the autumn half of the season before splitting each division into two groups, the upper half playing for Bundesliga promotion together with the bottom clubs of the Bundesliga, and the lower half against 2nd Bundesliga relegation. Teams from the two regional divisions did not meet and now country-wide 2nd Bundesliga championship as such was played. The autumn champions were:

Season North/East South/West
1999–2000 FC St. Pauli RC Bonn-Rhein-Sieg
2000-01 Berliner RC RK Heusenstamm

Placings in the 2nd Bundesliga since 2001

Since 1998, the following clubs have played in the league. From 1999 to 2001, the league consisted of two regional divisions of six teams each. After an autumn (A) round, the top three from each group would reach the championship finals round in spring (S). The bottom three, together with the top three from each of the two 2nd Bundesligas would play a promotion round in spring with the top three in each group playing in the Bundesliga the following autumn. In 1997-98 and from 2001 to 2012, the league has been played in a single-division format. From 2012–13 to 2014–15 it had been divided into a first (I) and second round (II), followed by play-offs:

North/East
Club 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
A S A S A S I II I II I II
Berliner RC 1 ♦ 1 ♦ 3 1 1 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
RK 03 Berlin 2 1 ♦ 1 2 1 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
DSV 78 Hannover 1 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 1 ♦ ♦ 4 1 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
FC St. Pauli Rugby 8 7 1 6 5 7 6 3 5 2 3 5 3 4 4 2 1 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
SC Germania List 2 ♦ 2 ♦ 1 ♦ 2 2 1 ♦ ♦ 2 1 5 7 6 3 2 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Hamburger RC 7 9 6 10 10 7 4 6 7 8 8 10 9 4 ♦ 3 ♦ 2 ♦ ♦ ♦
RU Hohen Neuendorf 11 12 6 4 8 6 3 4 9 2 3 ♦ ♦ ♦
RC Leipzig ♦ 2 ♦ 1 ♦ 1 ♦
TSV Victoria Linden ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 4 2 2 1 1 6 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 3 1
Veltener RC 1 5 ♦ 7 2 5 1
FT Adler Kiel Rugby 9 2
USV Potsdam 9 7 6 7 3 2 5 3 ♦ ♦ ♦ 5 2
Bremen 1860 4 1 1 6 2 6 3
Berliner RC II 8 8 10 1 7 3
SG SV Odin/VfR Döhren 4 5 5 6 4 1 4
RC Dresden 3 2 3 3 5 3 4
DRC Hannover ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 7 7 5 2 8 5 5 5
USV Jena 5 7 5 4 3 4 5
DSV 78 Hannover II 1 1 4 2 1 2 6
Berliner SC 6 6 4 5 4 6 6
Welfen Braunschweig 12 11 8 3 3 3 1 3 2 7
USV Halle 6 7 7
SC Siemensstadt 4 1 4 3 4 3 6 5 8 8 10 2 6 1 4 ♦ ♦
Berliner SV 92 Rugby 7 6 10 9 9 7 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 4
08 Ricklingen/Wunstorf 2 4 ♦ ♦
Union 60 Bremen 6 4 5 6
FC St. Pauli II 5 5
SG Grizzlies/Potsdam 4 8
DSV 78/08 Ricklingen 1 ♦ 1 ♦ ♦ 4 1
SG Schwalbe/DRC Hannover II 3 10
SV Odin Hannover 4 ♦ 5 11 5 4 3 6
Stahl Brandenburg Rugby 9 6 9 8 5 8
Stahl Hennigsdorf Rugby 5 2 5 2 2 ♦ 4 3 4 3 3 6
VfR Döhren 4 3 4 3 ♦ 5 ♦ 5 7 5 2 7
FC Schwalbe Hannover 3 7
Post SV Berlin Rugby 2 8 4 7 2 3 1 2
SV 1908 Ricklingen 1 6 3 6 5 8 4 8 4 6
Hamburg Exiles RFC 12

South/West
Club 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
A S A S A S I II I II I II
Heidelberger RK ♦ 3 ♦ 5 5 7 3 2 2 1 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
SC 1880 Frankfurt 6 6 9 4 8 5 6 8 1 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
RK Heusenstamm ♦ 2 ♦ 4 1 5 4 3 4 2 2 1 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
TV Pforzheim 10 1 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
ASV Köln Rugby ♦ ♦ ♦ 2 ♦ 3 2 4 7 4 4 2 1 2 ♦ 6 4 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
TSV Handschuhsheim ♦ 1 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 1 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Rugby Club Luxembourg 3 2 3 ♦ 1 3 1
München RFC 4 3 3 ♦ 2 1 ♦ 3 3 3 6 5 4 2 3 7 2 4 2 3 3 1 1
RC Aachen 8 6 10 7 9 ♦ 5 ♦ 4 ♦ 4 2
StuSta München 8 8 9 6 6 6 10 1 3 3 1 2 5 2
TGS Hausen 2 6 3
Heidelberger TV 5 5 2 6 3 4 6 5 6 6 7 4 7 2 ♦ 2 ♦ 1 ♦ 1 3
TG 75 Darmstadt 4
TSV Handschuhsheim II 5 5 3 5 7 4 8 1 5 5 2 4
TuS 95 Düsseldorf 7 4 10 9 7 8 1 6 ♦ 7 3 4 5
Neckarsulmer SU 4 1 6 2 4 3 5
Eintracht Frankfurt Rugby 12 11 5 6 2 8 6 5 6
RC Rottweil 1 2 1 2 6
Stuttgarter RC 2 9 1 9 5 3 4 3 6 6 7
RC Regensburg 8
RC Mainz 7 9 7 9 6 ♦ ♦ ♦ 6 5 7
RC Bonn Rhein-Sieg 8 1 1 ♦ 6 4 4 3 4 4 8
Freiburger RC 3 2 5 5
TSV 1846 Nürnberg 12 6 7 4 6
Wiedenbrücker TV 11 3 5
SC 1880 Frankfurt II 3 4 1 5 7 1 6 8
Ramstein Rogues RUFC 2
Heidelberger RK II 8 8 5 5
RG Heidelberg II 5 6 7 8 3 4 8
Karlsruher SV Rugby 12 5 9 10
SG Heidelberger TV/SC Neuenheim II 5 10
RU Marburg 9
BSC Offenbach 9 5 7 2 1 ♦ 1 1 7 9
RFC Illesheim 11

Key
Team played in Rugby-Bundesliga Promotion round to the Rugby-Bundesliga Relegation round to the Rugby-Regionalliga

See also

References
  1. "Anlage zu der 15-er Bundesligarichtlinie" [Annex to the 15s National League Guidelines] (PDF). RugbyVerband.de (in German). July 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  2. Karlsruhe und Luxemburg steigen in die 2.Liga Süd auf (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 6 July 2009, accessed: 19 March 2010
  3. Victoria Linden verzichtet auf den Bundesligaaufstieg (in German), totalrugby.de, published: 27 May 2010, accessed: 29 May 2010
  4. RC gewinnt Zweitligameisterschaft - verzichtet aber dennoch auf den Aufstieg (in German), totalrugby.de, published: 31 May 2010, accessed: 1 June 2010
  5. Abstieg von Hannover 78 besiegelt - Bundesligasaison 2010/2011 mit nur 8 Mannschaften (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 8 June 2010. accessed: 14 June 2010
  6. TV Pforzheim gewinnt das Aufstiegsturnier zur 2. Bundesliga Süd (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 13 June 2010. accessed: 14 June 2010
  7. RG Heidelberg zieht Reserveteam aus der 2. Bundesliga Süd zurück (in German) totlarugby.de, published: 22 August 2011, accessed: 29 August 2011
  8. DRT 2012: Ligareform kommt / Vertrag mit DRV-Vermarkter wird überprüft (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 16 July 2012, accessed: 24 July 2012
  9. DRT (in German) DRV website, published: 16 July 2012, accessed: 24 July 2012
  10. Rugby-Vizemeister TV Pforzheim will 2013 den Titel holen Archived 2014-10-14 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Pforzheimer Zeitung, published: 9 May 2012, accessed: 24 July 2012
  11. Bundesligaausschuss beschließt Modifikation des Spielsystems (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 5 June 2013, accessed: 7 June 2013
  12. Rugby-Verband modifiziert Spielsystem (in German) Frankfurter Neue Presse, published: 7 July 2015, accessed: 9 July 2015
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