The Sport-Club Frankfurt 1880 e.V. (or SC 1880 Frankfurt) is a German sports club from Frankfurt am Main. The club is mainly known for its rugby union team, which currently plays in the Rugby-Bundesliga, the highest level of the league system for rugby union in Germany. Apart from rugby, the club hosts other sports such as athletics, curling, field hockey, lacrosse, and tennis.Other sports on SC1880 website
The club is one of four professional rugby clubs in Germany. The turn to professionalism in a sport otherwise fully amateur in Germany was made possible through the support of Uli Byszio, who owns a gold- and silver trading business.Getränke-Hersteller gegen Gold-Händler Offenbach-Post, published: 28 May 2011. accessed: 21 August 2011 The club became an amateur side once more after the 2012–13 season.2. BL: Auch der SC Frankfurt 1880 II zieht zurück totalrugby.de, published: 11 July 2013, accessed: 16 July 2013
History The SC 1880 was formed in 1880 as a rugby club through the merger of two local rugby sides, "Germania" and "Franconia". It was formed as "FC 1880 Frankfurt" as a distinction between rugby and football was not made in Germany at that time.Geschichte/Chronik SC 1880 website, accessed: 11 January 2009
Rugby quickly gained in popularity at that time and Frankfurt became the first German team to travel to England, playing the Blackheath Football Club in 1894.German rugby history rugbynetwork.net, accessed: 11 January 2009 Blackheath awarded the club the right to adopt its club colours of red and black, which are still the colours SC 1880 plays in today. In 1905, a field hockey département was established, and in 1914 the club changed its name to the current SC 1880 Frankfurt. Before that, in 1910, the club won its first national rugby title, winning the second edition of the German rugby union championship. In 1913, it repeated this achievement. The club also represented Germany at the 1900 World Expo in Paris,Rugby im 80 SC 1880 website, accessed: 11 January 2009 which was part of the rugby tournament of the 1900 Summer Olympics. The club thereby achieved Germany's only rugby medal at Olympic games to date.Die Gründerjahre des deutschen Rugbysports DRV website - Foundation years, accessed: 25 February 2010
In 1922–23, the club moved to its current home ground. In this era, two more national titles followed, in 1922 and 1925. In 1926 and 1931, the SC 1880 reached the final but lost. Before and after the war, the club played regular friendlies with the Oxford Greyhounds and after the Second World War the club travelled to Oxford in 1951 and had the English team return the visit in 1953.
Success on the rugby field was limited after this and a losing appearances in the 1952 and 1969 finals was all it had to show for.
With the establishment of the Rugby-Bundesliga in 1971, SC 1880 seems to have lost completely in importance and the new millennium found the club as a struggling second division outfit, having been relegated from the Rugby-Bundesliga in 1999. After suffering relegation from the second division in 2004, the club quickly rebounded and returned to this level the season after. With the help of foreign players and coaches, the fortunes of the club turned after this. A large part of the success of the club hails from the financial support of Uli Byszio, a former player, who led the way in professionalising the club.Das Hoffenheim des Rugby Frankfurter Allgemeine online — Article on the club's youth program, accessed: 11 january 2009
In the 2005–06 season, the club earned promotion to the Rugby-Bundesliga by winning the 2nd Bundesliga South/West and then defeating RK 03 Berlin, the North/East champion, 39–5.2. Bundesliga Süd — 2005–06 Rugbyweb.de — results and tables of German rugby, accessed: 11 January 2009
Upon return to the Bundesliga, the club performed impressively, finishing the 2006–07 season with twelve wins, one draw and one loss on top of the table. In the final however, played at home, the team slipped up and lost to the RG Heidelberg 15–23.
The following season, 2007–08, the team finished on top again and this time it fared better in the final, beating RG Heidelberg 28–13 to win its fifth German title and its first in 83 years, having last won it in 1925.SC 1880 Frankfurt vs. RG Heidelberg 2008 final preview, accessed: 29 December 2008 With Villiame Gadolo, the club had a player with Rugby World Cup experience in its ranks. Due to the large number of New Zealanders in the side, the team actually performed the Haka before the match.Haka Rugby Final 2008 beginning Youtube — Haka at the 2008 German final, accessed: 11 January 2009
Shortly before winning the title, coach George SimpkinDer Trainer-Guru Frankfurter Allgemeine online — Article on George Simpkin, accessed: 11 January 2009 left the club and was replaced by Phil "Lofty" Stevenson, who was also, at the time, Germany's sevens coach.Huge backing for Hanover Sevens showpiece IRB website, accessed: 11 January 2009 The team nevertheless continued in 2008–09 as it had finished the previous season, dominating the league and finishing on top, with 14 wins and two losses, while its reserve side won the 2nd Bundesliga South/West title. The senior team then moved on to beat Berliner Rugby Club in the semi-finals of the German championship, to reach the national title game against Heidelberger RK. An 11–8 victory over HRK earned the club its sixth German championship.
Throughout its history, the SC 1880 provided 36 players to the German national rugby union team who won 142 caps between them. In 2008, the club had players from more than 20 different nations in its ranks and its first three teams play at first, second and third level in the German league system. While the club only provided one player to the German team in 2008, Rolf Wacha, it was expected that Frankfurt's professional approach to rugby was going to improve this situation; great progress has been made in the youth département of the club in this regard.SC 1880 Frankfurt vs. RG Heidelberg totalrugby.de — 2008 final preview, accessed: 11 January 2009Gewinner: SC Frankfurt 1880 DOSB website — article on SC 1880s youth departement, accessed: 11 January 2009 The club's concept envisions that by 2014 the whole first team will hail from the youth département and replace the need for foreign top-players.
In the 2009–10 season, Frankfurt took out the minor premiership once more, for a fourth time in a row, but lost the final in extra time to Heidelberger RK. The following year, Frankfurt reached the final for a fifth consecutive time but lost 9–12. After two lost finals in a row, the club decided to replace its coach, with Sam Alatini taking over from Aaron Satchwell for 2011–12,TotalRugby Wechselbörse 2011/2012 totalrugby.de, accessed: 21 August 2011 a move that proved unsuccessful with Frankfurt losing in the semi-finals at home to newly promoted TV Pforzheim.Rugby-Bundesliga 2011-12 rugbyweb.de, accessed: 3 May 2012
In 2011–12, the club also took part in the North Sea Cup, a European Cup competition made up of two clubs each from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.North Sea Cup www.rugbyweb.de, accessed: 21 August 2011 While unsuccessful at national level the club did win the North Sea Cup with a 26–19 victory over Heidelberger RK.SC Frankfurt 1880 gewinnt North Sea Cup Finale gegen HRK totalrugby.de, published: 17 May 2012, accessed: 23 August 2012
SC 1880 finished first in their group in the 2012–13 season and qualified for the south/west division of the championship round, where it also came fifth. The club was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the play-offs after a 7–49 loss to Heidelberger RK. At the end of the season, the club opted to return to an amateur side, thereby being forced to withdraw its reserve team from the 2nd Bundesliga to the 3rd Liga because of a reduction of the size of the playing squad. Previously, the club's reserve side had played for many years in the 2nd Bundesliga South/West, where it has won the league championship in 2009 and 2012.
SC 1880 was less competitive in 2013–14 and 2014–15 then it had been in the recent past, finishing only seventh in each season the championship round and missing out on the play-off altogether. In the 2015-2016 season this improved to 6th position and also included a run to the semifinal of the DRV Pokal where they were defeated 10-21 by TSV Handshusheim. Carrying this momentum into the upcoming 2016-2017 season the club are optimistic that they will be in a position to challenge for silverware again at the end season.
In the 2015–16 season, SC1880's U12, U14, U16 and U18 teams each won their German age-group championship. Departing head of rugby Tim Matawatu described the four titles together as a "Grand Slam"
Current squad +SC 1880 Frankfurt Squad for the 2023/24 seasonProps Agustin Losada Jordan Gogo Daniel Wolf Colby Schmidt
Hookers
Marcel Becker Elias Haase Juan Phyfer
Second Rows
Hassan Rayan Fraser Hastie Jens Listmann Wladi Kostylyev Sebby MengesBackrow John Martin-Stewart Anton Rupf Jeremiah Skelton Johan Niederberger Etienne Du-Plessis
Scrum-halves
Christian Bottomley Yoshihiro Furuoka
Fly-halves
Raynor Parkinson Liae TuilagiCentres Leo Wolf (c) Tim Biniak Luka Latu Sebastian Rodwell
Wingers
David Halaifonua Adrian Mazare Jack Byszio Lukas Deichmann
Fullbacks
Edoardo Stella Ratu Peni Madanawa
Club honours Rugby The club's honours: German rugby union championship Champions: 1910, 1913, 1922, 1925, 2008, 2009, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 Runners up: 1920, 1926, 1931, 1952, 1969, 2007, 2010, 2011 German rugby union cup Winner: 2007, 2009, 2010 Runners up: 2011 German sevens championship Champions: 2007, 2010 Runners up: 2008 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga Champions: 2006, 2009‡, 2012‡ Division champions: 2006, 2009‡, 2012‡ North Sea Cup Winner: 2012 ‡ Denotes won by reserve team.
Field hockey Men German national title: 3 1968–69, 1969–70, 1988–89 EuroHockey Club Champions Cup: 2 1974, 1975
Women German national title: 2 1987–88, 1988–89
Recent seasons Recent seasons of the club:RugbyWeb Ergebnisarchiv rugbyweb.de - Results archive, accessed: 24 July 2012
First team Year Division Position 1998–99 Bundesliga qualification round 6th 1999–2000 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West (II) 6th 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West qualification round 3rd 2000–01 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 5th 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West qualification round 2nd 2001–02 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 4th 2002–03 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 6th 2003–04 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 8th — Relegated 2004–05 Rugby-Regionalliga Hesse (III) Promoted 2005–06 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West (II) 1st — Promoted 2006–07 Rugby-Bundesliga (I) 1st — Runners up 2007–08 Rugby-Bundesliga 1st — Champions 2008–09 Rugby-Bundesliga 1st — Champions 2009–10 Rugby-Bundesliga 1st — Runners up 2010–11 Rugby-Bundesliga 2nd — Runners up 2011–12 Rugby-Bundesliga 2nd — Semi-finals 2012–13 Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – West 1st Rugby-Bundesliga championship round – South-West 5th — Quarter finals 2013–14 Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – West 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga championship round – South-West 7th 2014–15 Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – West 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga championship round – South-West 7th 2015–16 Rugby-Bundesliga South-West 6th