The RK 03 Berlin is a German rugby union club from Berlin, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga.
The club was formed in 2003, when the rugby department of the Post SV Berlin left the club. Post SV Rugby itself had been formed in 1967 as BSG Post Berlin Rugby.Post SV Berlin Rugby - Archiv Chronik 30 Jahre - History of Post SV Berlin Rugby, accessed: 11 April 2010
History
Post SV Rugby
PSV's rugby department had been formed in 1967 in what was then East Germany, under the name of BSG Post Berlin Rugby.Post SV Berlin rugby website , accessed: 24 January 2009
Post Rugby took part in the East German championship, the DDR Rugby-Oberliga. It celebrated its greatest success in this league in the last decade of its existence, finishing third from 1985 to 1988, followed by two runners-up finishes in 1989 and 1990. Throughout its history, the club also provided a number of East German rugby internationals.
In 2003, the clubs rugby department left Post SV to form its own club, the RK 03 Berlin.
RK 03
PSV had last been playing in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East in 2002-03 and RK took its place there, winning the league in its first attempt. After a 28-23 victory over South/West champion BSC Offenbach, the team earned promotion to the Bundesliga.
A seventh place in the first division in 2004-05 proved not enough and RK was relegated immediately, having won only one out of its fourteen games and losing the relegation match to DSV 78/08 Ricklingen 12-14.Rugby-Bundesliga table 2004-05 rugbyweb.de, accessed: 24 January 2009 The season after, in the 2nd Bundesliga, the club won the league once more but lost the championship final to SC 1880 Frankfurt. In the following promotion match with now Bundesliga side DSV 78/08 another loss meant another year in the second tier.2nd Rugby-Bundesliga table 2005-06 rugbyweb.de, accessed: 24 January 2009
In 2006-07, RK only came second in the 2nd Bundesliga but the season after, 2007-08, it won its division once more and a 22-6 win over ASV Köln Rugby earned it a second Bundesliga promotion.2nd Rugby-Bundesliga table 2007-08 rugbyweb.de, accessed: 24 January 2009
In 2008-09, the club was struggling against relegation, finishing in eight place, its rival for league survival being bottom of the table side DRC Hannover. DRC accepted direct relegation at the end of the season, making the relegation final unnecessary, meaning, RK 03 will be playing in the Bundesliga for another season.DRC Hannover verzichtet auf Bundesliga-Playdown Rugby Journal, accessed: 16 May 2009
On 19 January 2009, the club received the long-awaited approval from the city of Berlin to upgrade its facilities, allowing, among other things, the instalment of flood lights.
The 2011-12 season saw the club finish above local rival BRC for the first time, in 8th place and thereby condemning the other Berlin club to a relegation spot.Rugby-Bundesliga 2011-12 rugbyweb.de, accessed: 3 May 2012 RK 03 finished second in their group in the 2012-13 season and qualified for the north/east division of the championship round, where it came third. The club was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the play-offs after a 10–36 loss to SC Neuenheim.
In 2013–14 the team qualified for the championship and the play-offs once more, defeating RK Heusenstamm 33–19 in the first round and losing to Heidelberger RK in the quarter-finals. In the 2014–15 season the club finished second in the north-east championship group and was knocked out by RG Heidelberg in the quarter-finals of the play-offs. In the 2015–16 season RK won the north/east division of the Bundesliga but lost to TV Pforzheim in the semi-finals of the play-offs.
Club honours Men 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga Champions: 2004, 2008 Division champions: 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 East German rugby union championship Runners up: 1989, 1990 East German rugby union cup Runners up: 1980, 1982, 1987, 1988
Recent seasons Recent seasons of the club:RugbyWeb Ergebnisarchiv rugbyweb.de - Results archive, accessed: 24 July 2012
Men
Post SV Year Division Position 1998-99 2nd Bundesliga North/East qualification round 2nd — Promoted 1999–2000 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East (II) 4th 2nd Bundesliga North/East qualification round 1st 2000-01 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East 2nd Bundesliga qualification round 3rd 2001-02 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East 1st 2002-03 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East 2nd
RK 03 Year Division Position 2003-04 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East (II) 1st — Promoted 2004-05 Rugby-Bundesliga (I) 7th — Relegated 2005-06 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East (II) 1st 2006-07 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East 2nd 2007-08 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East 1st — Promoted 2008-09 Rugby-Bundesliga (I) 8th 2009–10 Rugby-Bundesliga 7th 2010–11 Rugby-Bundesliga 8th 2011–12 Rugby-Bundesliga 8th 2012–13 Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – East 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga championship round – North-East 3rd — Quarter finals 2013–14 Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – East 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga championship round – North-East 3rd — Quarter-finals 2014–15 Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – East 1st Rugby-Bundesliga championship round – North-East 2nd — Quarter finals 2015–16 Rugby-Bundesliga North-East 1st — Semi finals 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.
Women Year Division Position 2004-05 2005-06 Regionalliga East (III) 1st 2006–07 Regionalliga East 1st 2007–08 Regionalliga East 1st 2008–09 Regionalliga East 1st 2009–10 Regionalliga East 1st 2008–09 Women's 2nd Rugby Bundesliga (II) 4th 2009–10 Women's 2nd Rugby Bundesliga 7th
Rugby internationals In Germany's 2006–08 European Nations Cup campaign, no player from the club was called up for the national team, while, in the 2008–10 campaign, Lukas Rosenthal, Benjamin Ulrich and Lukas Hinds-Johnson were new additions to the German team, selected from the RK 03 squad.
In the 2010–012 European Nations Cup campaign, Lukas Hinds-Johnson was again called up for Germany.
The club, under the name of BSG Post, also produced the following East German internationals: Harald Lorenz Burt Weiß Christian Demuth Willi Ebel Wolfgang Michaelis Peter Wieczorek Frank Bittermann Frank Drenkow Thomas Boeck Andreas Rakoczy Roland Stutz Oliver Woeller Gert Lieck Jörg Pachmann Thomas Führer
Coaches Recent coaches of the club: Name Period Christian Lill - 2009 Allan Nugent 2009–2010 Lofty Stevenson 2010-11 Allan Nugent 2011–12 Christian Lill 2012-2017 Maxi Bonanno 2017-2022 Alvaro Ruiz del Real 2022-2023 Falk Duwe 2023-
References
External links Official website RK 03 Berlin club info at totalrugby.de