The Eintracht Frankfurt Rugby is a German rugby union club from Frankfurt am Main, currently playing in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga, the second tier of rugby in Germany. It is part of a larger club, the Eintracht Frankfurt, which also offers other sports like association football, table tennis and basketball.
The team has twice appeared in the German rugby union championship final, in 1940 and 1965, but lost on both occasions.Die Deutschen Meister der Männer DRV website - German rugby union champions (men), accessed: 23 April 2010 It was also a founding member of the Rugby-Bundesliga in 1971.Historie Eintracht Frankfurt website - Rugby department history, accessed: 23 April 2010
History Formed in 1923, the team, for the most part of its history, stood and stands in the shadow of local rival SC 1880 Frankfurt. In 1931, Julius Fischer became the first Eintracht player to appear for the German national rugby team.Chronik Eintracht Frankfurt website - Rugby department time line, accessed: 23 April 2010
The clubs rugby department achieved its first national success in 1940, when it reached the German championship final, losing 6–19 to FV 1897 Linden. It made a second finals appearance in 1965, this time losing 12–17 to TSV Victoria Linden.
In 1971, Eintracht became a founding member of the southern division of the Rugby-Bundesliga.
The club did not survive in the Rugby-Bundesliga however, eventually being relegated to the tier-three Rugby-Regionalliga Hesse, where it plays today. In the early 2000s, the team took part in the promotion round to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West but did not succeed in achieving promotion to this level, instead remaining a top of the table side in the Regionalliga. It has won the local Hesse championship more than ten times since 1955.
From 2010 onwards, Eintracht entered the new third division 3rd Liga South/West, where it played as a mid-table side. However, a league expansion saw the club return to the 2nd Bundesliga for 2012–13. In the 2012–13 season the club competed in the 2nd Bundesliga, finishing in the lower half of the table and qualifying for the play-offs for the Liga-Pokal. The club was knocked out in the first round of the play-offs after a defeat at Welfen SC Braunschweig.
The club qualified for the south-west division DRV-Pokal in 2013–14, but missed out on the play-offs after coming last in its group. In the 2014–15 season the club finished fifth in the south-west Liga-Pokal group but was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the play-offs after a 48–40 loss to RC Dresden.
Club honours German rugby union championship Runners up: 1940, 1965 Rugby-Regionalliga Hesse Champions: 2002, 2003, 2010 Runners up: 2004, 2009
Recent seasons Recent seasons of the club:RugbyWeb Ergebnisarchiv rugbyweb.de - Results archive, accessed: 24 July 2012 Year Division Position 2001–02 Rugby-Regionalliga Hesse (III) 1st 2002–03 Rugby-Regionalliga Hesse 1st 2003–04 Rugby-Regionalliga Hesse 2nd 2004–05 Rugby-Regionalliga Hesse 2005–06 Rugby-Regionalliga Hesse/Rhineland-Palatinate 4th 2006–07 Rugby-Regionalliga Hesse 5th 2007–08 Rugby-Regionalliga Hesse 4th 2008–09 Rugby-Regionalliga Hesse 2nd 2009–10 Rugby-Regionalliga Hesse 1st 2010–11 3rd Liga South/West (III) 5th 2011–12 3rd Liga South/West - North 4th 2012–13 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – West 5th Liga-Pokal – South-West 6th — Round of sixteen 2013–14 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – West 2nd DRV-Pokal – South-West 8th 2014–15 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – West 6th Liga-Pokal – South-West 5th – First round 2015–16 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga West 6th 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.
References
External links Official website Official website of the rugby department Eintracht Frankfurt club info at totalrugby.de