SC 1880 Frankfurt - History

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.

Rugby quickly gained in popularity at that time and Frankfurt managed to became the first German team to travel to England, playing the Blackheath Football Club in 1894. 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, 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.

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 hailes from the financial support of Uli Byszio, a former player, who led the way in professionalising the club.

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.

Upon return to the Bundesliga, the club performed impressivley, 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. With Villiame Gadolo, the club had a player with rugby world cup experience in its ranks. Due to the large amount of New Zealanders in the side, the team actually performed the Haka before the match.

Shortly before winning the title, coach George Simpkin left the club and was replaced by Phil "Lofty" Stevenson, who was also, at the time, Germanys sevens coach. 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 loses, 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. A narrow 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 is expected that Frankfurts professional approach to rugby will improve this situation; great progress has been made in the youth département of the club in this regard. The clubs 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 in a close game. 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, a move that proved unsuccessful with Frankfurt losing in the semi-finals at home to newly promoted TV Pforzheim.

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. While unsuccessful at national level the club did win the North Sea Cup with a 26–19 victory over Heidelberger RK.

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.

The clubs reserve side has played for many years in the league below, the 2nd Bundesliga South/West, where it has won the league championship in 2009 and 2012.