DSV 78 Hannover II
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| Full name | Deutscher Sportverein 1878 Hannover e.V. |
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| Union | German Rugby Federation |
| Founded | 1878 |
| Location | Hannover, Germany |
| Chairman | Günter Küster |
| Coach(es) | Carsten Segert |
| League(s) | Rugby-Bundesliga |
| 2015–16 | Rugby-Bundesliga North/East, 3rd |
| Official website | |
| www |
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DSV 78 Hannover, founded as DFV Hannover in 1878, is Germany's oldest rugby club. The club played in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga under the name DSV 78/08 Ricklingen, having formed an on-the-field union with SV 08 Ricklingen, another club from Hannover.
At the end of the 2008–09 season, SV 08 declared, it would leave the union with DSV 78, leaving the latter to field its own team from 2009–10 onwards.
The club was formed on 14 September 1878 as Deutschen Fußball-Verein Hannover gegründet 1878. Under the leadership of Ferdinand-Wilhelm Fricke, then only 15 years old, 24 young men formed the first football or rugby club in the country, a distinction was not made in Germany back then. The move was inspired by watching, and occasionally joining the players of the English Hannover Football-Club.
The first proper game of rugby however was not played until 1883, when "England" played "Germany" in Hannover on 17 October.
In 1899, Fricke discovered an ideal spot for the club to play at, Am Schnellen Graben, still the home of DFV today. A year later, the Verband Hannoverscher Fußball-Vereine (Association of Hanover football clubs) was formed and DFV won its first championship.
In 1909, the club adopted field hockey as another sport. In 1913, the DFV reached its first German championship final but lost to SC 1880 Frankfurt. Shortly after, the events of the First World War bring the activities of the club almost to a halt. Of the club members to lose their live in the war, Hermann Löns, "The Poet of the Heath", is the best known.
On 17 January 1927, the founding father of the club, F.W. Fricke, died. A year later, the club played in its second German final, and lost once more. In 1929, the club changed its name to Deutscher Sportverein Hannover gegr. 1878 e.V., reflecting the fact that it didn't play football but rugby.
During the Second World War, the clubs facilities suffered heavily from allied bombing raids and in 1945, the club house was in ruins.
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