SC 1880 Frankfurt
 |
|
| Full name | Sport-Club Frankfurt 1880 e.V. |
|---|---|
| Union | German Rugby Federation |
| Founded | 1880 |
| Location | Frankfurt am Main, Germany |
| Ground(s) | Sportanlage an der Feldgerichtstrasse |
| Chairman | Uwe H.H. Benecke |
| Coach(es) | Karl Savimaki |
| Captain(s) | Chris Howells |
| League(s) | Rugby-Bundesliga |
| 2015–16 | Rugby-Bundesliga South/West, 6th |
| Official website | |
| www |
|
The SC 1880 Frankfurt is a German rugby union club from Frankfurt am Main, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga. Apart from rugby, the club also offers other sports like lacrosse, tennis and field hockey.
The club was, for a time, one of only two professional rugby clubs in Germany, the other being Heidelberger RK. 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. The club became an amateur side once more after the 2012–13 season.
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 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.
...
Wikipedia