The FT Adler Kiel Rugby is a German rugby union club from

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

, currently playing in the

2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East The 2. Rugby-Bundesliga is the second-highest level of Germany's Rugby union league system, organised by the German Rugby Federation. Its set below the Rugby-Bundesliga, the top-tier of German rugby, and above the Rugby-Regionalliga, the third tier ...

. It is part of a larger club, the FT Adler Kiel, which also offers other sports like

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

. The term ''Adler'' is the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

word for

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

History

Origins

Kiel rugby began in the 1930s, when the local

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

s workers and

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

members, then called the ''

Reichsmarine The () was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the , existing from 1919 to 1935. In 1935, it became known as the ''Kriegsmarine'' (War Navy), a branch of the '' ...

'', formed the ''1. Kieler Rugby Fussball Verein''.FT Adler Kiel Rugby website - History
accessed: 7 April 2010 In post-

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Germany, competitive rugby in Kiel resumed in 1949, when three local clubs competed in a league with clubs from

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. The three clubs were the ''1. Kieler Rugby Fussball Verein'', ''PSV Kiel'' and ''FT Adler''. Rugby in Kiel greatly benefited from a strong support through the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, which was stationed at Kiel-Holtenau. Towards the end of the 1950s, Kiel rugby declined and the clubs were only able to field a combined team. In 1963, even this team had to be disbanded. As a form of farewell to rugby in Kiel, a final friendly match was organized. The match was against a team selected from a visiting detachment of the

Japanese Navy The , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy ( ...

. After this, rugby disappeared from the city for almost 30 years.

Current club

Rugby returned to Kiel in the late 1980s through the efforts of foreign students at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ''Academia Holsator ...

. The current rugby department of ''FT Adler'' was formed in 1997 however. ''FT Adler'' took out the 2008 championship in the Regionalliga North but failed in the promotion round, losing on aggregate to

RU Hohen Neuendorf The RU Hohen Neuendorf is a German rugby union club from Hohen Neuendorf, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga. The club is located in the Oberhavel district, north west of Berlin. The district is home to two more rugby union clubs, Stahl H ...

. The club earned promotion from the Rugby-Regionalliga North, after another championship there, to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga, the second tier of German club rugby, in 2009. Kiel lasted for only one season at this level before being relegated again to the Regionalliga, where it came fourth in 2010-11. At the end of the 2014–15 season the club was promoted back to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga after a Regionalliga championship.

Club honours

* Rugby-Regionalliga North ** Champions: 2008, 2009, 2015

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the club:RugbyWeb Ergebnisarchiv
rugbyweb.de - Results archive, accessed: 24 July 2012

References

External links

*
Official website
*
Official website of the rugby department
*
FT Adler Kiel club info at totalrugby.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiel Rugby, FT Adler Rugby union clubs in Germany Sports clubs and teams established in 1893 Rugby clubs established in 1999 Rugby union in Schleswig-Holstein 1999 establishments in Germany