RK Speed is a Danish

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club in Kastrup, Copenhagen on the island of

Amager Amager ( or, especially among older speakers, ) in the Øresund is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 212,000 inhabitants (January 2021) a small appendage to Zealand. The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (includi ...

. It is the oldest rugby club in Denmark.

History

In 1947-48, after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, a group of young Danes who had served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

learnt the rules of rugby union. They met again in Copenhagen after their return and decided to start a rugby union club that would take the name of “Ex-Army”. Their rivals were mainly visiting teams from Great Britain and then the Police Rugby Club, formed in 1948-49 by Eigil Hemmert Lund, who also founded the DRU (

Danish Rugby Union The Danish Rugby Union (DRU) () is the governing body for rugby union in Denmark. Rugby began being played in Denmark in 1931 but it was not until 1950 that the DRU was established. In 1971 the DRU joined FIRA - Association of European Rugby follo ...

). During the first weeks of 1949, the veteran soldiers did not meet as often as the previous years, however

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

garnered support from other locals who were interested in continuing playing, so all interested in continuing rugby in Denmark were invited to a meeting on 31 March 1949. A good mix of people were present that day, new players who wanted to become club members as well as a few of those former soldiers who wanted to keep on playing rugby. They decided they had to change the club's name and narrowed it down two options. Since they could not decide, they drew from a hat. That is how RK Speed took its name and was later founded. The club was established in 1949 and has played senior-level rugby in Denmark since its formation, becoming the oldest Danish club, a day older than the

, formed by Eigil Hemmert Lund on 1 April 1949, although it was only officially established in 1950. RK Speed has been one of the most successful clubs in Danish Rugby ever since. *11 Danish Championships *3 Cup Trophies *1 Nordic Championship are amongst others, the club's honours.

Recent Internationally Capped Players

* Oliver Le Roux * Johannes Mackeprang (captain 2015-2018) * Nicklas V Tell (captain 2018) * Malte Madsen * Christian Fiji Melgaard * Mark Franklin Nielsen * Emil Enna * Kristoffer Vandborg * Dodji Hounou * Gerard Hounou * Victor Hounou * Junaire Brown * Jeppe Holm * Simon Holm * Matias Dinesen * Joakim Nielsen * Ruben Garcia * Esben Thorius * Anders Hagelin * Bradley Diamandis * Alexander Østergaard * Nicolai Stark * Dennis Stark * Pierre Weiss * Bulela “Butch” Butsheke * Oliver Hvass

References

External links

RK Speed
Rugby clubs established in 1949 Rugby union teams in Denmark Sports teams in Copenhagen {{rugbyunion-team-stub