The USV Potsdam Rugby is a German

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club from

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

, currently playing in the

Rugby-Bundesliga The Rugby-Bundesliga is the highest level of the league system for rugby union in Germany, organised by the German Rugby Federation. The league has a mix of professional, semi-professional and amateur players, with four club in the league bein ...

. It is part of a larger multi-sport club, the USV Potsdam, which also offers other sports like

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and consists of 19 departments.

History

USV Potsdam

The club was formed on 11 March 1949 as SG Landeshochschule Potsdam in what was soon to become

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. It was later renamed to HSG PH Potsdam.USV Potsdam website - History
, accessed: 6 April 2010 In 1990, with the imminent dissolution of East Germany, it became the HSG BLH Potsdam, to adopt its current name, USV Potsdam, in July 1991, reflecting its close ties with the

University of Potsdam The University of Potsdam is a public university in Potsdam, capital of the state of Brandenburg, northeastern Germany. The university is mainly situated across three campuses in the city. Some faculty buildings are part of the New Palace o ...

Rugby department

The club's rugby department was formed in 1988. However, rugby in Potsdam dates back to the 1950s. In 1963, a rugby department was formed at the ''Pädagogischen Hochschule Potsdam'', which later joined local club Dynamo Potsdam. In 1988, students at the ''Pädagogischen Hochschule'' once more formed a rugby club, the RG 88 Potsdam. Once more, this team joined the local police sports club, the former ''Dynamo'' now being renamed PSV Potsdam.Die Geschichte unserer Männer
Rugby department website - History, accessed: 6 April 2010 In 1993, this team won promotion to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North for the first time. In 1997, the rugby department then joined the university club ''USV'', its current home. The team earned promotion to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East in 2005, the second tier of German club rugby, by winning its regional division of the

Rugby-Regionalliga The Rugby Regionalliga is the third-highest level of Germany's Rugby union league system, organised by the German Rugby Federation. It is set below the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga and is organised in eight regional divisions. Since 2010, the ''Region ...

and succeeding in the promotion round against Welfen Braunschweig und Hamburger RC. Finishing the first three seasons in this league in the lower half of the table, ''USV'' progressed to a third place in 2008-09. In the 2009-10 season, the club leads the league and has a good chance of earning promotion to the

. The club however is trying to attract sponsorship to be able to afford competing at national level. A league reform in 2012 allowed the club promotion to the Bundesliga as the league was expanded from ten to 24 teams. USV finished third in their group in the 2012-13 season and qualified for the north/east division of the championship round, where it came sixth. The club opted to not play their first round play-off match, citing player shortage, and was thereby knocked out of the championship with the game awarded 50-0 to the opposition. The club qualified for the DRV-Pokal in 2013–14 and was knocked out by RC Leipzig in the quarter-finals of the play-offs. At the end of the season the club opted to withdraw from the Bundesliga to the tier three Regionalliga. After a season there in 2013–14 USV earned promotion back to the 2nd Bundesliga for the following year after a Regionalliga championship.

Honours

* Rugby-Regionalliga Nordost ** Champions: 2015

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the club:RugbyWeb Ergebnisarchiv
rugbyweb.de - Results archive, accessed: 24 July 2012 * Until 2001, when the single-division Bundesliga was established, the season was divided in autumn and spring, a ''Vorrunde'' and ''Endrunde'', whereby the top teams of the Rugby-Bundesliga would play out the championship while the bottom teams together with the autumn 2nd Bundesliga champion would play for Bundesliga qualification. The remainder of the 2nd Bundesliga teams would play a spring round to determine the relegated clubs. Where two placing's are shown, the first is autumn, the second spring. In 2012 the Bundesliga was expanded from ten to 24 teams and the 2nd Bundesliga from 20 to 24 with the leagues divided into four regional divisions.

References

External links

*
Official club website
*
Official website of the rugby department

USV Potsdam Rugby team info at totalrugby.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Potsdam, USV Rugby Rugby union clubs in Germany Rugby union clubs in East Germany Rugby clubs established in 1949 Rugby clubs established in 1988 Rugby union in Brandenburg Sport in Potsdam 1949 establishments in Germany 1988 establishments in East Germany