{"id":3354,"date":"2017-10-27T09:06:54","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T07:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rcbrs.de\/about-us\/history\/"},"modified":"2024-05-21T20:58:48","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T18:58:48","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/rcbrs.de\/en\/about-us\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"

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1967-1970<\/strong>

\nTHE TENDER BEGINNINGS<\/span><\/span><\/h2>
On 01.02.1967, diplomats around the Briton John Gysin, who had already been playing rugby since 1960 as \"Bonn Casuals\", founded the rugby department of the Bonner SC. <\/div><\/header>
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This initiative was vigorously promoted at the time by the then BSC chairman, Otto Schumacher-Hellmold. He underpinned the newly merged club’s claim to become the central club of the federal capital by bringing in new sports. The beginnings were challenging as the rugby department initially consisted of only 28 members, 21 of whom were foreigners from the Bonn diplomatic team.<\/p>\n

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1971-1997<\/strong>

\nEVENTFUL YEARS<\/span><\/span><\/h2><\/header>
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Already after the foundation of the department, the promotion to the Oberliga S\u00fcdwest was achieved. Following on from the successes of rugby in Bonn in the 1960s, the club was promoted to the Bundesliga Gruppe S\u00fcd, the highest division in German rugby, in 1971.<\/p>\n

The sporting development of the BSC was subsequently very changeable. Relegation to the Oberliga in 1974, return to the Bundesliga in 1976 for one season, then relegation to the Oberliga again. After several unsuccessful attempts, the Bonn team finally made it to the top flight in 1987 and did not have to leave it until 1991. The division of the Bundesliga into a new single-division Bundesliga and a two-division 2nd Bundesliga pushed BSC back into the Regionalliga for years. In 1995, BSC returned to the 2nd Bundesliga for one year. In the 1997\/98 season, BSC played in the regional league.<\/p>\n

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THE END OF THE RUGBY DEPARTMENT OF THE BONNER SC<\/span><\/span><\/h2><\/header>
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The rugby department of the Bonner SC had 135 members until its dissolution. The economic stabilization of the department – with this goal the department manager Rene Pierry and the treasurer Gerd Gro\u00df had started in 1995 – was achieved, the balances of the narrow budget were balanced. Financial difficulties of the main club and the loss of the non-profit status forced the department to leave the parquet of a long departmental tradition.<\/div>\n

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1997-2001<\/strong>

\nTHE RUGBY CLUB BONN-RHEIN-SIEG E.V.<\/span><\/span><\/h2><\/header><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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In December 1997 the Rugby Club Bonn-Rhein-Sieg e.V. is founded out of the need of the department. For 1998, optimal framework conditions for the 2nd Bundesliga created. More intensive support and better equipment for the 1st team were the basis for the hoped-for sporting success.<\/p>\n

The Rugby Club Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (RCBRS) started in the 1998\/1999 season in the 2nd Bundesliga. With the beginning of the 2000\/2001 season, the RCBRS has been able to win through grandiose victories in the 2. Bundesliga (undefeated league leader) made the leap into the 1. Bundesliga. However, the first Bundesliga came too early and they only conceded defeats, some of them very high, so that they lost some players in the 2001\/2001 season and did not compete with 2 teams as before and the only Bonn team played in the Verbandsliga NRW.<\/p>\n

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THE STRUCTURE OF THE NEW CLUB<\/span><\/span><\/h2><\/header>
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The promotion of young talent has always been a central concern of the club, which draws its player base primarily from good youth work as well as Bonn students. The spread of rugby in schools in the Bonn area and in the Rhein-Sieg district is making progress, and in March 2012 it was even possible to watch a Bonn school duel at the Rheinaue rugby park. There is a men’s team, a women’s team (since 2010), six youth teams and an “old men’s” team. The club now has well over 200 members. Among them there are always students from abroad, as well as, in the past, diplomats of various nationalities and some members of the British Army of the Rhine. In the past, Bonn players have repeatedly been called up to the youth\/junior and U23 national teams. Even today, the good youth work is reflected again and again in the appointment of Bonn players to the youth NRW selections.<\/p>\n

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2002-2016<\/strong>

\nSAFE IN THE REGIONAL LEAGUE<\/span><\/span><\/h2>
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Once again Bonn had the pleasure to dominate a league almost at will (only against RC Bielefeld there was a 22:24 defeat). So the RCBRS started in the following year in the regional league NRW, and also here they did very well, so that they could establish themselves in the upper midfield. Especially from the 2005\/2006 season on, the RCBRS was able to join the top trio of the regional league together with the RC Aachen and the D\u00fcsseldorf Dragons, but for the time being without being able to maintain the top position. In the next season, the team was again so broadly positioned that a second team was additionally entered in the NRW Verbandsliga. In the 2008\/2009 season, there were wild ups and downs, with both a 0:76 against Elmpt and a 95:3 against M\u00fcnster, the results could hardly have been more contrasting. The season 2009\/2010 should then very successfully on place 2, with only one point behind the RC Aachen conclude, so that one in the consequence into the newly founded 3rd Bundesliga South-West Promotion. For various reasons, there were many player departures to cope with, so that they had to compete with other players again and again and ended up with the 8th place on the penultimate place. Due to the thinning of the roster, the second team had to be deregistered for the 2011\/2012 season. This and a lack of consistency in the interaction of the men’s team ensured that the transitional season (some youth players are to be integrated into the men’s team) was completed in 6th place. Due to the league reform in German rugby, the men, now called “The Lions”, competed in the 2nd Bundesliga from the 2012\/13 season. For the 2015\/16 season, however, the men decided after some disastrous results to start again in the regional league to make a fresh start here. The current team builds on a solid core of players from recent years, and is getting better at integrating new players.<\/p>\n

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FOUNDATION OF THE PAINLESS PANDAS<\/span><\/span><\/h2><\/header><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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\"OLYMPUS<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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However, the 2011\/2012 season is still special for the RCBRS, because the newly formed Pandas, the women’s team, in their first season in the Regionalliga West could already reach the final fifth place out of ten. The Bonn university women’s team, which consisted almost exclusively of players from the Pandas, even managed to achieve the German runner-up title at the university championships!<\/p>\n

As a result, the team established itself as a fixture in the women’s 7-team league.<\/p>\n

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2016-2023<\/strong>

\nTIME OF NEW BEGINNINGS<\/span><\/span><\/h2>
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From 2015 onwards, the men played in the NRW regional league again and followed their plan to gradually integrate home-grown talent and new players. The season got off to a mixed start with varying results. New Zealander Cieran Anderson was recruited as head coach for the 2017\/2018 season. He brought a new energy and structure to the men’s team, and Anderson made the Lions unbeaten regional league champions in his debut season. However, with a rather thin roster, the Lions initially decided against promotion to the Bundesliga 2.<\/span><\/p>\n

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TOUCH RUGBY CONQUERS BONN<\/span><\/span><\/h2><\/header>
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In the same year, the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg Rugby Club expanded its portfolio to include the Touch Rugby section, which has been growing rapidly ever since and either competes on its own as Bonn Lynx or together with Touch Cologne as Bolonia in national tournaments. The Lynx also repeatedly send individual players to the national teams. Friederike Schwartz achieved her first participation in the European Championships in the German <\/span>Women’s team 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

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CORONA PANDEMIC ALSO POSES CHALLENGES FOR THE RCBRS<\/span><\/span><\/h2><\/header>
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After remaining unbeaten in the 2018\/2019 season, the Lions have now taken the big step into the second Bundesliga West. Although they started the 2019\/2020 season overwhelmed by the high standard, the Lions quickly got up to speed and were able to collect their first bonus points. In preparation for the second half of the season, Lincoln RFC from Chicago were to visit the Rheinaue rugby pitch. However, the eagerly awaited test match fell victim to coronavirus, as did the entire second half of the season and the following 2020\/2021 season. To make matters worse, Cieran Anderson left the RCBRS as coach to take up a professional contract in Italy, alongside various jobs with Rugby Germany. <\/span><\/p>\n

RCBRS veteran Philipp Gerbecks subsequently took over as player-coach and led the Lions through two more seasons in the Bundesliga 2 despite a severely diminished squad due to the pandemic. However, the decision was made to no longer enter the team in the Bundesliga 2 for the 2023\/2024 season. With the renewed registration in the NRW regional league and many activities around the Rugby World Cup 2023, many players have now been recruited for the Rugby Club Bonn-Rhein-Sieg. This positive development provides a boost for the future.<\/p>\n

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The women’s team is probably experiencing the most difficult upheaval in the club’s history and is gradually trying to make up for the many departures during the pandemic (there were quite a few panda and lion offspring). The team is impatiently looking forward to participating in the German 7s League as its own rugby team again. Perhaps it will finally happen in the 2024\/2025 season.<\/p>\n

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Things are moving in the club<\/span><\/span><\/h2><\/header>
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With committed new people, the club will be a lot livelier again for the 2023\/2024 season. Even though the scoreboard may not always have pointed to victory for the men’s team, there has been a huge turnaround in the team. The club welcomed many new faces to the regional league season, including both complete rugby newcomers and experienced young and older rugby players. This young team is gradually growing together and, after finishing 9th in 2023\/2024, will certainly be able to demonstrate its excellent quality in the new season. Marcel Langhans and his colleagues and friends have been able to capture the impressions from training sessions and matches in videos that are gradually forming into a documentary.<\/p>\n

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