Action Images / Paul Harding
“Individual clubs have long been active”
No play for a year and a half, at least. The Rugby Bundesliga Committee (RBA) decided at its meeting with club representatives on August 15: The new season will not start in September, as usual, but next spring, the German Rugby Association (DRV) recently announced on its website With. However, this is nothing more than a pious wish.
The last time there was tackling and scrum in competitive games was the end of November 2019. Then it was a winter break. The season was initially interrupted and then canceled at the start of the second half of the season in March – without champions, relegated and promoted players. Some national associations are now considering organizing regional or local competitions. As a temporary replacement event. But one after anonther.
Before the RBA decision, the 16 first and 29 second division teams were consulted, and around 30 clubs delegated representatives to the conference. The crux of the matter: The hygiene concept presented by the DRV could not be implemented “across the board and in accordance with the very different infection protection regulations of the federal states”, the association explained. The result: “The majority of Bundesliga clubs saw no other option,” said RBA chairman Christopher Molzahn jWTo “postpone the start of national gaming”. A voting result that apparently disliked some – like TSV Handschuhsheim from Heidelberg: The RBA board decision was noted with regret, it says distanced on the club’s website.
One thing is already certain: the restart of the two-part first and four-tier second Bundesliga is unlikely to go smoothly; no matter what date. In order to be at the pre-crisis level in terms of performance, coaches and players need around six weeks of preparation time. Otherwise there is a lack of competition rigor and rhythm in the »collision sport with the big cadres« (Molzahn).
It is unclear how long clubs can hold out without a league, sporty, economically. No, the situation is of course not easy, said Nick Kunze, rugby department head of the Rowing Society Heidelberg (RGH) jW-Inquiry. Even more: “Internally, we assume that Bundesliga matches will not be possible again until autumn 2021 at the earliest.” Anything else is not very realistic because of the existing risk of infection. Kunze does not have any concerns that the RGH would have to cancel its team at some point if the restart were postponed to the last day of the week: “We are a very family-run association and will be able to stay afloat for a long time.” Alexander Hänert, press spokesman for the Hamburg-based company, also wants to dramatize Rugby Club (HRC), no. Long breaks in competitive matches, for example in the winter months, are not unusual, he told this newspaper.
Others, like Martin Gerlach, rugby department head at SC Germania List from Hanover, sound more thoughtful: “The question is more and more what is being trained for,” he said jW-Demand. Everyone is still motivated, but: “I don’t want to imagine what the situation will look like after another six months without a match.” Gerlach fears that players will be inevitable at some point. But crises can also strengthen cohesion, knows Denis McGee, the first chairman of the Berlin Rugby Club (BRC). Corona had literally “welded players, coaches and board members together,” he said jW.
And economically, how stable are the clubs? Nobody from the Upper House or House of Commons seems to be existentially threatened, at least not yet acutely. Viewership revenues are not the central budget item; It is rare that the number of visitors to the marginal sport of rugby reaches four digits. There are exceptions, for example with some local derbies in the strongholds of Heidelberg and Hanover. In addition, there was no income from catering and merchandise for games, said Hänert from the HRC. On the other hand, the clubs would not have to pay travel expenses for away games, stressed McGee from Berlin. Fixed costs that would otherwise make a big impact. In order to survive the year relatively unscathed financially, members and donors in particular have to be retained. Even urgently: “If things don’t start again in March, we will lose more sponsors,” warned the head coach of the oldest German rugby club, DSV Hannover 78, Steven Bouajila jW-Inquiry.
The key question is: How can the free time be bridged, apart from with training units? Molzahn from the RBA reassures: The game operation is not generally prohibited, only the national one will “start late”. The committee recommends that all Bundesliga clubs develop regional or local tournament formats with the regional associations.
Individual clubs have long been active: “We will play a Hanover Cup with the five Hanoverian first and second division teams under the direction of our Lower Saxony regional association,” said Gerlach from Germania List. Even the date is fixed: “The cup games start on September 19th.” Not quite that far in Berlin. A “Berlin Bundesliga Cup” is planned for the end of September, McGee revealed. “All local rugby clubs want to take part and the athletes compete,” said the BRC chairman. The duels with the local rivals Rugby Club 03 from the eastern part of the city are “a very special motivation,” he said.
So far, the cup ideas in Heidelberg are not very specific. If the health department agrees, the series champions from Neckarstadt could “organize competitions if necessary,” said Kunze from the RGH. The simulation games at the Bavarian Rugby Association (RVBY) with its five second division clubs appear similarly vague. The RVBY is working on a solution, said Matthias Dirlewanger, head of the rugby department of TSV 1846 Nuremberg jW. He could “not judge at the moment” whether there will be real performance tests between the Bavarian counterparties in the near future.
Either way: The officials of the Rugby Bundesliga Committee are still in demand. There will be an intensive exchange with the clubs about hygiene concepts, as before, said Molzahn. The Bundesliga clubs should vote on the results at the end of January 2021. Molzahn assures: Rugby will continue to be played in this country, “everyone can be sure of that”.
