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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. The league was undergoing a major revamp for the 2012-13 season with the number of clubs expanded from 20 to 24 and the league divided into four regional divisions of six teams each. Above the 2nd Bundesliga the Bundesliga was organised in a similar fashion. ==History== The Second Bundesligas were formed after the German reunion in the early 1990s, originally as four regional leagues, North, East, West and South. Later, the four leagues were merged to form the current two leagues, South/West and North/East. Since 2002, the two champions of the leagues play a 2nd Bundesliga championship final which also determines the club promoted to the Bundesliga. The bottom clubs in the league are relegated to the Rugby-Regionalliga, the third tier of rugby in Germany. The top-teams of the Regionalliga are promoted in turn. The two leagues cover the following states: * 2nd Bundesliga North/East * * Berlin * * Brandenburg * * Bremen * * Hamburg * * Lower Saxony * * Mecklenburg-Vorpommern * * Saxony * * Saxony-Anhalt * * Schleswig-Holstein * * Thuringia * 2nd Bundesliga South/West * * Baden-Württemberg * * Bavaria * * Hesse * * North Rhine-Westphalia * * Rhineland-Palatinate * * Saarland In the 2008-09 season, only nine of the sixteen German states have clubs at this level. Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia and Saarland have no 2nd Bundesliga club. With the RC Luxembourg, a team from Luxembourg, a non-German side competes in the league. The inclusion of this side in the 2009 promotion round to the 2nd Bundesliga caused some debate in regards to its legality, as the club had not qualified through the German league system and was not a member of any of the German regional rugby federations. However, RC Luxembourg's application was declared valid in regards to the German rugby federations rules and regulations and the team finished second in the promotion round, earning a place in the 2nd Bundesliga for 2009-10.〔(Karlsruhe und Luxemburg steigen in die 2.Liga Süd auf ) totalrugby.de, published: 6 July 2009, accessed: 19 March 2010〕 As a sign of the gap between the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga, TSV Victoria Linden, who only won the 2009-10 North/East division in the last round of the championship, declined promotion, citing the additional cost of travelling and the limited player pool as their reason. The South/West champion, Stuttgarter RC, has also indicated that it would not take up promotion, leaving the Bundesliga with only eight clubs for the next season. It also meant, for the first time ever, that no club from Hanover would compete at the top level of German rugby.〔(Victoria Linden verzichtet auf den Bundesligaaufstieg ) , totalrugby.de, published: 27 May 2010, accessed: 29 May 2010〕〔(RC gewinnt Zweitligameisterschaft - verzichtet aber dennoch auf den Aufstieg ) , totalrugby.de, published: 31 May 2010, accessed: 1 June 2010〕 ''DSV 78'' protested the decision to reduce the league to eight teams again and thereby relegating the club.〔(Abstieg von Hannover 78 besiegelt - Bundesligasaison 2010/2011 mit nur 8 Mannschaften ) totalrugby.de, published: 8 June 2010. accessed: 14 June 2010〕 For the 2nd Bundesliga, this also meant, only one team each would be promoted to the two regional divisions to keep the strength at ten teams per league. In the North/East, this was SC Siemensstadt, the club being directly promoted, while, in the South/West, TV Pforzheim won the promotion tournament of the five southern Regionalliga champions in Nuremberg on 12 June 2010.〔(TV Pforzheim gewinnt das Aufstiegsturnier zur 2. Bundesliga Süd ) totalrugby.de, published: 13 June 2010. accessed: 14 June 2010〕 On 22 August 2011, five days before the 2011-12 season start, the RG Heidelberg withdrew its reserve team from the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West, citing inability to guarantee a full player squad for the whole season and thereby forcing the South/West division to compete with nine clubs only.〔(RG Heidelberg zieht Reserveteam aus der 2. Bundesliga Süd zurück ) totlarugby.de, published: 22 August 2011, accessed: 29 August 2011〕 The Berliner RC II withdrew during the season, also citing a lack of players as the reason while the RU Hohen Neuendorf was disqualified after not fielding a team in two league games. In mid-July 2012 the ''Deutsche Rugby Tag'', the annual general meeting of the ''DRV'' decided to approve a league reform proposed by German international Manuel Wilhelm. The new system saw the number of clubs in the 2nd Bundesliga increased from 20 to 24 and the league divided into four regional divisions of six clubs each. One of the main aims of the reform was to reduce the number of kilometres travlled by individual teams and therefore reduce the travel expenses.〔(DRT 2012: Ligareform kommt / Vertrag mit DRV-Vermarkter wird überprüft ) totalrugby.de, published: 16 July 2012, accessed: 24 July 2012〕〔(DRT ) ''DRV'' website, published: 16 July 2012, accessed: 24 July 2012〕〔(Rugby-Vizemeister TV Pforzheim will 2013 den Titel holen ) ''Pforzheimer Zeitung'', published: 9 May 2012, accessed: 24 July 2012〕 The system will remain mostly unchanged for the 2013-14 season. The only changes will be a play-off between the fourth and fifth placed teams in each group after the first stage to determine the clubs advancing to the second stage. The championship play-offs after the second stage will be reduced from sixteen to twelve clubs with the top two teams in each group advancing directly to the quarter finals while the remaining eight will play a wild card round to determine the other four quarter finalists.〔(Bundesligaausschuss beschließt Modifikation des Spielsystems ) totalrugby.de, published: 5 June 2013, accessed: 7 June 2013〕 From 2015 onwards the Bundesliga was reduced to sixteen clubs while the 2. Bundesliga remains at twenty four, divided into four regional groups. The winners of these four divisions would play each other for two direct promotion spots to the Bundesliga while the two losers of these games would face the seventh placed clubs from the Bundesliga.〔(Rugby-Verband modifiziert Spielsystem ) ''Frankfurter Neue Presse'', published: 7 July 2015, accessed: 9 July 2015〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2. Rugby-Bundesliga」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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