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The Rugby-Bundesliga is the highest level of Germany's rugby union league system, organised by the German Rugby Federation. The league is predominantly amateur, with only one club in the league being officially a professional outfit, the Heidelberger RK.〔(Getränke-Hersteller gegen Gold-Händler ) ''Offenbach-Post'', published: 28 May 2011. accessed: 21 August 2011〕 From 2012 to 2015 the Bundesliga was expanded from ten to 24 and the league divided into four regional divisions of six teams each. Below the Bundesliga the 2nd Bundesliga was organised in a similar fashion. From 2015 onwards the league returned to sixteen clubs. ==History== }} The German rugby championship was first played in 1909 and, with the exception of 2002, has always been determined by a final.〔(Die Deutschen Meister der Männer ) List of German rugby championship finals, accessed: 25 December 2008〕 The Rugby-Bundesliga was first played in two divisions in the 1971-72 season and soon consisted of six teams in the North and ten teams in the South. However, of the eight southern teams, five were located in Heidelberg and after 1975 all northern teams were from Hanover. The founding members of the league were SV Odin Hannover, SV 1908 Ricklingen, DSV 1878 Hannover, TSV Victoria Linden, SC Siemensstadt and FC St. Pauli Rugby in the north and SC Neuenheim, RG Heidelberg, Heidelberger RK, Heidelberger TV, TSV Handschuhsheim, RC Hürth, Bonner SC, ASV Köln Rugby, SC 1880 Frankfurt and Eintracht Frankfurt Rugby.〔(Geschichte ) DRV website – History, accessed: 9 October 2014〕 The league has changed its format a number of times over the years. In 1997-98, it played as a single-division league with eight teams. From 1998 to 2001, it was divided into two regional divisions again. The top-three teams from each of the two divisions then qualified for the finals round, held in a home-and-away format. The top two teams out of this round then played the German Final in a home-and-away format. The bottom three teams in each division played a spring round together with the top three teams of the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga to determine the clubs who would play in the Bundesliga in the next season. Since 2001, the Bundesliga has been organised as a single division again with eight teams playing each other in a home-and-away season. The top two teams play each other in the championship final. In its first season, 2001–02, no final was held and the regular season winner was also the German champions. In the first 34 editions of the Final, there was always a team from Hanover present. Only in 2006 did this stop, and no team from Hanover has played in the final since. Below the Bundesliga, two 2nd Bundesligas, north and south, form the second tier of the league system, with the winners promoted to the Bundesliga. The third tier of rugby is formed by the nine ''Regionalligen'', regional leagues. SC 1880 Frankfurt, the 2007-08 champions, had to wait 83 years for its fifth title, having last won the championship in 1925.〔(SC Frankfurt 1880 Deutscher Meister, RK 03 Berlin steigt auf ) scrum.de, accessed: 26 December 2008〕 The club is the only rugby club in Germany considered semi-professional.〔(In Deutschland müssen Profis dem Platzwart helfen ) ''Die Welt'' online, published: 5 September 2007, accessed: 29 December 2008〕 On 19 July 2008 at the annual general meeting of the German rugby association, the ''DRV'' decided to expand the Bundesliga and slightly change its modus. It was decided to expand the league to nine teams for 2008-09 and ten teams for 2009-10, meaning only one club will be relegated in 2009, and two promoted. Also, the play-off format was changed, with four teams qualifying for the finals. At the bottom end, in 2008-09, the last two teams would determine one relegated club via playoff. From 2009-10, the bottom four clubs will play-off to determined two relegated teams.〔(DRT beschließt Reform des Spielbetriebs ) ''Rugby-Journal'' - Reforms 2008, accessed: 7 January 2009〕 The women's Rugby-Bundesliga consists of six teams in 2008 and also plays a final between the top two clubs at the end of the season.〔(Rugby Spielpläne - Archiv 2007/2008 - 1. Frauenbundesliga ) , accessed: 29 December 2008〕 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〕 The annual convention of the German Rugby Federation however decided in early July 2010 to allow ''DSV 78'' to stay in the Bundesliga.〔(Deutscher Rugby-Tag beschloss neuen Pokal-Austragungsmodus ) ''Rugby-Journal'', published: 4 July 2010, accessed: 5 July 2010〕 In February 2011, the ''DRV'' decided that the league would continue to play with ten teams in the near future.〔(Es bleibt bei 10 Vereinen in der Bundesliga ) totalrugby.de, published: 9 February 2011, accessed: 5 March 2011〕 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 Bundesliga increased from ten to 24, the league divided into four regional divisions of six clubs each and the finals series expanded from four to sixteen teams. One of the main aims of the reform was to reduce the number of kilometres travelled 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 TVPforzheim 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〕 At the annual general meeting of the DRV in July 2015 it was decided to return to a sixteen club format with two regional divisions of eight. The last placed in each division would be relegated while the seventh placed teams would have to play-off against the third and fourth best team of the 2. Bundesliga.〔(Rugby-Verband modifiziert Spielsystem ) ''Frankfurter Neue Presse'', published: 7 July 2015, accessed: 9 July 2015〕 The German championship in turn will be contested by the best two teams in each group.〔(Rugby-Bundesliga startet am Wochenende in ihre 45. Saison - Spielmodus erneut reformiert ) totalrugby.de, published: 27 August 2015, accessed: 12 September 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「Rugby-Bundesliga」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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