Difference between revisions of "Portal:KAISHistory Men"

Latest revision as of 17:53, 27 April 2017

As far as the history of rugby in the Kaiserslautern area goes, it started with Ramstein Rogues RUFC. The club was formed sometime in the 1980s and had the support of the local British Royal Air Force detachment stationed in Ramstein Air Base (back when the RAF had a bigger presence in the area.) (from James Lampe, player ther 2012-2017)

The support for the Rogues by the RAF allowed the Rogues a place to practice as well as all the equipment they required (they airlifted their scrum machine from an air base in England to Ramstein.)

Eventually, the RAF presence in Ramstein dwindled, thus causing financial support for the club to dwindle as well, however the club was still competitively successful. The duty of finding places to train and compete fell to the majority American service members/civilians who had to pull a few strings to ensure that they could continue their activities on base. It became harder and harder to find a reliable place to hold consistent practices, until eventually a change had to be made in order for their members to play rugby.

Rugby is a foreign game in Germany, but there was interest among the German university students in Kaiserslautern to form a club. They set up the "original" Kaiserslautern Rugby Club but this was short lived as a better option presented itself in the form of TuS 1882 Hochspeyer e.V, a sports club with all the facilities required to run a rugby program only a short distance outside of the city. Although well managed, the club ran into problems recruiting and retaining players. However, rugby in the area was at an all time high, with two (technically three, but the University 7s program is more of a social/fitness side) competitive teams playing consistently.

The problems faced by both clubs (Ramstein needed a place to practice, Hochspeyer needed players) eventually caught up with them. Negotiations were held, ideas were bounced back and forth, and it was decided to dissolve the Ramstein Rogues and create a new rugby program with the centrally located sports club known as ESC West Kaiserslautern. Not everyone was happy of this change and some players tried to stick with Hochspeyer but they were too few and eventually joined ESC West or simply stopped playing. The club was formed in 2013, the rugby team was fairly successful, but did not enjoy any favors or real support from ESC West. It turns out the president of ESC West allowed a rugby program to be created to spite the other club members as he was about to be voted out of the position, so the club merely tolerated the rugby team, allowing them only the use of the shitty, borderline unsafe practice field and denying them the use of the rest of the facilities.

In 2016, ESC West Kaiserslautern began the procedures to file for bankruptcy, pretty soon the rugby team would not have any club to support them nor a place to practice to even finish out the season they were currently in. Negotiations began again with TuS 1882 Hochspeyer and in February 2017 it was decided to renew the rugby program, and we have been happy with them ever since.