Roar Rookie
Joined April 2015
14.7k
Views
8
Published
17
Comments
German, who has previously lived in Australia. Borussia Dortmund season ticket holder. Also Rugby follower und player (at a very modest level), who's therefore interested in all Paul O'Connel related matters.
Published
Comments
Germany’s sevens team has been aiming for core status on the HSBC World Series for years, coming agonisingly close to promotion on several occasions.…
The German Bundesliga is the first major European football championship to end its coronavirus-induced break. This weekend will see the return to action for…
Germany’s top-flight football competition might be the world’s best attended, yet in recent seasons the Bundesliga has been severely lacking in excitement at the…
It took a solid 92 years to get rugby's status as an Olympic sport reinstated. But ever since the IOC's decision back in 2008…
Germany is renowned around the globe for a couple of things: cars, rich cuisine, ancient culture and most certainly for its love of beer.…
A mere nine months after his last match on the sidelines as the manager of Borussia Dortmund, Jurgen Klopp returns to where he had…
Access to increased public funding, more media exposure and being backed by a very wealthy benefactor might result in a German team competing on…
Tuesday night was one of those nights. A sell-out crowd of 75,000 at the Allianz Arena in Munich, and a TV audience of nearly…
Heard those rumours too, however Scotland has already announced that they’ll continue fielding their own team going forward.
A double whammy for German rugby and its sevens team
There’s only one at Castres atm, there used to be another, but he had to retire in 2018 during the season, due to a neck issue. Both front-rowers. In the ProD 2 we have a couple of Germans, four right now. Then there’s another German international playing in the English championship, one more in the Welsh Premiership and a bunch more in Federale 1 in France and National 1 in England. They could provide a decent spine for a team. The issue is that especially French clubs don’t give a damn about releasing them.
A double whammy for German rugby and its sevens team
Cheers mate. Hope you’ll be cheering on the Force this weekend, those days when the Badger and Matt Hodgson were in the team….
With regards to German Rugby, happy to share our perspective here once in a while.
A double whammy for German rugby and its sevens team
Well, Germany is kinda unique. I’m born and bred German, only came across Ruggers Down Under. Germany has handball, which is pretty popular in the North. The South has ice hockey and both sports have a pro league, that is pretty well attended, with the best clubs getting in excess of 10 k into their arenas on a regular basis. However soccer, and I’m saying this as a fan, is just way too dominant. The two main Saturday sports shows on public (tax-payer funded) television are 100% and 90% soccer. Only winter sports come close in popularity, but since soccer cut its winter break down to only a couple of weeks, even skiing, ski-jumping and biathlon have to compete for attention. Rugby is sorta carving out its niche, getting more traction on TV, and with a population of 83 Million, that could one day be good enough to compete for higher honours. However decisions like the one from WR don’t really help tbh.
A double whammy for German rugby and its sevens team
Well, after missing the RWC in Japan and after our former billionaire benefactor cut his funding (he’s made Stade Français the richest club in France, yet they were dead last, when the season was cancelled in March), the German Union has tried a complete restart with the 15s team. Mike Ford left as coach (equally there was no money to pay his salary) after the team was relegated from Europe’s top division and most recently none of the foreign pros has been playing for the team. The idea is following the Portuguese model, they managed a revamp without being too dependent on their pro players in France. Because frankly getting them released is huge issue. Honestly though, the fifteens probably deserves another article. The main issue for now is growing the base in Germany, which will benefit both teams ultimately – the Union has 16 k registered members atm. Yet the viewing figures for the RWC basically show that there’s loads more potential.
A double whammy for German rugby and its sevens team
Cheers JD. Now that we Germans even got a front-tower in the Top 14, it’ll be even trickier, getting the boys for the Adler.
With regards to relegation: Wales was so far behind, chances of staying up were theoretical at best for them.
Promoting Japan and leaving Wales in, seems like the worst possible of way of dealing with it. The whole invitational spot issue won’t just affect Germany, although our boys could’ve played quite a role in Paris and London.
And surely the would’ve put some more effort in, than Japan during the last two SWS stints.
A double whammy for German rugby and its sevens team
Although Frankfurt has been a tad bit disappointing, I reckon. Who do you see winning the League then?
Why the Bundesliga is Europe’s most exciting football league right now
Especially for a country like Germany that pours money into Olympic sports and has a vast network of training facilities across the country for Olympic athletes. Ultimately 15s will profit off the back of it.
Germany is about to host its biggest rugby event ever
Yes on Sport 1 – the biggest free tv sports network in Germany.
Germany is about to host its biggest rugby event ever
Actually more than 160 Terry 😉
There are a couple of naturalised foreigners in the setup, but nobody came to Germany for rugby. The Sevens team is basically a full time outfit now with the support of the German army and federal police that employs Olympians from all sorts of sports. The current coach is Vuyo Zangqa, former Blitzbok himself and assistant coach at SA 7s.
Germany is about to host its biggest rugby event ever
We had a record audience for Germany and the total tv audience was larger than in Australia. Just cracked one million viewers. However due to the fact Sevens was part of the Olympics, our public television channels broadcoasted it. Roughly 4 million viewers around midnight for the semis and final.
Germany is about to host its biggest rugby event ever
Mate, believe that’s pretty normal in Germany. Usually tickets for soccer matches, that attract 50-80k every week depending on which city, include public transport. Plus on German trains having a beer or two is legal, unless you misbehave on the train.
Oktoberfest Rugby sevens to launch in Munich
It is a thing of beauty. Participated in last year’s amateur tournament myself as well. 22 degrees, sunshine and a buzzing Oktoberfest. Add in a little bit of Sevens and you’ve got the perfect combination. Now it’s just about enough people knowing about it!
Oktoberfest Rugby sevens to launch in Munich
The subway is totally safe, as is Germany per se. One of the lowest violent crime rates in the world. Don’t let em scare you and should you be around, I’ll be happy to chat about Rugby in Germany while having a Maß of beer (no they’re not called Stein 😉 )
Oktoberfest Rugby sevens to launch in Munich
Yes, Eurosport got a market share of 4% for the final, while they’re usually hovering around 0.5%
However the fact that the public channels broadcastet it during the olympics – which was a huge struggle by the way, they were only gonna stream it and the two biggest German rugby websites “encouraged” their readers to send mails and call – dwarfed those numbers. 25% market share and more than 4 million viewers after midnight on average!
Oktoberfest Rugby sevens to launch in Munich
@jeznez
Yes, it will be incorporated. There are twelve pitches right across the road from the olympic stadium. The schedule will be organised, so that amateur participants can watch the elite tournament at the same time. The participation fee will include access to the main ground, which will also serve as the final venue for the amateurs!
Tickets are actually on sale already starting at €19 a day 😉
Oktoberfest Rugby sevens to launch in Munich
The crazy thing is, the German Ice Hockey federation has been haemorrhaging active players. If the trend continues, we will overtake them in terms of membership. But the key difference is that hockey is more engrained in the culture. The Kölner Haie (Cologne sharks) get up to 20 k for home games, which is almost as much as the federation nationwide has in terms of players. The Oktoberfest 7s got almost 30 k over two days and the best attendance for a 15s game was around 10 k a couple of years ago. But on a regular basis it’s much less. Also hockey gets more TV coverage, has a professional league and there’s more than enough decent coaches – all things Rugby is lacking so far.
A double whammy for German rugby and its sevens team