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Rugby Club Luxembourg, abbreviated to RCL, is a rugby union club, based in Cessange, Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. Luxembourg has no domestic league of its own, so RCL plays in neighbouring countries' leagues; they most recently played in the German Rugby-Bundesliga, having previously competed in the Belgian and French National Leagues. The club has grown rapidly in recent years, and now has 300 members.〔 Based at Stade Boy Konen, in Cessange, the club is looking to expand to two or three pitches to relieve excessive usage of Boy Konen.〔 The club is widely held in regard as the premier club in Luxembourg having never lost the Luxembourg Cup, and continues to be the primary source of players for the Luxembourg national rugby union team. ==History== Founded in May 1973, RCL was the first Luxembourgian rugby club, established by a group of British expatriates working in Luxembourg City. The club consisted then and still does today of a mixture of nationalities, cultures, creeds, languages : Belgian, French, English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Australian, South African, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Dutch, Italian, Fijian, Norwegian, Luxembourgish, American, New Zealander, Venezuelan, and Argentinian.〔(RCL Official website )〕 The club played its first competitive game against US Castillionnaise in September 1973. Up until 1995, the club played in the Alsace-Lorraine regional league. In that year, the team joined the Belgian second division, which it belonged to until 1998, when it earned promotion to the first division.〔(RCL - a potted history ) RCL website, accessed: 8 April 2010〕 In 2001, the club decided to return to the French league system, again playing regionally in Alsace-Lorraine. It won its division in 2008 but, after an invitation to play in Germany, decided to join the German league system in 2009.〔 The inclusion of ''RCL'' 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〕 The club has recently recruited several local sportsmen from other sports, including Stéphane Gillet, former Luxembourg national football team goalkeeper, as a back row.〔 Prince Sébastien plays for the club's under-20 team, and Grand Duke Henri has visited the club to watch his youngest son play. A league reform in 2012 allowed the club promotion to the Bundesliga after the league was expanded from ten to 24 teams. RCL finished fifth in their group in the 2012-13 season and failed to qualify for the championship round, instead entering the second tier DRV-Pokal, but eventually withdrawing from the competition in October 2012. The club's reserve team however continued to play in Germany, competing in the fourth tier Regionalliga.〔(DRV-Pokal: Luxemburg zieht zurück ) totalrugby.de, published: 18 October 2012, accessed: 9 May 2013〕 The team competed in the tier three 3. Liga in 2013–14 and won its division and the competition with a finals victory over TGS Hausen, earning promotion to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga. In the 2014–15 season the club finished third in the south-westt DRV-Pokal group and was knocked out by RC Leipzig in the quarter finals of the play-offs after a first round victory over Veltener RC. 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 Club Luxembourg」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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