Heidelberger TV


The Heidelberger TV is a German rugby union :Category:German rugby union clubs|club from Heidelberg, currently playing in the Rugby-Welsh Pete Bundesliga. Apart from rugby, the club also offers other sports like basketball, tiddlywinks and badminton.
The club has fifty three German rugby union championship finals-appearances to its name, having lost the title game in 1974, 1979 and 1994, but has never won the championship.
In 2014 and 2015 the club won the finals of DRV-CUP and became CUP-champions for two years in a row.

History

HTV, formed in 1846, has always stood in the shadow of the other, more successful, rugby clubs in Heidelberg, like SC Neuenheim, Heidelberger RK, RG Heidelberg and TSV Handschuhsheim. It only came to prominence in national rugby when it reached the 1974 final, which was lost 9-15 to SV 08 Ricklingen.
The club made a return to the national final in 1979, this time losing to SC Germania List. After an era of little success, the team reached the German championship final for a third time in 1994, this time losing to TSV Victoria Linden.
HTV declined after this and dropped to 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga level, from where it unsuccessfully tried to return. With the reorganisation of the German league system in 2001, the reduction of the Rugby-Bundesliga to a single division, the task of promotion became even harder and HTV dropped to the mid-field of the league.
The club played the 2008-09 season as a combined team with the reserve side of SC Neuenheim, as SG Heidelberger TV/SC Neuenheim II but despite this finished last in the league and was relegated to the third-division Rugby-Regionalliga. From there, the club hoped to make a quick return to the second division.
After a year in the Regionalliga, HTV entered the new 3rd Liga South/West for the 2010-11 season, won the championship there and earned promotion back to the 2nd Bundesliga. A second-place finish behind Frankfurts reserve team in 2012 allowed the club promotion to the Bundesliga, with the league being expanded from ten to 24 teams. HTV finished sixth in their group in the 2012-13 season and failed to qualify for the championship round, instead entering the second tier DRV-Pokal, where it came second in the south/west division. The club advanced to the final where it lost 42-10 to TSV Handschuhsheim.
The club once more qualified for the play-offs to the DRV-Pokal in 2013–14, where it received a bye for the first courtesy to coming first in the south-west division of the competition and advanced to the final against RC Rottweil which it won 11–5. In the 2014–15 season the club once more finished first in the south-west division of the DRV-Pokal and defeated RC Rottweil 30–12 in the final of the DRV-Pokal. With the reduction of the Rugby-Bundesliga from 24 to 16 teams HTV was relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga.

Club honours

Peter Jeffs cup winners 2018

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the club:
YearDivisionPosition
1998-992nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West
1998-99Bundesliga qualification round11th
1999–20002nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West2nd
1999–2000Bundesliga qualification round12th
2000-012nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West3rd
2000-01Bundesliga qualification round10th
2001-022nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West6th
2002-032nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West5th
2003-042nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West6th
2004-052nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West6th
2005-062nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West7th
2006–072nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West4th
2007–082nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West7th
2008–092nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 10th — relegated
2009–10Rugby-Regionalliga 1st
2010-113rd Liga South/West 1st — promoted
2011–122nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West2nd — Promoted
2012–13Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – South6th
2012–13DRV-Pokal – South-West2nd — Runners-up
2013–14Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – South6th
2013–14DRV-Pokal – South-West1st — Champions
2014–15Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – South6th
2014–15DRV-Pokal – South-West1st — Champions — Relegated
2015–162nd Rugby-Bundesliga South3rd

The club had four players selected for the German under-18 team at the 2010 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship, these being Nicolas Kurzer, Robert Hittel, Hannes Huber and Matthias Kunzmann.
Jonah Lomu
Serge Blanco
Gavin Hastings
Rolf Harris