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BERLIN - In sports-mad Germany, next month's Rugby World Cup will pass without barely a mention, despite the fact that the sport was once popular here until it was decimated by World War II.
There are 99 rugby clubs and about 10,000 die-hard players in Germany, but football dwarfs it in every way.
"People forget, however, that the first rugby club in Germany was founded in 1872 and the German Rugby Federation was set up in 1900," said Claus-Peter Bach, the federation's current president.
"Germany was even Olympic silver medallist in rugby in 1900 and beat France twice in the 1930s. But that all belongs to a different era."
While the 'Mannschaft' is a world power in football, its poor relation in rugby is ranked just 14th in Europe and plays against opponents such as Moldova, Ukraine and Belgium.
"The Nazis are responsible for the demise. Most of the players were killed in World War II and for a long time, too little was done to bring the level back up," Bach said.
The Nazis barely tolerated rugby. "It was too English a sport for the regime," Bach said.
As a result it lost its financial support and much of the popularity it had gained in the western and northern cities of Heidelberg, Hanover and Frankfurt.
Rugby has found a small but dedicated following today in several university cities, but the level of play is decidedly low.
Pierre Broncan, who coaches French second division club Auch, played for the German national side from 2001 to 2005 after qualifying by virtue of his German mother.
"At that time, the German federation wanted to improve its chances on the international scene and so was going around asking French and South African with German ancestry to play," he said.
Broncan said a handful of training camps and matches, including a mass brawl during one of his first matches for Germany in Ukraine, revealed to him how low standards had fallen.
"The problem is the training of teachers and club coaches. It means that a lot of youngsters give up the sport," Broncan said.
Claus-Peter Bach recognises the problems, but insisted the federation was looking to the future with hope.
"We need better coaches and we are expecting a lot from seminars that we are intending to organise with the French and the Welsh with the help of the International Rugby Board."
While German players occasionally break through into French or English clubs, such as Robert Mohr at La Rochelle or Sacha Fischer at Perigueux, most stay at home and thus miss out on the chance of improving their skills and knowledge.
"The problem is that they have no reason to go abroad in the way that Georgians and Romanians do. There is enough money in Germany," Broncan said.
Deprived of the media exposure dominated by football and handball, which is riding a wave of popularity since Germany won the world championship this year, rugby looks set to continue its decline.
"Qualification for the 2015 World Cup is not out of the question," Bach insists.
Pierre Broncan is not so sure. "It will be hard, very hard. It was hard enough in 1987 in the first World Cup, but with the professionalism of the game now...
"There's some top talent and a passion which rivals that of the southwest of France. But there are so many holes."
- AFP
