Origins

Kiel rugby began in the 1930s, when the local shipyards workers and German Navy members, then called the Reichsmarine, formed the 1. Kieler Rugby Fussball Verein.^[1]

In post-Second World War Germany, competitive rugby in Kiel resumed in 1949, when three local clubs competed in a league with clubs from Hamburg. The three clubs were the 1. Kieler Rugby Fussball Verein, PSV Kiel and FT Adler. Rugby in Kiel greatly benefited from a strong support through the British Army, which was stationed at Kiel-Holtenau.^[1]

Towards the end of the 1950s, Kiel rugby declined and the clubs were only able to field a combined team. In 1963, even this team had to be disbanded. As a form of farewell to rugby in Kiel, a final friendly match was organized. The match was against a team selected from a visiting detachment of the Japanese Navy. After this, rugby disappeared from the city for almost 30 years.^[1]

Current club

Rugby returned to Kiel in the late 1980s through the efforts of foreign students at the University of Kiel.^[1] The current rugby department of FT Adler was formed in 1997 however.^[2]

FT Adler took out the 2008 championship in the Regionalliga North but failed in the promotion round, losing on aggregate to RU Hohen Neuendorf.^[3]

The club earned promotion from the Rugby-Regionalliga North, after another championship there, to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga, the second tier of German club rugby, in 2009.^[4]

Kiel lasted for only one season at this level before being relegated again to the Regionalliga, where it came fourth in 2010-11. At the end of the 2014–15 season the club was promoted back to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga after a Regionalliga championship.