It’s amazing what can be achieved when a few mates with a common passion get together and hatch a plan. This is how the Rugby Club Luxembourg started 50 years ago. A group of rugby enthusiasts who had arrived in Luxembourg for work were the foundation members for the club. Many of those founding members will be with the club on a special weekend this June (9-10 June) to celebrate the club and the great enjoyment it has meant for many over the years.

The first match was played on a cow field. It literally was a cow field with the match having to be stopped mid-match with the bovine friends joining the RCL pioneers on the grassy meadow in Moutfort. It is understood the French prime minister Pierre Messmer, deputy for Moselle, was petitioned to allow RCL to play in the Alsace-Lorraine French leagues.

Club evolution in the 1970s and 1980s

As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations a history of the club is being made by recording the thoughts of members of the senior playing section of RCL from the various eras. The 70s and 80s have been categorised as having a great social spirit with the events being organised via the club as beacons for the expat working community in Luxembourg. Many long-standing family relationships were established during the era and 2nd and 3rd generations of families emanating from those periods are gracing the RCL rugby pitch today. But, the cows are no longer competing for the field! During the 70s and 80s the club continued to compete in the Alsace-Lorraine leagues and while it was always a struggle to ensure plenty of players on the pitch, the spirit and quality of rugby progressed.

As Luxembourg continued to grow and flourish as a financial centre and the European institutions developed there were always working opportunities. Through the 70s and 80s there was a constant flow of new entrants into the Luxembourg landscape for employment, and RCL and its members were always helpful in finding gainful employment for rugby players. This process took a step up in terms of formality in the early 90s with the club actively recruiting players (mainly keen graduates) from rugby playing nations in Europe and a fruitful link to New Zealand established. The quality of play on the field increased with the culmination of this combined effort being RCL lifting the Alsace-Lorraine Cup in the spring of 1994. The recruitment process continued through the 90s with the club continuing to grow.

1990s and 2000s

During the mid-90s the club transferred away from playing in France (for administrative and bureaucratic reasons) and joined the Belgian leagues. While RCL had to start from the bottom in the Belgian leagues the quality of play on the field, a combination of increased numbers of players arriving into Luxembourg for work and the continued recruitment drive, meant rapid movement up through the leagues. RCL was competing very well in Belgian 1st division and made it to the final of the Belgian Cup.

Early in the 2000s RCL decided to head back to the Alsace-Lorraine leagues and competed there for a few years before establishing itself in the German Bundesliga in the mid-2000s. The club has fluctuated between the 1st and 2nd divisions in Germany during the period since moving there. RCL currently sits near the top of the 2nd division. Domestic senior rugby in Luxembourg is made up of the 2 clubs RCL & Walferdange. While Walferdange have come close on a couple of occasions, RCL prides itself on having always held the coveted Lux Cup!

Juniors and women’s squads

With typical rugby spirit of playing hard on the pitch but being humble and helpful off it, RCL has always looked to foster interest in rugby for the next generations. There has been junior rugby since the club’s inception in the early 70s with tales surfacing of the practical difficulties of coaches taking juniors across the controlled borders. The junior section has continued to grow and develop with RCL Juniors competing in the Alsace-Lorraine junior tournaments through till the 2000s. At the end of the 2000s RCL Juniors joined the Belgian leagues and continue to perform well across all ages up to U18s. Domestic rugby has grown in Luxembourg at the junior level with currently 5 junior rugby clubs and regular domestic tournaments.

RCL has expanded in the past decade to include touch rugby with both junior and senior teams and has recently started to build a women’s rugby section.

The facilities of RCL have come a long way since the cow field in Moutfort. The Luxembourg Ville recognised the positive impact the club has and is having on the Luxembourg community and invested in an all-weather 3G artificial pitch and after all the years of RCL utilising local pubs as quasi-Clubrooms for celebration there is a wonderful facility being developed at Cessange.

50th anniversary celebrations

. On the evening of Friday 9 June there will be a veterans match with one or two of the 73 team participating and a relaxed social gathering. The afternoon of Saturday 10 June in the afternoon will see an event for the junior section and a gala dinner will be held the evening of Saturday 10 June. Iain Balshaw and Mike Tindall, Rugby World Cup winners with England, are joining RCL for the weekend’s celebrations.