| Rugby union in Switzerland | |
|---|---|
 The Stade de Genève, which saw some rugby action in the 2006-07 Heineken Cup | |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Governing body | Swiss Rugby Federation |
| National team(s) | Switzerland |
| First played | 1869 |
| Registered players | ~5000 |
| Clubs | 32 |
National competitions | |
Rugby union in Switzerland is a minor but growing sport.
The Swiss Rugby Federation was founded in 1972 and joined the IRFB in 1988. [1]
Like neighbouring Germany, Austria and France, Swiss rugby is actually amongst the oldest in the world. The earliest recorded match in Switzerland was in 1869, and Lausanne RFC can claim to be as old as Blackheath. [1]
However, Swiss rugby continued at a very low key for over a hundred years. The World Wars and other global upheavals hindered the game, and it was really the presence of a number of ex-patriates working in the banking industry, or as tax exiles, who helped keep the game going. [1]
In 1974, a side from Basel toured France and were on the end of record breaking defeats. They lost 127-0 to Grenoble, 104-3 to Thonon and 116-0 to Annecy. [2] The captain of the Basel team, Pierre Langlois said, "We conceded 73 tries, I think. We even had a penalty try given against us when we were losing by 100 points." [2]
Swiss rugby continued in a haphazard manner during the 1970s and 80s, for example, when Switzerland was due to play Bellinzona RFC in Italy, two of their players were delayed by a landslide. [3] In order to make up numbers, a journalist and their coach driver were added to the squad. They did so well in the game that they were invited to subsequent training sessions. [3]
The Swiss Federation undertook an intensive development program in the 1980s, under Evelyne Oberson, and managed to gain a number of new native players. [1] Ms Oberson, working often alone in Lausanne as a volunteer, was in every way a key element to Swiss rugby as, through her high level of personal organisation and admin skills, for the most part managed the (then) small Federation almost single-handedly. She was essential to Swiss rugby holding together from the 80s until its current format.
In 1989, Chris Thau claimed that Switzerland had around 1,000 players (a number which has increased somewhat since then). [4]
There are at least thirty Swiss clubs at present. [1]
Swiss rugby is now dominated by home grown players, and for some the bright lights of French and Italian rugby might be a draw. [1]
More recently, 2006-07 Heineken Cup clash between the French side Bourgoin and Irish rugby's Munster was moved from Bourgoin's home ground, to the Stade de Genève (Geneva Stadium). The stadium's capacity is 30,000, and attendance on the day was 16,255. [5]
Notable Swiss players include:
Servette FC is a Swiss professional football club based in Geneva, founded in March 1890 with rugby as its first sporting activity, and named after the Geneva district of the same name. The football section was created on 17 January 1900. They play in the Swiss Super League.
CS Bourgoin-Jallieu is a French rugby union club competing in the third level of the French league system, Nationale.
Stade de Genève, also called Stade de la Praille, is a stadium in Lancy, Canton of Geneva. It has a capacity of 30,084.
The Genève-Servette HC is a professional ice hockey club based in Geneva, Switzerland and competing in the National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. The team plays their home games at the Patinoire des Vernets, which has a seating capacity of 7,135.
The Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg is a Latin Catholic diocese in Switzerland, which is exempt. The original diocese of Lausanne was a suffragan of the archdiocese of Besançon, through the 18th century. The diocese of Geneva was a suffragan of the archdiocese of Vienne.
The Swiss Rugby Federation ) is the governing body for rugby union in Switzerland.
Christopher Philip Wyatt is a Welsh international rugby union player whose career as a lock forward lasted from 1998 to 2003, during which he attained 38 caps for the Wales national rugby union team.
The West Switzerland Company was a railway company in Switzerland, formed 1854 and absorbed into the Western Swiss Railway in 1872. The OS built a railway network in western Switzerland and connected with France via Geneva in 1858, although Switzerland's first railway was the French Strasbourg–Basel Railway, which connected Basel with Strasbourg, France in 1844.
The Jura Foot Line or Jura South Foot Line, is a railway line in Switzerland. It runs from Olten along the foot of the southern Jura range through Solothurn, Grenchen, Biel/Bienne, Neuchâtel, Yverdon-les-Bains and Morges to Lausanne. It is one of two routes used by intercity trains between Geneva and Zürich. The other is the Midland line which connects Olten via Langenthal, Burgdorf, Bern, Fribourg, Lausanne to Morges. The line was built by five railway companies, which after several mergers were absorbed into the Swiss Federal Railways in 1903.
In Switzerland, most of the people have a regular sport activity and one in four is an active member of a sports club. The most important all-embracing organisations for sports in Switzerland are the Federal Office of Sport, and the Swiss Olympic Committee.
Rugby Club CERN - Meyrin - St Genis are a semi-professional Swiss rugby union club situated on the French–Swiss border, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northwest of Geneva. The club plays in the Swiss first division where it is one of the most successful teams in the country's history, behind Hermance RRC.
Nyon Rugby Club is a Swiss rugby union football club based in Nyon, situated on the shores of lake Geneva between Geneva and Lausanne. The club was founded in 1972 and is a member of the l'Association des Sociétés Sportives Nyonnaises, the Association Vaudoise de Rugby and the Swiss Rugby Federation. They play their home matches at the Colovray Sports Centre which is under the management of UEFA. Since its creation, Nyon Rugby Club has won the national championship and cup several times and has provided many players to the Swiss national side
The Cinémathèque suisse, formerly the Archives cinématographiques suisses, is a Swiss state-approved non-profit foundation headquartered in Lausanne. It aims to collect, protect, study and present film archives. The Swiss Cinematheque has its archives in Penthaz and a branch office in Zürich.
Xavier Oberson is ordinary professor in Swiss and international tax law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Geneva since 1994. He is also the founder and director of the LL.M. Tax at the University of Geneva.
The 1932–33 season was the Fussball Club Basel 1893's 40th season in their existence and their 33rd consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football. They played their home games in the Landhof in the district Wettstein in Kleinbasel. The club's chairman Franz Rinderer was confirmed at the AGM for the second consecutive period.
The Swiss Private Bankers Association is a Swiss trade association made up of banking institutions that meet the legal definition of a private banker according to Swiss law. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and currently has six members.
The Lausanne–Geneva railway is a double-track main railway line in Switzerland. It is an important for passenger transport and is the most frequented railway in Romandy. It serves as an approach from Geneva to the Simplon Railway and the line to Bern and Zürich.
FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy, sometimes referred to as SLO, is a Swiss football club based in Ouchy, Lausanne. They will play in the Challenge League from 2024 after relegation from Super League in 2023–24.
Video games in Switzerland have been released since the 1980s. In 2016, there were between 100 and 120 game companies, mostly small, corresponding to about 500 employees and a turnover of about 50 millions Swiss francs.