looking for a rugby team in warsaw

Hi everybody!
I'm a french student and I'll come in Warsaw University in September. As I play rugby since two years, I'm looking for a team in Warsaw... Who can give me some informations about playing rugby in Poland?

go and check at the University's branch of AZS (probably means Akademicki Związek Sportowy - Academical Sports Union), rugby isn't very popular in Poland, and I'm not following it at all, but I just checked : there are 2 professional team from Warsaw in our I division. there is also a club in Sochaczew, 60 km from Warsaw (in Poznań direction, at the A2 motorway, ~1 hr by train about 1-1,5 hrs by car),

current standings of Division I:
1. R.C. Lechia Gdańsk 10 106-14 2
2. R.C. Arka Gdynia 10 73-10 2
3. Folc AZS AWF Warszawa 10 53-27 2
4. Budowlani Łódź 5 62-19 1
5. K.S. Posnania Poznań 5 43-5 1
6. Salwator Juvenia Kraków 0 15-48 0
7. WMPD-PUDiZ Olsztyn 0 5-43 0
8. M.K.S. Orkan Sochaczew 0 8-57 0
9. WIWI POL Ogniwo Sopot 0 25-76 0
10. R.K.S. Skra Warszawa

so you have even 2 pro clubs in Warsaw
Folc AZS AWF Warszaw (ranked 3rd last season) - just like I thought it's affiliated with the AZS (but at an other University - AWF is Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego - so the University for sportsmen and coaches, physioterapeuts etc.),
R.K.S. Skra Warszawa (ranked 9th last season) - the club is Skra - ask about their rugby section
+ 1 in Sochaczew (ranked 6th last season)

there's also II division Rugby Team Pogoń Siedlce (Siedlce is east of Warsaw, maybe 100 km)

http://mapa.rugby.pl/index.php - you can check details there (addresses and phones)
they have:
Kluby I-ligowe (I Division)
Kluby II-ligowe (II Division)
and coming soon the map of 7-men rugby Polish League clubs (Kluby PLR "7")

It depends how seriously you want to take your rugby. If it is less seriously and for fun then Frogs&co would be best. There are several French players already in the club and the emphasis is on fun, with a strong social side to the club. Fixtures are mainly against touring sides from the UK and France, with the occassional friendly against a Polish team. They also field a 7's squad in the Polish league, 2nd place in 2006. look at frogsco.pl.

If you are a serious player then Skra or Folc, but you will probably not be able to play this session as the transfer window is shut. Contrary to what has been said none of the teams listed are 'professional', merely they are in the first division, but are in general ametuer players, with a few paid a small amount. The level is good but not that high, any reasonably strong ameteur club side from France would beat them, although if you only have 2 years experience you may struggle to get a game.

Whatever you choose enjoy the exerience

Right, thank you all. I think the frogs are more interesting for me, as I don't search a serious challenge. Have fun and beers, that's my quest!

I knew it!
I simply didn't want to offend those players (strong guys and 11 of them in a team + substitutes, right? so I wouldn't stand a chance, if they took any offence! :)

actually I wasn't sure, but rugby in Poland is really a marginal sports

Actually there is 15 in a side, with 22 in a squad (7 subs). Yep big guys, especially in Polish teams.

Rugby is still marginal but there about 50 teams, albeit the majority being 7's teams (7 aside version). It is shown on TV more and more, with all games in the World Cup being shown on Polsat Sport (starts Friday). With all the Poles going to the UK and Ireland, it's popularity will grow.

The picture is healthy for the growth of Polish rugby.

Valouch - see you at training with the Frogs

All games are not shown on TV. Coverage of the Rugby World Cup is extremely poor. Where are Saturdays games being shown ????

you mean Polsat Sport?
you have to understand that in Poland rugby loses significantly with sports like basketball (they recently covered lots of European Championship matches) and now is the season for football (leagues and European Cups), so they won't show too many group stage matches

Hey,Im from South Africa,thinking of playing for a club in poland to further my skills,i play quite a good level of rugby,im 21 now,1.88m tall and i weigh 95kg,ive been playing since i was 5 years old,my position is wing,i would like to play professional international rugby in about a year or two,can you recomend a club in warsaw,and can they arrange any visas? thanks

Hi, the only club in Warsaw that pays its players is Folc AZS AWF, but they don't pay much, you would need to work. Suggest you take a TEFL course so you could teach English at the same time. I guess they can arrange visa's as they have some Georgians playing for them, assuming of course they have visas.

So, we've had a glorious few weeks of watching the Rugby World Cup on Polsat Sport and Polsat Sport Extra and now the real stuff kicks off....what happens ...it disappears!!!!
Help, I can't see how a boxing gala is more important than Wales vs Figi....or Cafe football more important than Argentina vs Ireland!!! And they do show... South Africa vs USA!!!
Ok, I understand Rugby isn't an important sport in Poland, but how can a tv station show the first rounds of a WORLD cup and then drop it like a hot potato when the minor football leagues of Europe kick off? Please someone explain to me why there aren't even the quarter finals on Polsat Sport.... aaargh... I would have preferred that they had not played with my emotions and given me hope that I might watch this great tournament by showing nearly everything in the first rounds, only to kick it into touch NOW... Help, where else can I watch the games?

Signed desperate Welshman in Wroclaw...

That does seem a bit sttange, try the following channels

S4C if you have Sky, sometimes you can watch via internet on S4C.co.uk
DSF (Germa channel) maybe on cable and satellite
france 2 also maybe on cable, it is in Warsaw

Other than that, you will have to track down a pub with Sky

Valouch,

Go and and see Kevin in Jimmy Bradley's Irish bar.
JIMMYBRADLEYS.PL

Sounds good and looks good - having seen the website - in fact I'm jealous!!!! Because I'm in Wroclaw!!! And can't make it this weekend... so S4C for Wales v Figi (unless the guiness bar in town is showing it) and the TV5 for the rest of the tournament.

Still Polsat Sport has broke my heart... toyed with then let down at the most important point.

Dam the Euro Woman's Basketball, Boxing galas and Speedway!

Speedway has a huge number of fans in Poland :)
but honestly I don't know why they are showing mostly the less interesting games (there was Portugal - Romania match recently, probably live), maybe they didn't buy the full rights and can't show all the clashes of the titans?
and by showing those less interesting games they suffer, because the audience is smaller than it could be, so they think it's not worth it to show too much?

So they simply didn't buy rights? ah, ok. You're absolutely right ... they're showing a whole bunch of cheap games that are unskilful and low stakes. Not a way to sell a sport to the country that had the top two strong men in the world recently. Poland could have a great Rugby team. Strong, fit and BIG!!! I know there are some leagues but is it a case of Polish men are just scared of contact sports? (provocation!!!) Can't be true, they love all types of Martial Arts.

So... it's just tradition.
Ah well....TV5 has all the games after this weekend, so I will have to find something on the net or skype home and listen carefully.

As for Speedway, I remember early 80s speedway nights on TV back in the UK and they were fun. If a little like what Grey hound racing is to Horse racing, Speedway is to tarmac racing. A poor man's version.

Wroclaw holds lots of Speedway meets and they can be great. But once someone's in front don't they just stay in front?

yeah, and in Formula 1 it's even worse :)
anyway, don't blame me, I don't like motor sports at all, don't even consider them sports, I was just stating a fact trying to find any reasonable explanation for you.

I know how I'd feel being for example in some parts of the U.S.A. during the football (soccer) World Cup and unable to see all the mathces, it would be really weird.

btw, Polsat Sport was showing England - Tonga tonight, live.

Yes, and a good match it was too. I look forward to Aus v England on TV5.

Sorry, wasn't blaming you for Polsat's errors.

Anyway, today the inevitable occurred ... Wales lost to a small island of 800,000 people in the south seas.34-38... Great game. Figi were fantastic, and so were Wales. It was an amazing spectacle that I had to watch over a skype video link. If it had been on Polsat and a bunch of young guys had seen it maybe Poland would have gained a few of young converts to the game.

Yes, Auto sport... is it sport? hmmm it's performance definitely and competitive. So, it's performance competition. Sport? I need a definition. Is snooker a sport? Who knows.
I think my thread is finished anyway with Wales going out of the World Cup... now I support Figi into the 1/4 finals.

Seeya somewhere else in the forum.