Wheelchair rugby
Rollstuhlrugby (engl. Wheel Chair rugby ) is a team sport for athletes who are restricted in at least three limbs. Wheelchair rugby was developed in Canada in the late 1970s , is now played in over twenty countries around the world, and is a Paralympic sport . In Canada it was first called Murderball .
In the US it was then called Quad Rugby . Outside the United States, the sport was officially renamed wheelchair rugby in the late 1980s. It is similar to traditional rugby and is played with a type of volleyball . From Canada it spread to the USA and via England to Germany.
History of origin
Twenty years ago, Canadians started developing this sport. Quadriplegics are at a disadvantage in wheelchair basketball , because basketball requires throwing, catching and driving well and quickly. So they developed the sport of wheelchair rugby. Players with restrictions on at least three extremities (e.g. also those affected by missing limbs, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy) are permitted. Body contact is not allowed here, but almost any use with the special rugby wheelchair .
The sport quickly established itself in the United States. Today there is a fully organized league operation in Canada and the USA with over 45 teams. New Zealand , Australia and England provide highly qualified teams.
In the early 1990s, Dr. Horst Strohkendl invited an English team to Germany to present wheelchair rugby. The first German team established itself around Heidelberg and wheelchair rugby was also given an organizational framework in Germany.
There is now a European Champions League and three leagues in Germany, with the basic league being divided into three regional leagues (south, north and east).
Championship and leagues
The largest tournament in the world is the Bernd Best Tournament, which has been held annually in Cologne since 2001. Here teams from all over Europe and now also from North America meet in all leagues. The leagues are divided into "Basic League" (corresponds to the amateur league), "Advanced League" (corresponds to the 2nd Bundesliga), "Professional League" (corresponds to the 1st Bundesliga) and the "Champions League". The finals of the Advanced, Professional and Champions League are all broadcast on the Internet.
International
Wheelchair rugby has been a Paralympic discipline since 2000. In 1996 it was still in the program as a demonstration competition in Atlanta . The first world championship took place in 1995 at the Swiss Paraplegic Center in Nottwil . This sport quickly established itself internationally. World and European championships take place regularly. Internationally, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are the dominant nations. Japan attracted attention with a third place at the 2010 World Cup and the 2016 Paralympic. In 2018 they sensationally won the world championship title and are thus one of the expanded favorites for the 2020 Summer Paralympics .
In Europe, the British team and the Swedes are leading.
From June 24th to July 2nd, 2017 the European Championships in wheelchair rugby took place in Koblenz , from which the United Kingdom emerged as the winner, ahead of Sweden.
The last 4 places for the 2018 World Cup in Sydney (Australia) were at the qualification tournament in the Swiss Paraplegic Center in Nottwil from 4-8. April 2018 awarded. Ireland, New Zealand, Poland and Colombia were able to prevail. Only the last two places remained for Germany and Switzerland.
| year | host | European Championship | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | |||
| 1995 | Gothenburg ( Sweden ) |
 United Kingdom
|
 Sweden
|
 Netherlands
|
|
| 1997 | Nijmegen ( Netherlands ) |
Sweden
|
United Kingdom
|
 Germany
|
|
| 1999 | Nottwil ( Switzerland ) |
Sweden
|
Germany
|
United Kingdom
|
|
| 2003 | Lommel ( Belgium ) |
United Kingdom
|
 Belgium
|
Germany
|
|
| 2005 | Middelfart ( Denmark ) |
United Kingdom
|
Germany
|
Sweden
|
|
| 2007 | Espoo ( Finland ) |
United Kingdom
|
Germany
|
Sweden
|
|
| 2009 | Hillerød ( Denmark ) |
Belgium
|
Sweden
|
Germany
|
|
| 2011 | Nottwil ( Switzerland ) |
Sweden
|
United Kingdom
|
Belgium
|
|
| 2013 | Antwerp ( Belgium ) |
Sweden
|
 Denmark
|
United Kingdom
|
|
| 2015 | Pajulahti ( Finland ) |
United Kingdom
|
Sweden
|
Denmark
|
|
| 2017 | Koblenz ( Germany ) |
United Kingdom
|
Sweden
|
 France
|
|
| 2019 | Vejle ( Denmark ) |
United Kingdom
|
Denmark
|
France
|
|
| # | country | gold | silver | bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
United Kingdom
|
7th | 2 | 2 |
| 2 |
Sweden
|
4th | 4th | 2 |
| 3 |
Belgium
|
1 | 1 | 1 |
| 4th |
Germany
|
0 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 |
Denmark
|
0 | 2 | 1 |
| 6th |
France
|
0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7th |
Netherlands
|
0 | 0 | 1 |
| year | host | World Championship | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | |||
| 1995 | Nottwil ( Switzerland ) |
 United States
|
 Canada
|
 New Zealand
|
|
| 1998 | Toronto ( Canada ) |
Canada
|
United States
|
New Zealand
|
|
| 2002 | Gothenburg ( Sweden ) |
Canada
|
United States
|
 Australia
|
|
| 2006 | Christchurch ( New Zealand ) |
United States
|
New Zealand
|
Canada
|
|
| 2010 | Vancouver ( Canada ) |
United States
|
Australia
|
 Japan
|
|
| 2014 | Odense ( Denmark ) |
Australia
|
Canada
|
United States
|
|
| 2018 | Sydney ( Australia ) |
Japan
|
Australia
|
United States
|
|
| # | country | gold | silver | bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
United States
|
3 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 |
Canada
|
2 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 |
Australia
|
1 | 2 | 1 |
| 4th |
Japan
|
1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 |
New Zealand
|
0 | 1 | 2 |
| year | host | Paralympics | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | |||
| 1996 | Atlanta ( USA ) |
United States
|
Canada
|
New Zealand
|
|
| 2000 | Sydney ( Australia ) |
United States
|
Australia
|
New Zealand
|
|
| 2004 | Athens ( Greece ) |
New Zealand
|
Canada
|
United States
|
|
| 2008 | Beijing ( China ) |
United States
|
Australia
|
Canada
|
|
| 2012 | London ( United Kingdom ) |
Australia
|
Canada
|
United States
|
|
| 2016 | Rio de Janeiro ( Brazil ) |
Australia
|
United States
|
Japan
|
|
| 2020 | Tokyo ( Japan ) | ||||
| # | country | gold | silver | bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
United States
|
3 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 |
Australia
|
2 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 |
New Zealand
|
1 | 0 | 2 |
| 4th |
Canada
|
0 | 3 | 1 |
| 5 |
Japan
|
0 | 0 | 1 |
World ranking
In the current world rankings (as of June 19, 2018), Australia leads ahead of the USA and Canada. Japan is fourth. Germany ranks 10th. Switzerland is 16th and Austria is 22nd.
Trivia
- In 2005 Murderball was a documentary about the American wheelchair rugby team at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens.
See also
Web links
- Website of the wheelchair rugby department in the German Wheelchair Sports Association
- Swiss Quad Rugby - National Team
- The Bernd Best Tournament, the largest wheelchair rugby tournament in the world
Individual evidence
- ↑ 2017 IWRF Wheelchair Rugby European Championship . Archived from the original on February 3, 2018. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
- ^ Wheelchair rugby: Ireland wins the tournament in Nottwil. Retrieved on August 14, 2018 (German).
- ↑ World ranking
