Vienna Celtic Rugby Football Club (Vienna Celtic RFC, VCRFC) is a rugby union club in Vienna, Austria, based at the Sportplatz Atzgersdorf. The club calls itself Austria's oldest rugby club. Its men's First XV won the 2025/26 Austrian championship, and in the same season also played in Hungary's Extra Liga. The club also has a second fifteen, women's, youth, touch and Old Boys teams.
History
In 1977 a handful of people from the British Isles living in Austria awoke the interest of a few daring locals with their enthusiastic stories of rugby. On 19 January 1978 the Vienna Celtic Rugby Football Club was founded by the Scot John Skinner and a group of young Austrians around Johann Schweiger and Bernhard Eigenberger. The club is still a mix of nationalities, "geographically from Norway to New Zealand, alphabetically from Australia to Zimbabwe". Rugby in Austria was revived in 1978 with Vienna Celtic, after a long break.
The women's team played its first match in 1994 and, after a break, returned to the field in 2019. Since summer 2015 the club has been based at the Sportplatz Atzgersdorf. The first team regularly competes for the title in the Alpine Rugby Championship and the Austrian Bundesliga.
In 2020 the club won the Austrian fifteens championship for the first time in 25 years. In 2021 Vienna Celtic and Vienna Eagles RFC began an ambitious joint project: the founding of a new rugby club and a close cooperation.
In 2025/26 the First XV played in Hungary's Extra Liga as a foreign guest team, and reached the final, which it lost 21–25 to Esztergomi Vitézek RAFC. In the same season's Austrian championship, contested by eight teams in a knockout format, Vienna Celtic beat its arch-rival RU Donau in the semi-final. It then beat Rugby Club Graz 17–13 in the final, played on 4 June 2026 at the Sportanlage Stadlau as part of the Sport Austria Finals.
Honours
- Austrian champions (Staatsmeister), men: 2025/26
Further honours by the club's count:
- Austrian fifteens champions (Staatsmeister), men: 2020
- Austrian league winners, men: 2020, after finishing the Alpine Rugby Premiership play-off unbeaten
- Men's rugby title: 2019, 2023
- Austrian champions and cup winners (Staatsmeister und Cupsieger), men: 2026
Runners-up: 2025/26 Hungarian Extra Liga, men.
Ground
The club's home is the national rugby performance centre (Bundesleistungszentrum für Rugby) at Atzgersdorf, Steinergasse 12, 1230 Vienna. It has two full-size rugby pitches, the clubhouse, an office and a gym hall. The ground is reached by S-Bahn lines S2 and S3 to Atzgersdorf station; from the exit towards Knotzenbachgasse, Steinergasse is about 200 metres away on the left.
Teams and training
The club's teams as of August 2026:
| Team | Notes |
|---|---|
| First XV (Kampfmannschaft) | Austrian championship; Hungarian Extra Liga in 2025/26 |
| Celtic Wanderers | Second team, which the club calls a development platform for young players and a base for the First XV |
| Women (Celtinnen*) | First match in 1994; playing again since 2019 |
| Mini Celts | Boys and girls together, from age 4 to U12 (U6, U8, U10, U12) |
| Juniors | Separate boys' and girls' teams at U14, U16 and U18 |
| Social touch rugby | All ages and fitness levels |
| Old Boys | Veterans |
A team named Celtic Flying Wanderers played in the 2025/26 Alpe Adria Rugby Championship.
Training times as of August 2026:
| Team | Training |
|---|---|
| Men | Tuesday and Thursday 19:30–22:00 |
| Women | Tuesday 18:00–20:00, Friday 16:30–18:00 |
| Minis and juniors | Tuesday 18:00–20:00, Friday 17:00–19:00, Saturday 10:00–12:00 |
| Social touch | Wednesday 18:30–20:30 |
Social touch may end at 20:00 instead of 20:30. Some team times also differ in the German version of the club's website. Confirm times with the club. The club invites everyone to join, "no matter what age, gender and rugby experience". For the Wanderers and the youth teams, the first three training sessions are free and without obligation. Young players bring a registration form, signed by their parents, to their first session, and need a medical clearance to join. A mouthguard is required at every training session without exception. Sports shoes and sports clothes are enough for a try-out; for tournaments players wear the club jersey, shorts and socks.
As of August 2026, annual full membership costs €240, and social membership €100. The youth section supports World Rugby's Get into Rugby programme, works with partners including WienXtra Kinderaktiv, and seeks long-term partnerships with kindergartens, schools and clubs.
Club life
The club's motto is "einmal ein Celte, immer ein Celte" ("once a Celt, always a Celt"). Its players are called the Celten, and the women Celtinnen*. Its chant is "Ogi! Ogi! Ogi!" The Old Boys host an annual veterans tournament for international and domestic teams, held in 2025 on 13 September. The clubhouse hosts public screenings of international matches, such as Italy against England in the 2026 Six Nations.