The turn to professionalism in a sport otherwise fully amateur in Germany was made possible through the support of Uli Byszio, who owns a gold- and silver trading business.

[4] Rugby quickly gained in popularity at that time and Frankfurt became the first German team to travel to England, playing the Blackheath Football Club in 1894.

[9] Upon return to the Bundesliga, the club performed impressively, finishing the 2006–07 season with twelve wins, one draw and one loss on top of the table.

The following season, 2007–08, the team finished on top again and this time it fared better in the final, beating RG Heidelberg 28–13 to win its fifth German title and its first in 83 years, having last won it in 1925.

The senior team then moved on to beat Berliner Rugby Club in the semi-finals of the German championship, to reach the national title game against Heidelberger RK.

After two lost finals in a row, the club decided to replace its coach, with Sam Alatini taking over from Aaron Satchwell for 2011–12,[16] a move that proved unsuccessful with Frankfurt losing in the semi-finals at home to newly promoted TV Pforzheim.

At the end of the season, the club opted to return to an amateur side, thereby being forced to withdraw its reserve team from the 2nd Bundesliga to the 3rd Liga because of a reduction of the size of the playing squad.

SC 1880 was less competitive in 2013–14 and 2014–15 then it had been in the recent past, finishing only seventh in each season the championship round and missing out on the play-off altogether.

In the 2008–10 campaign, Wacha appeared for 80 and Germany again, while Benjamin Brierley, Jamie Houston, Daniel Preussner, Alexander Hauck and Mark Sztyndera were new additions to the club's list of internationals.

In the 2010–12 campaign, Mark Sztyndera and Alexander Hauck were re-selected for the German team while Jannis Läpple, Keiran Manawatu and Sam Henderson made their debut.

[21] The club had no player selected for the German under-18 team at the 2009 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship,[22] but three for the 2010 tournament, Lukas Deichmann, Jens Listmann and Adam Howes.