Showing posts with label St Petersburg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St Petersburg. Show all posts

14.10.16

Petrograd


August 1914:  2 matches featuring Petrograd champions Kolomyagi. The first against  Moscow champions KFS, the second, as far as I can make out, against a team from Samara (KVOD).

28.9.15

St Petersburg 1901-17

Organised football in St Petersburg evolved in the 1890s through the efforts of  German and British workers. This led to the formation of the city's first league in 1901. The winners received a trophy donated by English entrepreneur TM Aspden. Initially the league was dominated by teams of German and British origin, but gradually Russian clubs began to feature. Sport were the first in 1902 and in 1904 50% of the teams in the league were Russian. In 1909 the original foreign run clubs, Nevsky, Neva and Victoria left the league.
In the pre revolutionary era 16 clubs competed in the St Petersburg/ Petrograd league in various combinations. There were 3 teams in the opening season, and the highest number of competitors was 8 in 1912.
The following table shows the record of each team in the league in the seasons 1901-1917.

Team
English
Seasons
P
W
D
L
F
A
W%
C
спорт
Sport
16
148
73
15
60
428
372
49.32
5
меркур
Mercur
11
107
54
13
40
289
228
50.46
2
нева
Neva
10
95
37
3
55
204
263
38.94

невский
Nevsky
10
86
57
10
19
282
121
66.27
5
коломяги
Kolomyagi
8
79
42
8
29
207
172
53.16
2
виктория
Victoria
8
66
32
11
23
189
109
48.48
1
унитас
Unitas
7
71
35
10
36
232
152
49.29

триумф
Triumph
5
54
8
4
42
70
209
14.81

нарва
Narva
5
51
17
5
29
112
149
33.33

националы
National
4
39
12
2
25
60
134
30.76

невка
Nevka
3
18
7
4
7
37
47
38.88
1
Новый петербург
New Peterburg
2
22
0
0
22
12
119
0

петровский
Petrovsky
2
18
6
2
10
37
87
33.33

надежда
Nadezhda
2
16
6
1
9
60
42
37.5

уделная
Udelnaya
1
8
3
2
3
13
19
37.5

интернационал
International
1
8
3
0
5
24
33
37.5




Season
Teams
Champions
1901
3
Nevka
1902
4
Nevsky
1903
5
Victoria
1904
6
Nevsky
1905
6
Nevsky
1906
6
Nevsky
1907
7
Nevsky
1908
5
Sport
1909
5
Sport
1910
5
Sport
1911
7
Mercur
1912
8
Unitas
1913
5
Sport
1914
6
Sport
1915
6
Mercur
1916
6
Kolomyagi
1917
6
Kolomyagi






















Kolomyagi 1909

Unitas 1913




17.8.13

Petrograd

Petrograd, Russia. The Imperial capital, Saint Petersburg was re-branded in 1914 to give it a less Germanic name. In 1917 the February and Great October revolutions started in the city. The football carried on despite the privations of the time, and did so during the Civil War and The Allied Intervention. 

Two dominant football clubs emerged in the city at this time, as the old guard of Saint Petersburg such as Sport and Unitas faded.

Kolomyagi

Kolomyagi was founded in 1904. The  club  started off as a small concern run by youths who raised money in the novel way of oragnizing dances. They then (pre revolution) went down the questionable route of trying to limit their membership to what they deemed to be the 'better' elements of society. The club played in blue and white. Kolomyagi  first participated in the Saint Petersburg championship in 1910, finishing second to Sport, to whom they also lost in the cup final. They reached the cup final again in 1912, losing to Unitas reserves. in 1914 they finished second in the championship (behind Sport) and in 1915 won their first major trophy, beating Unitas in the cup final.
Kolomyagi were Petrograd Champions in 1916 and came close to the double, losing 2-1 to Sport in the cup final (having scored 27 goals in the 2 previous rounds!)
In 1917 and 1918 Kolomyagi retained the championship. In 1919 the league was abandoned but the cup went ahead, Kolomyagi beating Mercur 7-1 in the final. 
In 1920 the championship was decided by a knockout tournament that Kolomyagi won by beating Mercur, a feat they repeated in the regular cup final- a quite remarkable game which went to extra time and produced a final score of 9-2.

Mercur


The other leading team in the city at this time was Mercur . Known as the merchant club- drawing their patrons and players from small businessmen and the working classes, they played in red and black stripes.  Mercur (Mercury) made their debut in 1906. After 2 poor seasons they dropped out of the league and reappeared in 1909 and were champions in 1911.

Indifferent seasons followed, though in 1914 Mercur reached the cup final, they were thrashed 8-2 by Sport.
They won the championship in 1915 and were runners up to Kolomyagi in 1916, 1917 and 1918. In 1917 and 1918 they won the cup, the latter being a 3-1 victory over Kolomyagi . As we have seen Kolomyagi enjoyed revenge in the next 2 seasons, thrashing Mercur 7-1 and 9-2 in successive cup finals and also beating them to the championship. 
Mercur enjoyed a further 2 championships (1921,1923)* in the years before Petrograd became Leningrad. 

* some sources have Mercur as 1922 champions, other as runners up and winners 'unknown'.