Banik Ostrava

FC Banik Ostrava is a football club from the Silesian part of the city of Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Founded in 1922 as SK Slezska Ostrava, Banik has won numerous national and international trophies.

History

Formation and history to 1937

The club was founded on 8 September 1922 as SK Slezska Ostrava, when 20 activists signed the establishment treaty in the U Dubu restaurant. The signatories were mostly poor coal miners from the Kamenec coal mining settlement in Ostrava. The founders were Karel Aniol, Arnost Haberkiewicz, Petr Krizak, Frantisek Mruzek and Jaroslav Horak.

SK Slezska Ostrava was a poor club, raising money for the functioning of the club was a common concern. It didn't have its own playing field and was forced to loan fields from wealthier clubs. The first field of its own was built in autumn of 1925 at Kamenec. It was however stony and did not meet requirements of the football officials. In 1934 club activists succeeded in renting the land at Stara strelnice from regional wealthy industrialist Count Wilczek. During the summer of 1934 a new field was built there. Many workers volunteered to help with the construction for free. Workers and coal miners often came directly from shifts to build the field.

SK Slezska Ostrava began to compete with other teams in the league system in the spring of 1923. It started in the lowest division (III. trida zupy) and was promoted to the higher division the same year. It took, however, some time for the club to reach the highest divisions of football in Czechoslovakia. In 1934 the club won promotion to the Moravian-Silesian Division, one of the highest leagues in the country. The promotion made SK Slezska Ostrava a popular team in the city and public interest was rising. The 1935 derby against Slovan Ostrava was watched at Stara strelnice by 5,400 spectators.

From 1937 to 1952

The First League in Czechoslovakia was dominated by Prague teams at tha

This page also has a version in other languages :  Баник (Острава) (russian)