Alajärven Ankkurit ( "Alajärvi Anchors") is a Finnish sports club from Alajärvi. It was founded in 1944. Alajärven Ankkurit has participated in many sports in Finland over the years, such as athletics, skiing and volleyball. Since 1980s, the club's main successes have been in pesäpallo. Alajärven Ankkurit is playing in the top-tier

Superpesis The Superpesis, known as SM-sarja from 1955 to 1989, is the top professional pesäpallo league in Finland. It was created in 1990 to replace the SM-sarja which was fundamentally an amateur league. The Superpesis is directly overseen by the Finnis ...

. Alajärven Ankkurit has won the men's Finnish Pesäpallo Championship (

) two times in years 1988 and 1989. The home ground of Alajärven Ankkurit is the

Kitro Stadium Kitro Stadium is a pesäpallo stadium located in Alajärvi, Finland. Since its opening in 1990, it has been the home field of the Alajärven Ankkurit, a Superpesis The Superpesis, known as SM-sarja from 1955 to 1989, is the top professional ...

History

Alajärven Ankkurit was founded in 1944. The club operates as a general club. Besides pesäpallo, the strongest sports are athletics, skiing and orienteering. In addition to the pesäpallo players, the club's most famous athlete is

Reijo Vähälä Reijo Untamo Vähälä (born 7 March 1946) is a Finnish former high jumper. He placed second in men's high jump at the 1969 European Athletics Championships. Career In 1966 Vähälä won both the Finnish championship (2.04 m) and the Finnis ...

, who won the European silver medal in the high jump in 1969. Despite its small size, Ankkurit is one of the big clubs in pesäpallo. The club was long overshadowed by its local rival '' Vimpelin Veto''. In the 1970s, the position of the opponents changed as Ankkurit rose towards the top of the league and Vimpeli's success faded. The club's best seasons came in the 1980s, when the club won two Finnish championships (1988, 1989), two silver medals (1980, 1987) and two bronze medals (1984, 1985). The Ankkurit won their last of seven medals in 1992, when they finished in bronze. The club's history has been marked by many legendary figures. The most legendary of these is

Pekka Peltomäki Pekka is a Finnish male given name. It was most popular around the middle of the 20th century. As of 2013 there were more than 100,000 people registered with this name in Finland. The nameday is the 29th of June in the Finnish tradition and the 25 ...

Supporters and rivalries

The club's local rivalry is Vimpelin Veto. Vimpelin Veto plays its home game 20 kilometres from Alajärvi. The road connecting the two towns has been called the "road of hatred" The relationship between Alajärvi and Vimpeli has been described as blood enemies who are part of each other's history. There are strong feelings between the clubs and their supporters. The transfer of players between clubs has not traditionally been looked upon favourably. In the past decades in particular, it may have taken on great proportions. The best known of those who have played for both clubs is Vesa Liikala, who is particularly known as a symbol of Vimpeli.

Achievements

Men's Pesäpallo ''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alajärven Ankkurit Pesäpallo teams in Finland Sports clubs and teams in Finland Sports clubs and teams established in 1944 Alajärvi