Hammarby IF Speedway was a Swedish

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

team based in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden. The club has not been competing in the domestic leagues since 2016, after their home ground Gubbängens IP was demolished. Their biggest success was winning the bronze medal in

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

in 2007.

Season summary

History

SMK Stockholm and Monarkerna

SMK Stockholm were one of the seven inaugural members of the Swedish speedway league, which started during the

1948 Swedish speedway season The 1948 Swedish speedway season was the inaugural season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden, in terms of an organised league system. The Swedish Individual Speedway Championship, individual championship would not be introduced until the following ...

. They raced at

Hammarby IP Hammarby IP (short for "''Hammarby Idrottsplats''", "Hammarby Sports Ground") also known as "Kanalplan", is a football stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. The current main tenant is the women's football team Hammarby IF. The stadium was officially open ...

, a ground based in Södermalm, an area Hammarby IF considers its heartland. In

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

, SMK Stockholm became Monarkerna (the Monarchs) and the team won the

Swedish Speedway Team Championship The Swedish Speedway Team Championship is the team championship of speedway in Sweden. Season by season History The Championship was introduced in 1950. In 1982 the Championship was renamed with a new league called the Elitserien being intro ...

in 1955 and 1956, with riders such as Olle Nygren and

Ulf Ericsson Ulf Ericsson (born c.1933) was an international speedway rider from Sweden. Speedway career Ericsson reached the final of the Speedway World Championship in the 1956 Individual Speedway World Championship. He represented Sweden in the 1955 an ...

. Monarkerna competed until the end of the

1963 Swedish speedway season The 1963 Swedish speedway season was the 1963 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. Individual Swedish Individual Speedway Championship, Individual Championship The 1963 Swedish Individual Speedway Championship final was held on 4 October in ...

Hammarby IF

In 2004, Hammarby IF Speedway was established, as a section under multi-sports club

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differe ...

. Gary Selan was the driving force behind the project and became the first team president. Racing at Gubbängens IP, in a suburban district in the southern part of Stockholm. The club (colloquially known as Bajen Speedway) went on to compete in the second tier

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

during their inaugural season, which was the

2004 Swedish speedway season The 2004 Swedish speedway season was the 2004 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. Individual Individual Championship The 2004 Swedish Individual Speedway Championship final was held in Målilla on 3 July. Tony Rickardsson won the Swedish ...

. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, Hammarby won the Allsvenskan in superior style and secured a promotion to Elitserien. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, Hammarby signed former World Champion Nicki Pedersen, who was a leading rider in the Elitserien in his debut season. The club's biggest success came in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, when they finished second in the table in the regular season before winning the bronze medal in the playoffs. After a promising start to the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Elitserien season, Hammarby dropped off in the table in the second half, and ultimately finished in eight place. At the end of the year, the club chose to withdraw from he league due to financial difficulties. They competed in Allsvenskan in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, before returning to Elitserien in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

with World Champion Tomasz Gollob as one of their riders. Hammarby competed in Elitserien for the last time in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, before getting relegated to Allsvenskan. The club was, however, expelled from the second division at the end of

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

due to financial problems. At the end of 2016, the club was effectively dissolved, after not being able to find a track to race on in the Stockholm area. After competing in Division 1, the domestic third tier, for several seasons, it had been announced that Hammarby's home ground Gubbängens IP would be demolished. At its peak, Hammarby drew regular attendances of some 2,000 people.

Season summary

Notable riders

* (2004–2008, 2013) * (2006–2007) * (2007–2008) * (2011–2013)

References

{{Hammarby IF sections Speedway teams in Sweden Hammarby IF Sports clubs and teams in Stockholm