Idrettslaget Varegg is a sports club in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

. It has sections for football, orienteering, cross-country skiing and track and field. The club hosts 'Stoltzekleiven Opp', an annual

fell running Fell running, also sometimes known as hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off-road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty. The name arises from the origins of the English sport o ...

race up the mountain Sandviksfjellet.

History

The club was founded as 'Falk' in 1921, but applied to change its name to 'Sparta' in 1925. The new name was not accepted by Norges Idrettsforbund, and the members chose the name Pallas instead. In 1947, Pallas merged with 'Høydekameratene' and was renamed to Varegg, after the mountain Vardegga. Varegg played in the top division of Norwegian football for three seasons in the 1950s, attracting average crowds of about 6,000. Their best finish was 6th in Group A in 1952/53, ahead of local rivals

SK Brann Sportsklubben Brann (commonly known as Brann, and less often as SK Brann) is a Norwegian professional football club, founded 26 September 1908, from Bergen. Brann had been in the Eliteserien, Norway's Premier Division of Football, since 1987, bar ...

and

Årstad IL Årstad (or historically spelled ''Aarstad'') may refer to: People * Stian Aarstad, a Norwegian pianist and keyboard player with the black metal band Dimmu Borgir * Søren Tobias Årstad, a Norwegian jurist and politician for the Liberal Party Pl ...

, who were relegated. Varegg were narrowly relegated in the 1955/56 season though beating rivals Brann in both games, and have not played in the top flight since. In the 1971

Norwegian Football Cup The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football ...

Varegg reached the quarter-finals, and attracted a crowd of more than 20,000 at

Krohnsminde Krohnsminde kunstgressbane is a municipality-owned sports ground and football stadium located in the city of Bergen, Norway, near Danmarks plass in the borough of Årstad. It was the home of the football club Løv-Ham until 2008. The western te ...

against eventual winners

Rosenborg BK Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles, a shared record 12 Norwegian Football Cup ti ...

. Varegg lost the match 0-1. Eleven years later, in 1982, an infamous 1-9 loss at home against Brann in the last round of the 1982 league season saw Brann promoted to the top tier on goal difference, ahead of Steinkjer I&FK, who suspected foul play between the two Bergen clubs. Varegg played three seasons in the Norwegian second tier division in the 1980s. Until the rise of suburban teams such as Fyllingen,

Åsane Åsane is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the northern part of the city, north of the city centre. Åsane is connected to downtown Bergen by the E16/ E39 highway. The E16 highway continues on t ...

Fana Fana is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the southeastern part of the municipality of Bergen. The borough was once part of the historic municipality of Fana which was incorporated into Bergen in ...

and Løv-Ham in the late 1980s, Varegg was recognized as the second best club in Bergen, after Brann. Varegg have since played in lower divisions. As of 2016, they play in the

3. divisjon The Norwegian Third Division, also called 3. divisjon, is the fourth highest division of the men's football league in Norway. Like the rest of the Norwegian football league system, the season runs from spring to autumn, running approximately from ...

(level 4).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varegg Football clubs in Norway Athletics clubs in Norway Sport in Bergen Association football clubs established in 1921 1921 establishments in Norway