Reipas Lahti is a sports club based in
Lahti
Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...
,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
. It is involved in various of
ball game
This is a list of ball games and ball sports that include a ball as a key element in the activity, usually for scoring points.
Ball games
Ball sports fall within many sport categories, some sports within multiple categories, including:
*Bat-and- ...
s and also other sports. The club emerged in the late 1940s, when the inhabitants of
Viipuri had mostly been relocated in Lahti, after evacuation during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. As a consequence, the activities of
Viipurin Reipas, which had been founded in 1891, were continued in the new home town of the evacuees. The name of the club was still Reipas Viipuri until 1962, when the ball game section became simply Reipas.
Reipas has played in top-flight
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
,
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
and
bandy
Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...
, with particular success in football.
In bandy, Reipas last appeared in top flight in
1967, but then discontinued its involvement in this sport the following year. In 1975, the football and ice hockey sections became independent clubs, football being continued under the name of Lahden Reipas, and ice hockey under the name of Kiekkoreipas, who now play as
Pelicans
Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before s ...
.
Football
The hallmark of Reipas in football is a shirt with vertical orange and black stripes.
From 1963 to 1970, Reipas won the
Mestaruussarja
Mestaruussarja (Championship series) was the top division of Finland, Finnish association football, football from 1930 to 1989. It was replaced by Veikkausliiga in 1990.
In 1930 league format was used for the first time to decide the Finnish cham ...
three time, thus achieving a hat trick of Finnish championships. However, by 1996 the club was in financial difficulties, and the problem was solved by merging Reipas and they more recently arrived local rival
Kuusysi. At the time both clubs played in the northern section of
Division 1, i.e. on the second level, but at the end of the season Reipas found themselves in the relegation zone.
[
]
FC Lahti
The new club was simply called FC Lahti
FC Lahti is a Finnish football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish Premier League (''Veikkausliiga'') after placing first in the Finnish First Division (''Ykkönen'') during season 2011. The homeground of FC Lah ...
, and it inherited Kuusysi's place in Division 1, now in the southern section. The place of Reipas, in 1997 Kakkonen was given to FC Pallo-Lahti, which was founded as a reserves team. Later this team was discontinued and the place in the division in question was given up.
FC Reipas
Together with the other changes, a club named FC Reipas was founded in 1996. Its task is to continue the tradition of bringing up new generations of footballers in Lahti, more specifically A and B juniors. Nowadays the club has teams in all age groups.
The club also has an elderly men's team.[
The club organises the annual Lahti Soccer tournament.
]
Return of Reipas Lahti
Lahden Reipas, i.e. Reipas Lahti returned to men's competitive football for the season 2012, when it was given the former place of Reipas Salpausselkä in Division 3.
Season to season
*27 seasons in ''Veikkausliiga
Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkau ...
''
*19 seasons in ''Ykkönen
''Ykkönen'' (Finnish for 'Number One'; sv, Ettan) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), although it is the highest league managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams also play ...
''
*16 seasons in ''Kakkonen
Kakkonen or II divisioona is the third level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 36 Finnish football teams. The II divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Kakkonen (Finnish for 'Number Two' ...
''
*7 seasons in ''Kolmonen
Kolmonen or III divisioona is the fourth level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 104 Finnish football teams. The III divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Kolmonen (''Number Three'' in En ...
''
Honours in football
*Finnish champion (3):
**1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...
, 1967, 1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
*Finnish Cup
The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955.
The winner qualifies for the ...
(7):
**1964, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978
*Finnish Cup runners-up (3):
**1963, 1967, 1970
References
External links
Reipas Lahti homepages
FC Reipas homepages
by Sports Museum Foundation of Finland
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, t ...
.
{{Finnish Champions in Football
Football clubs in Finland
Reipas Viipuri
Reipas Viipuri
Reipas Viipuri
Sport in Vyborg
Sport in Lahti
it:Lahden Reipas
lt:Reipas Lahti