GKS Victoria Jaworzno is a Polish

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 ...

and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

club based in

Jaworzno Jaworzno is a city in southern Poland, near Katowice. It lies in the Silesian Highlands, on the Przemsza river (a tributary of the Vistula). Jaworzno belongs to the historic province of Lesser Poland. The city is situated in the Silesian Voivod ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. It is the oldest Polish miner's football club.

History and etymology

The club's origins date back to 1914, however it was an unofficial gathering more so than a functioning sports club. After Poland re-gained independence in 1918, among the people returning from the front-lines of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

was a man named Emil Dawidowicz. Emil with the help of his two friends, Rudolf Hot, a plumber from

Moravian Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...

, and Rudolf Gloser, a baker from

Bielsko Bielsko (german: Bielitz, cs, Bílsko) was until 1950 an independent town situated in Cieszyn Silesia, Poland. In 1951 it was joined with Biała Krakowska to form the new town of Bielsko-Biała. Bielsko constitutes the western part of that tow ...

founded TSV Jaworzno ''(Towarzystwo Sportowe Victoria Jaworzno)''. They chose the name ''Victoria'' after the then popular Czech klub

Viktoria Žižkov Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victoria ...

. 1918 is the club's official founding date as that is when the club charter, rules and regulations were established. In 1974 the club changed its name to GKS Jaworzno, in reference to its mining community (''GKS'' stands for ''Górniczy Klub Sportowy'', which means "Mining Sport Club") after a merger with

Górnik Jaworzno Gornik may refer to one of the following. * Gornik, Pleven Province, a village in Chechen Republic * April Gornik, an American painter *Górnik (means " Miner" in Polish) is a common name of Polish sports teams: ** Górnik Konin ** Górnik Łęczna ...

and Azotania Jaworzno. The merger was a flop and in 1981 the historical name "Victoria" was re-incorporated once again. The club has spent the majority of its history between the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

and fifth tiers of Polish football. In 2011, the club ceased to exist, due to ongoing financial troubles. The club's ground was demolished and listed for redevelopment. In June 2014, the club was re-founded and fielded a senior football team in the lowest division for the 2014/2015 season. The new Victoria has no legal ties to the previous association and was re-activated due to a handful of loyal supporters. On 23 August 2014 the club played its first league match since its rebirth away against Lew Olszyny.

Fans

The fan movement started in 1982/83, one of the first. The fans were unique in the fact that as well as following the football team, they also attended the team's boxing matches. In the 80's and 90's the fan group ''Desperados'' strongly identified with the

skinhead A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...

movement and

extreme right-wing Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

ideology. The club's biggest rival are fellow locals

Szczakowianka Jaworzno Garbarnia Szczakowianka Jaworzno is a Polish football club based in Szczakowa, Jaworzno, Poland. The club is currently playing in the IV liga History The club was founded on 9 July 1923 as fusion of three local clubs: ''Kartagina'', ''Rewia an ...

. They have good relations with fans of

Fablok Chrzanów Fablok Chrzanów is a Polish sports club, founded in 1926 in Chrzanów. Its name reflects the name of club's sponsor - Fablok, the biggest and most important company of the town. Fablok's most famous soccer player is Paweł Cyganek, who played ...

since 1995 and handball fans of

MTS Chrzanów MTS, Mts or mts may refer to: Organizations * Machine and tractor station, Soviet state-owned enterprise * Manitoba Teachers' Society, Canada, founded 1919 * Marine Technology Society, professional society * Marine Transportation Services, north ...

. The fans still remain loyal to the colours despite the club's disappearance, and there were frequent talks of re-establishment of the club. Those talks proved worthwhile as the fans played a crucial role in the club's rebirth, and the fans made up a majority of the squad for the inaugural 2014/15 season.

References

External links

* {{in lang, pl}

– Official Club page Victoria Jaworzno, Football clubs in Poland Association football clubs established in 1918 1918 establishments in Poland Mining association football clubs in Poland