Górnik Konin
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Klub Sportowy Górnik Konin is a Polish
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club based in
Konin Konin () is a city in central Poland, on the Warta River. It is the capital of Konin County and is located within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. In 2021 the population of the city was 71,427, making it the fourth-largest city in Greater Poland af ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. They currently play in the V liga. Its biggest successes came under the unpopular Klub Sportowy Aluminium Konin name in the 1997–98 season, when they finished runners-up in the second division and very controversially lost the
Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...
final that year to Amica Wronki. Despite this success, the club has had a long history of financial mismanagement and turbulent ownership stemming from that era, as a result of which the club has struggled to recover from ever since.


History


Beginnings and rise

Football in
Konin Konin () is a city in central Poland, on the Warta River. It is the capital of Konin County and is located within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. In 2021 the population of the city was 71,427, making it the fourth-largest city in Greater Poland af ...
can be traced back to the early 20th century. The current club's predecessors have been active since 1945, after many mergers till 1954 when the ''Koło Sportowe Górnik'' was founded, which 3 years later, in 1957 became today's ''Klub Sportowy Górnik Konin'', its registration is officially recognised as its founding date. The club spent the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s oscillating between the
voivodeship A voivodeship ( ) or voivodate is the area administered by a voivode (governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in ...
-level leagues and the third tier of Polish football. In the 1991–92 season, Górnik finally gained the long-awaited promotion to the second division for the first time, despite coming close several times before.


Name change and the 1998 Cup Final

In 1996–97, the main sponsor of the club, the local
coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...
"Konin" withdrew its funding, and the club was transferred under the wing of the local
aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...
foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
. The new owners however made the very unpopular decision to change the club name to Aluminium Konin, despite many fan-protests. The following 1997–98 season was the most successful in its history, however considering the amount of funding the club received and the fact that its ultimate aim was promotion to the top tier, the season was still classed as disappointing. Even reaching the
Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...
final did little to please fans, as despite Aluminium being by far the better team, Amica Wronki won in controversial circumstances, with many officiating mistakes made by the referee Marek Kowalczyk. Aluminium players initially refused to start the second half. Impartial observers, such the manager of Lech Poznań Adam Topolski, chairman of Olimpia Poznań (a top flight club at the time) Bolesław Krzyżostaniak, the chief of Zawisza Bydgoszcz Edward Potok and former Górnik Konin manager Janusz Białek were all highly critical of the match they have witnessed. Over 7000 Górnik fans were present at Bułgarska Street Stadium in
Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...
, additionally supported by local Lech Poznań fans. Despite the PZPN match observer Alojzy Jarguz inexplicably giving the referee a high note for his performance, Kowalczyk was later given a 3-month ban. In the aftermath of the match, Ryszard F., known as "Fryzjer", the leader of an organised crime group involved in fixing matches all around the country, was the director of Amica Wronki at the time. He later admitted to fixing the match in his autobiography. The 1998 cup final however was never investigated, with trophy still belonging to the now defunct Amica Wronki team, and remains a sore point for Górnik fans to this day.


Mismanagement & scandals

The following 1998–99 season was greeted with financial troubles, after the privatisation of the aluminium foundry meant that it was taken over by the company "Impexmetal SA", who withdrew their support for the club. Despite issues, they still finished the first half of the season in first place. The owners of the club, the aluminium works, also created a complicated structure whereby there was one club, but the reserve teams and junior sides played under a different name, resulting in one club, two boards, and two names, and made each section a separate legal entity. Piotr Nowak became the chairman of the club, but the then manager Jerzy Kasalik was surprisingly sacked for an unexplained reason, despite their first place in the league, and appointed a little-known manager Jarosław Kotas. The team soon started to lose matches at an alarming rate and only just managed to escape relegation, only thanks to their good start. The 1999–2000 campaign proved to be a disaster. The owners decided to rename the senior team ''KP Konin'', whilst the reserve and junior teams used the old ''Aluminium Konin'' name. The club finished dead last after abysmal performances. It then turned out that in the second half of the season plans to relocate the team to
Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...
were put in place, but still to play under the name ''KP Konin''. In the end, the relocation never came to fruition, but the team which only amassed 8 points the entire season, was disbanded, with the club management and the chairman Piotr Nowak, who played professional football in the USA on a daily basis at the time, widely held responsible. The reserve team, which that same season was relegated from the third division, became the first team, and a season later (2000–01 season) managed to gain promotion, going straight back up. Under the lead of Jerzy Kasalik, the team achieved a back-to-back promotion to the second division, restoring the club's place after the first team was disbanded. The success however was short-lived, after in the 2003–04 season the club finished last once again. Following their relegation, many of the Aluminium players were involved in the large corruption scandal in Polish football which shook the country that season, which had a major impact on the club sponsors who all withdrew. This meant that the new club couldn't even afford to play in the then regional
III liga III liga (Trzecia liga), currently named Betclic III liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, is a Polish football league that sits in the fourth tier of the Polish football league system. Until the end of the 2007–08 season, III liga ref ...
, and the senior team was disbanded.


New start

The only team left was the Aluminium junior team, which played in the local A-klasa, the sixth tier of Polish football. The ambitious team won promotion in the 2005. In the 2006–07 season, the restructuring of the league by the Polish FA meant that despite winning the fourth division, the club would need a play-off against GKS Tychy to gain promotion, which they lost. In April 2008, a new sponsor was found,
white goods A major appliance is a non-portable or semi-portable machine used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cooking, washing laundry, or food preservation. Such appliances are sometimes collectively known as white goods, as the products were tradi ...
and
consumer electronics Consumer electronics, also known as home electronics, are electronic devices intended for everyday household use. Consumer electronics include those used for entertainment, Communication, communications, and recreation. Historically, these prod ...
retail chain ''Avans'', and after 12 years of waiting to drop the very unpopular ''Aluminium'' name, the club finally reverted to its historical name ''Górnik'', initially at first with the one season-long sponsor name in the form of ''KS Avans Górnik Konin''. The club was still burdened with debts and various managerial problems which were left after the "Aluminium" era.


Fans

Górnik organised fan movement started in the late 1980s, and took off in the 90's, however the club was always very popular among locals. The club has had a constant number of loyal supporters regardless of the division the team happened to be in (which varied from local amateur division to nationwide leagues). Their nickname is ''Łańcuchy'' (The Chains). Their number one enemy has always been fans of KKS Kalisz. Other strong rivalries have been with Legia Chełmża, with an infamous riots between the two hitting major headlines in 2010, and with Amica Wronki (now re-founded as Błękitni Wronki) due to the 1998
Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...
final shrouded in scandal, although due to vast gap in the league pyramid there has not been many matches with the latter. Like many teams in the
Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; ), is a Polish Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest city in Poland. The bound ...
region, at first Górnik fans were also fans of the local powerhouse Lech Poznań, and it was Lech fans which were the inspiration and precursors of the fan movement in
Konin Konin () is a city in central Poland, on the Warta River. It is the capital of Konin County and is located within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. In 2021 the population of the city was 71,427, making it the fourth-largest city in Greater Poland af ...
. Although presently the two sets of fans have no connection with each other, many Górnik fans still sympathise with Lech. The fans used to have friendly relations in the 90's with fans of Górnik Wałbrzych. Fans of Ostrovia Ostrów Wielkopolski are also warmly welcomed, as like Górnik, also sympathise with Lech and have a strong rivalry with KKS Kalisz. Presently the fans have friendly relations with fans of Gwardia Koszalin, officially since 18 April 2009.


Honours

* II liga ** Runners-up: 1997–98 *
Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...
** Finalists: 1997–88


Naming history

Like most Polish clubs during the
Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...
era, the club has undergone many name changes. The club was also officially known as Aluminium Konin for 12 years: *(1957) – KS Górnik Konin *(18.03.1968) – MZKS Zagłębie Konin *(19.11.1979) – KS Górnik Konin *(20.01.1997) – KS Aluminium Konin *(19.02.1999) – KS Aluminium SSA *(June 1999) – KP Konin SSA ''(first team only – junior and reserve team were called "KS Aluminium SSA")'' *(2000) – KS Aluminium Konin ''("KP Konin SSA" disbanded) *(June 2008) – KS Górnik Konin *(2008–09) – KS Avans Górnik Konin ''(1 season-long sponsorship name)'' *(2009) – KS Górnik Konin


Notable players

''Internationally capped players'' * Radosław Cierzniak, goalkeeper, player of Poland U-21 and
Poland national football team The Poland national football team () represents Poland in men's international Association football, football competitions since their first match in 1921. It is governed by the Polish Football Association (PZPN), the governing body for football ...
* Ryszard Jankowski, goalkeeper, player of
Poland national football team The Poland national football team () represents Poland in men's international Association football, football competitions since their first match in 1921. It is governed by the Polish Football Association (PZPN), the governing body for football ...


References


External links



nbsp;– Fan's Official Website
Górnik Konin
nbsp;– old official website
Górnik Konin
at 90minut.pl {{DEFAULTSORT:Gornik Konin Association football clubs established in 1957 1957 establishments in Poland Konin Football clubs in Greater Poland Voivodeship Mining association football clubs in Poland