Karstad BK (Sweden)
Founded on the
19th of October 1923, Karlstad BK are a club who have mostly played
in the second and third tiers of Swedish football. Their club colours were
blue, white, and red, while they played their games at the Vaxnas IP and
Tingvalla IP. The city itself is the 20th largest city in Sweden and
has a population of just under one hundred thousand people. In it’s first three
years of existence, the club played its football in the Allanseserien Division,
in the Varmland section. In the 1928-29 season they began playing in Tier 3 of
Swedish football, in Division 3, in the Nordvastra section. They finished fifth
in their first season, playing eighteen matches, winning nine, drawing two and
losing seven. The next season was much the same, with the club improving by one
place, finishing fourth in the Nordvastra that year. It would be a further six
seasons, of finishing mid-table in that section before they finally made a
breakthrough in the 1935-36 season. They finished top of their group, beating
runners-up, Mariehofs IF, by just one point to gain promotion to the second
tier of Swedish football for the first time.
The club only
lasted two seasons at that level before being relegated in the 193738 season
when they finished bottom of their group, winning just two games all season.
After a third place finish in the 1938-39 season and a fourth place finish in
the 1939-40 season, they finally gained promotion again, winning their group in
the 1940-4 season. They won it by a single point, just pipping IFK Bofors, for
a chance of promotion via the promotion play—offs. They won their play-off
match and once again found themselves in the second tier.
This time,
their relegation was confirmed after just one season, when they finished 9th
out of ten clubs competing in the Division 2 Vastra. It was disappointing for
the club, but in true Karlstad fashion, it didn’t take long for them to gain
promotion once again. In fact, it took them only two seasons, finishing 3rd
in the 1942-43 season only spurred them on to win the Nordvastra in the 1943-44
season. This time the cub would spend a total of nine seasons in the second
tier, narrowly missing out on promotion on two occasions, when they finished
runners-up in the 1947-48 season and again in the 1951-52 season. However, the
1952-53 season is when the club were relegated again.
The 1953-54
season saw them immediately reinstate themselves as a Division 2 side when they
won their group by three points ahead of Billingfors IK. Four seasons in
Division two followed, with the club never really challenging for promotion,
finishing 7th, 3rd, 4th and then eventually 10th
and being relegated again in the 1962 season. But it was becoming a common
theme that the club would only be relegated to find themselves winning the
third division group the next year. It was almost if like they were stuck in
limbo. Too good for the third division but not good enough for the second
division. This is how it seemed throughout their history as they yo-yo’d
between the two tiers for seasons. That was until the 1971 season, when they
were relegated once again from the second tier, finishing 12th in
their group. The club, who most thought would bounce back up nearly straight
away like they usually did, found themselves in the third tier for eight
seasons in a row. They failed to gain promotion through the play-off system in
the year 1976, after winning their group.
Eventually, in 1979, they climbed out of the third tier and began life
in the second tier once again.
Reformatting of
the Swedish league system was now being put forward, and so the tiers and
divisions would be different. What didn’t change wa the promotions and
relegations of Karlstad from Tier two to Tier three and up again. Up until the
1990 season, they were now in Tier 3, Division 2 but saw themselves relegated
once again. The 1991 season saw the club compete in tier 4, the lowest they had
been since the club was created. They wn it with ease and were back into tier
three for the 1992 season. But that was the most progress they would make in
eight seasons, as the club were relegated once again in 1999, and went back
down to tier 4. It got even worse for the club in 2000 when they fell even
further down the ladder and found themselves in tier 5. Six seasons later and
the club had hit an all time low. They finished 8th in their
respective group in 2005 and were now destined to play in the 6th
tier of Swedish football, due to a reconstruction of the Swedish football
pyramid which saw each tier fall one level. The club spent two seasons at this
level before winning it in 2007.
After two
seasons in tier 4 they were once again promoted in 2009, coming second in their
group. Back to back promotions occurred when the club secured second place in
their group, the Vastra Gotaland in 2010, meaning for the first time in over a
decade the club were back in tier three. It lasted three seasons, with a 7th,
8th and then a poor 14th placed finish seeing them drop
back down to tier four.
Five seasons
later, they arrived back into tier three, winning the Norta Gotaland and
securing their promotion once again. But 2019 was to be the last season the
club would play in the Swedish footballing pyramid, and after a 5th
place finish in the Norra, only six points behind second placed, Umea FC, the
club did not continue for the next season. Instead, they merged with Carlstad
United to form IF Karlstad Football. They currently play in the third tier, in
the Ettan division, and have finished 8th and 4th in the
last two seasons. Notably, former England manager, Sven Goran Eriksson has
joined up with them in an advisory role.
It's not quite
clear why Karlstad BK gave up their original identity. I would assume it had
something to do with low attendances, and subsequently they just could not
afford to run the cub anymore. After seeing their average attendance record
from the year 2008, I am surprised they lasted so long, with numbers never
going over the 400 mark per game, and that was only once in the season of 2009.
Other than that, they usually only attracted around 200 to every home game. But
I bet those 200 fans were die hard and loved their club. I doubt many of them
were around for the whole journey, but looking at it, if they were, it was some
roller coaster. So many promotions and relegations that I doubt any of them
could keep up. I would say they had a lot to talk about during their post-match
pints, and end of season parties. A club that didn’t light up football, but im
sure lit up a few hundred people’s lives. And that is what football is all
about. This is why these sort of football clubs must be remembered and never
forgotten.