Thursday, November 18, 2010

1.SK Prostějov - What happened?










A few days ago, I decided to take a look at the old SK Prostějov stadium, which was built in 1931. I remember I watched a few U19 games there back in the Spring of 2008, and even then one could tell that the stadium had seen better days.

The football club in Prostějov is one of the oldest in the Czech Republic, as it was formed in 1904. They spent a few years in the first division before World War II, and even played in the 1940 Czech Final. In the 1930's, they played in the Mitropa Cup (kind of an early version of the UEFA Cup), against clubs such as Admira Wien, Ujpest FC, and Grasshoppers Zurich. Unfortunately, this time period has to be considered one of the most successful periods of the clubs history.

During the late 1990's and early 2000's, 1. SK played a few seasons in the 2nd division, purchasing the license from LeRK Brno. It was during this time period, that discussions were held to modernize the stadium, but this was met with little support from the city government. This was also coupled with a few relegations, and Prostějov soon found themselves playing in the 5th division in 2006/07. After the season was over, the club decided to pull the men's team. It wasn't until the 2010/11 season that they reformed the men's side in the 10th division.

Now the youth teams play in villages (Olšany u Prostějova and Mostkovice) surrounding the city. The men's team also currently plays in Mostkovice. I am not sure why the old SK Prostějov stadium couldn't been upgraded just a little and cleaned up so the men's team could play there? I guess it is a question of will and money?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Interesting post. I spent a couple of semesters in Ostrava in 2002/03 and remember seeing Prostějov in the 2. liga table (never saw them play a match), then they disappeared and I never found out what happened to them...

jay said...

The major problem, from what I understand, was that their stadium was declared not good enough for the 2nd division. This started their fall...

It is good to see them back in Czech football, even if it is the 10th division.