This is our club
BK Derby [Derby] from Linköping in Östergötland, ca 200 km south west of Stockholm, are the oldest - still existing - football club in our town. (BK stands for Bollklubb i.e. boll = ball, klubb = club)
The name Derby isn’t nicked from England’s Derby County as some believe. It’s actually taken from a bicycle called Derby in the early 1900s. Our founder, Knut Stenkvist, worked in a bike shop and picked up the name from there. In fact, he removed the bike’s plate and put it on a shirt for the clubs first kit. BK Derby were officially founded on 15 April 1912 – the same day as the Titanic sunk…!
Derby became well known for their green colours and are often referred to as The Greens. They often played in green shirts and white shorts but also striped green/black shirts. In 1961 they switched to striped shirts, black shorts and white socks. Today it is this outfit that is synonymous with the club. Our away kit is all white. The club are nicknamed The Foxes, a name which dates back to the thirties.
Right from the start the club became very popular and it didn’t take long before Derby were the best team in Linköping. The local derby’s against Linköpings AIK were hard battles that almost caused riots. On several occasions the green fans and the blue ones started rows on the terraces. These became a kind of “social class fights” because LAIK represented the more affluent classes whilst Derby was liked mainly amongst the workers.
Other sports that the club were involved with include bandy, handball, ice hockey, bowling, table tennis, indoor bandy and - in the very early years - athletics. Besides football - bandy and handball are the main sports. The most successful sport in terms of Swedish Championships won by the club is table tennis. Derby have 12 gold medals (4 team, 4 single, 4 double).
Today all of the other sports sections are closed, leaving only football and bandy.
BK Derby is the most qualified football club in Linköping. We’ve played 30 seasons at the second highest level. But the Foxes have only managed to reach Allsvenskan (highest division) once (1977) despite coming very close on several occasions - especially in the 1950s. Unfortunately we were relegated after only one year at the highest level.
As little as thirteen years after we were founded, the team played in a final match for the Swedish Championship but lost 2-4. That was the last time the Swedish Championship was played like a cup. The next year the Allsvenskan was formed.
Two of the most famous wins for Derby are vs. Newcastle United FC and Clube de Regatas do Flamengo. The Englishmen visited in 1946 with a very good side that were promoted to the highest level in 1948. Derby played well and managed to win 1-0. The Brazilians were reigning champions(!) when they toured Sweden in 1956. Derby were strengthened by three loan players but it was nothing other than a sensation when the Foxes ran out 3-0 winners in what was Flamengo’s only defeat of the tour.
The biggest crowd that have turned up to watch Derby was when we toured in Germany 1957. We played FSV Zwickau in East Germany in front of 25 000 spectators. In competitive games Hammarby IF and BK Derby drew 20 000 to Stockholms Stadion 1932. The biggest home gate is 11 106 at Folkungavallen against Motala AIF 1954 (sold out).
Our home ground today is Linköping Arena but the club has through the years often performed at Folkungavallen which is Linköping’s biggest and most famous football stadium. “Vallen” has been the home of the club for at least 70 years in all. For a short while in the fifties the team played at the spacious Motorstadion which offered more training hours. The current Kungsberget stadium is very narrow and small and cannot accommodate more than around 800 people. Big matches have to be moved to Folkungavallen.
The team has been struggling in lower divisions since the early eighties, mostly due to a unsuccessful merger with - at that time - our biggest local rivals IF Saab. This was a controversial action and Derby had already turned down this plan previously (1979). The club pulled out when it got known - via the press - that some of the board members and sponsors wanted the club’s name to be Linköpings FF. But in 1981 the club were in great debt (due to our time in the Allsvenskan) and agreed to a merger. The only demand from BK Derby was that the new association would keep “Derby” as a part of the name and appear in the club’s classic kit.
The team played one year under the name Derby/Saab in white and green shirts. Then some of the board members decided to change the name to Linköpings FF anyway (and the colours to red). But it wasn’t agreed by the whole board and had definitely not been authorised at any annual meeting, which Derby’s regulations clearly stated was required. Derby could of course have appealed but football in the town wouldn’t have benefited from that. So the supporters club and loyal followers decided to leave and start a new club instead.
When the Östgöta F.A. had accepted the name LFF, Derby’s faithful were free to start over again. So in 1984, a “new” BK Derby started in the lowest division in the county. Even some of the players from the glory days of 1976-77 participated. They then went on and won three divisions in four years. And often with higher attendances than the fusion club LFF.
The team reached as high as the third level before they hit a string of bad years.
In 2004 we merged with BK Wolfram (a smaller club from same district) but the team kept the green/black shirts and the badge and played for just one year under the name Derby/Wolfram before they changed back to BK Derby. This merger hasn’t been as successful as the clubs had hoped and, for the time being, the team plays in division 4 (sixth level).
For the last twenty years the club has been struggling in the lower divisions. The Foxes haven’t been the best team in Linköping for many years. The loss of supporters and sponsors has been massive. But there’s some light at the end of the tunnel. The club’s youth policy is strong and we have the most talented and successful youngsters in the county. If the management can keep all of the players, then our future looks bright.
Honours:
Champions, Östgötaleague class 1, 1922
District Champions 1924
District Champions 1925
Silver Medal Swedish Championship 1925
Runners Up, Div.2 Östsvenskan, 1926
District Champions 1927
District Champions 1928
Champions, Div.3 Mellansvenskan, 1929
District Champions 1931
Runners Up, Div.2 Södra, 1932
District Champions 1938
Runners Up, Div.3 Mellansvenskan Södra, 1939
Champions, Div.3 Mellansvenskan Norra, 1945
Champions, Div.4, 1951
Champions, Div.3 Mellansvenskan Östra, 1952
District Champions 1956
District Champions 1957
District Champions 1958
District Champions 1960
Champions, Div.3 Nordöstra Götaland, 1966
Champions, Div.3 Nordöstra Götaland, 1971
Champions, Div.3 Nordöstra Götaland, 1974
Champions, Div.2 Norra, 1976
Champions, Div.6, 1984
Champions, Div.5, 1986
Champions, Div.4, 1987
Champions, Div.6 Södra, 2002
Champions, Div.4 Östra, 2007
Contact:
bk_derby@comhem.se
Guestbook:
http://www.svenskafans.com/grasplan/bk_derby/forum.aspx
