Handball club BW Feldkirch
| Full name | Handball club Blau-Weiss Feldkirch |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Club colors | Blue White |
| Hall | Reichenfeldhalle Feldkirch |
| Places | 1000 |
| Website | www.handball-feldkirch.at |
The handball club Blau-Weiss Feldkirch is an Austrian handball club in Feldkirch in Vorarlberg . With around 350 members, the club is the largest voluntary handball club in Austria and the largest team sports club in the city of Feldkirch.
history
After the end of the Second World War , a “handball” section was founded in 1946 from the Blau-Weiß Feldkirch sports association through the initiative of Karl Graf, Josef Mattner and Franz Skoda, which soon became the “BW Feldkirch handball club”. In 1950/51, as well as in 1953 and 1954, the Club Vorarlberg champions. This was followed by participation in the Austrian handball state championships. At that time the venue was at "Breiten Wasen". In 1953, Billy Lindner (defender) and Karl Friedrich (goalkeeper) played as Feldkirch's first national player in the Austrian national team against Belgium.
In 1956, the first time an agreement was reached between the Vorarlberg Handball Association and the Württemberg Handball Association on joint league operations. The “Handball-Bodenseeliga” was something of a pioneer for international, cross-border gaming. After two runner-up titles in 1959 and 1960, BW Feldkirch became international Lake Constance champion for the first time in 1961, followed by the second title in 1965.
From 1960 indoor handball was played in Vorarlberg. The club was Vorarlberg indoor handball champion from 1961 to 1966.
The sporting successes continued later. BW Feldkirch was able to achieve the 3rd Lake Constance championship in field handball in 1968. In 1972 came 4th place at the state championship tournament in Graz. The new Oberau sports hall was available for the 25th anniversary. In the qualifying tournament for promotion to the State League B, the goal was achieved with 3rd place. For organizational and financial reasons, however, the participation in the international indoor handball league was waived.
In the following decade, the team was rigorously rejuvenated through its own youth development. Together with befriended sports students, good top positions were fought for in the 2nd Bodensee division. In 1987 the 1st team under coach Kurt Schmidle was promoted to the 1st division of the Bodensee League. With the commitment of the experienced player-coach Ferenc Kovac in 1990, BW Feldkirch became champions of the 1st division in 1990/91, now called the District League, and rose to the Württemberg regional league.
A crisis arose because the game in the new league required a playing field with international dimensions, which was not the case with Halle Oberau due to its length of only 36 meters. Therefore, the Feldkirch "home games" in Hohenems were played in front of a sparsely occupied grandstand. Nevertheless, they managed to stay in the league, stayed ahead of Hard in the table and were second in indoor handball for the last time (behind Bregenz ). Without a corresponding hall, the 1st team had to be withdrawn shortly before the start of the 1992/93 season, followed by a compulsory graduation by two classes, whereupon the top performers of the 1st team migrated to other Vorarlberg clubs and the game was largely idle in 1993/94. A new team of officials started with only two youth teams, the mJC even became national champions. In 1994/95, however, the first men's team was reactivated.
In 1995 the first female youth team was founded. In 1999, for the first time, a women's team took part in the state league (2nd division). After a steady increase in performance, he was promoted to the highest Austrian handball league, WHA , in 2005 , in which women are still represented today.
For the 50th anniversary of the club in 2006, the new sports hall in Reichenfeld was built. The male youth teams then achieved a top placement at the Austrian championships for the first time. In 2007, the female youth division won the first championship title.
Today the women play in the WHA, the men have played in the Württemberg regional league since 2005.
Honorary Chairman
- Josef Mattner
- Martin Marizzi
- Günther Stadler
- Roland Sperger
- Franz Füchsl
Honorary members
- Richard Stengele
- Hans Blecha
- Alfred Scharf
- Egon Lampert
- Billi Lindner
- Hans Kornexl
- Thomas Kornexl
- Walter Mayer
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Handball club Sparkasse Blau Weiss Feldkirch - Association. Retrieved June 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Brochure: Success Story BW Feldkirch 1946 - 2016
- ^ Handball club Sparkasse Blau Weiss Feldkirch - successes. Retrieved June 18, 2019 .