Riga Vanderer
Encyclopedia
Riga Vanderer was a Latvia
n football
club that was founded in 1927, disbanded in 1940, restored a year later and disbanded again in 1944.
in Latvia after an conflict of interests involving the Latvia national team sportsman in football and bandy
Arvīds Jurgens
. October 21, 1927 is considered to be the foundation date of the club. The newly founded sports club at first promised to work mostly in raising its own young footballers, however almost the entire first selection squad of Vanderer in the early years was made up by already known and experienced footballers from other Riga sports clubs. As the majority of the Vanderer footballers in its first squad came from RFK
, there started a deep rivalry between these two clubs and several of their matches ended in violence.
, Fēlikss Zandbergs, Ādolfs Sīmanis
, Blūmentāls, Česlavs Stančiks
, Harijs Fogelis
, Aleksandrs Ābrams
, Emīls Urbāns
, Valdis Plade, Aleksejs Andrejevs and Veinbergs. The Tallinn
club won with 3-0.
tournament. In the B class tournament there proved to be no competition for the experienced Vanderers team which won all 8 matches in 1928 A the B class champion Vanderers had to play against the weakest A class side - Amatieris which also was no competitor for Vanderers and was beat 7-1. A year later Vanderer (with two further former Rīgas FK
footballers - Alfons Novickis
and Vladimirs Svistuņenko in the squad) won the A class tournament and because the Latvian Higher League was extended, it earned a place there without additional play-off matches.
(the latter had joined Vanderer from LSB Riga.
The 1931 season was less successful but in 1932 Vanderers got the closest to winning the gold of the Latvian league in its history. Despite having lost Arvīds Jurgens
to its main rivals ASK Riga
(but at the same time it had gained national team forward Alberts Šeibelis
from RFK
) that year Vanderers finished with the same amount of points as ASK. Therefore a golden match was necessary, and in it ASK proved to be the stronger side by winning 3-1.
Vanderer could not better its 1932 result over the years, yet it repeated the second place finish in 1934, but the margin between Vanderer and the title winners RFK
was big. The next years showed a decline in the league performance for Vanderer that didn't earn any more league medals after 1934. The performance was much better in the cup tournaments. Vanderers reached its first Riga Football Cup
final in 1933 where it was beaten by ASK Riga
, but the next year it won its first cup and a second victory in the tournament came in 1936 when it was already renamed as the Latvian Cup. However the most important cup victory for Riga Vanderer is considered the one it achieved in 1938 when the Latvian Cup was already a very prestigious tournament in which participated all the best Latvian football clubs. In the autumn of 1938 the club changed its name from the foreign-sounding Vanderer to the Latvian Rīgas Vilki (Riga Wolves), in short - RV.
The main problem for RV for several years in the 1930s was lack of a reliable first choice goalkeeper after Jurgens had left it. Degners, Zakss, Strautmanis, Katlaps, Jūlijs Lindenbergs (a former national team goalkeeper) were tried but none of them proved to be good enough. That changed in 1936 when Jānis Bebris
from Union Riga
joined the club, thus filling the weakest position in the Vanderer squad. The best goalscorers for RV in the second half of the 1930s were Hugo Vītols and Alfrēds Verners
, Hermanis Jēnihs and Alberts Šeibelis
(the latter spent a couple years with V. Ķuze before it was disbanded. The most long-lasting member of Vanderer was Ādolfs Sīmanis
who played for the club from its very first days until 1940.
there were major changes in the sports club structure in Latvia and most of the former clubs were disbanded, and RV was one of those. Its footballers joined different newly founded clubs of the Soviet system: RDKA Riga (Jānis Bebris
), FK Dinamo Riga (Ādolfs Sīmanis
), Spartaks Rīga
(Alberts Šeibelis
), RGK Riga (Šeino). Meanwhile several other former RV footballers had repatriated to Germany
in 1939, including former national team players Ēriks Brēde and Ēriks Bēze.
championship. The restored Vanderer squad contained most of its former stars including Bebris, Šeibelis, Juris Skadiņš and future Daugava Rīga coach Vadims Ulbergs
. Only the top four teams from the Riga tournament qualified to play in the Latvian Higher League and RV was the first on the wrong side of the line. RV returned to the higher league in 1943 but it wasn't unable to compete with stronger sides any more. In 1944 when the war interrupted the football tournament RV was in the last place in the Latvian league.
When the Soviet army entered the territory of Latvia in 1944 RV was disbanded the second and final time.
(1928) Peter Tandler (1931) Voldemārs Plade
(1936)
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
n football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
club that was founded in 1927, disbanded in 1940, restored a year later and disbanded again in 1944.
Founding
The decision of founding the new sports club was made by Arthur William Macferson, the former consul general of United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in Latvia after an conflict of interests involving the Latvia national team sportsman in football and bandy
Bandy
Bandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.The rules of the game have many similarities to those of association football: the game is played on a rectangle of ice the same size as a football field. Each team has 11 players,...
Arvīds Jurgens
Arvids Jurgens
Arvīds Jurgens was a Latvian footballer, ice hockey, basketball and bandy player who play played for Latvia national teams in all four of these sports...
. October 21, 1927 is considered to be the foundation date of the club. The newly founded sports club at first promised to work mostly in raising its own young footballers, however almost the entire first selection squad of Vanderer in the early years was made up by already known and experienced footballers from other Riga sports clubs. As the majority of the Vanderer footballers in its first squad came from RFK
Rigas FK
Riga FK was a Latvian football club which was founded December 14, 1923. It was the strongest and most popular Latvian football club in 1920s and 1930s, it was also the base team for Latvia national football team in its early years...
, there started a deep rivalry between these two clubs and several of their matches ended in violence.
The first match
Riga Vanderer played its first ever game against Sport Tallinn on May 13, 1928. The following players represented Vander in its first ever official match: Arvīds JurgensArvids Jurgens
Arvīds Jurgens was a Latvian footballer, ice hockey, basketball and bandy player who play played for Latvia national teams in all four of these sports...
, Fēlikss Zandbergs, Ādolfs Sīmanis
Adolfs Simanis
Ādolfs Sīmanis was a Latvian football defender, the most long-time player with Riga Vanderer.-Biography:Sīmanis came from the Latvian countryside and when he joined the newly founder Riga Vanderer football club, the club coach considered him too slow and to heavyweight in order to become a good...
, Blūmentāls, Česlavs Stančiks
Ceslavs Stanciks
Česlavs Stančiks was a Latvian footballer. In 1939 he resettled in Germany as part of resettlement of all Baltic Germans.-Club playing career:...
, Harijs Fogelis
Harijs Fogelis
-Biography:Fogelis' first season in senior football came in 1925 when he played with LSB Riga as it finished third in the top Riga football league. After two years with LSB Fogelis moved to the flagman of Riga football RFK...
, Aleksandrs Ābrams
Aleksandrs Abrams
Aleksandrs Ābrams was a Latvian football forward who used to play with Rīgas FK, the most successful Latvian football club of 1920s and 1930s.-Club playing career:...
, Emīls Urbāns
Emils Urbans
Emīls Urbāns was a Latvian footballer, a three-time champion of Latvia.-Biography:Before World War I Urbāns played in a youth football club called Jakor Riga together with other future Latvia national football team footballers Kārlis Bone, Alberts Šeibelis and others...
, Valdis Plade, Aleksejs Andrejevs and Veinbergs. The Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
club won with 3-0.
Road to the higher league
As a new club despite it having several national team footballers in the squad Vanderers had to start from the very bottom - that is the level B RigaRiga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
tournament. In the B class tournament there proved to be no competition for the experienced Vanderers team which won all 8 matches in 1928 A the B class champion Vanderers had to play against the weakest A class side - Amatieris which also was no competitor for Vanderers and was beat 7-1. A year later Vanderer (with two further former Rīgas FK
Rigas FK
Riga FK was a Latvian football club which was founded December 14, 1923. It was the strongest and most popular Latvian football club in 1920s and 1930s, it was also the base team for Latvia national football team in its early years...
footballers - Alfons Novickis
Alfons Novickis
Alfons Novickis was a Latvian footballer.-Biography:Novickis rose to fame as a great footballing talent aged just 15 when he worked as a paper-boy at a publishing company. His first senior football club was LNJS Riga for which he played in 1926...
and Vladimirs Svistuņenko in the squad) won the A class tournament and because the Latvian Higher League was extended, it earned a place there without additional play-off matches.
The higher league years
There was no question whether Vanderer was ready to play in the higher league, as it had enough experienced footballers in the squad, however its top-flight début was even more impressive than most expected - Vanderer finished third in the league, mostly thanks to the tight defensive triangle - Jurgens, Sīmanis and Rūdolfs KundrātsRudolfs Kundrats
Rūdolfs Kundrāts was a Latvian football defender, one of the most reliable in his position in Latvia in 1920s and 1930s.Kundrāts first gained attention as a good defender when still playing with LNJS Riga in 1926, the following year he moved higher - to LSB Riga, one of the four clubs playing in...
(the latter had joined Vanderer from LSB Riga.
The 1931 season was less successful but in 1932 Vanderers got the closest to winning the gold of the Latvian league in its history. Despite having lost Arvīds Jurgens
Arvids Jurgens
Arvīds Jurgens was a Latvian footballer, ice hockey, basketball and bandy player who play played for Latvia national teams in all four of these sports...
to its main rivals ASK Riga
FK ASK
FK ASK Riga was a Latvian football club of the Latvian army, founded in 1923. In the 1920s and 1930s it was one of the leading clubs in Latvia. In 1940s it was disbanded, a new football club of the Soviet army was created in Riga under the name FK AVN, later AVN was renamed to ASK...
(but at the same time it had gained national team forward Alberts Šeibelis
Alberts Šeibelis
Alberts Šeibelis was a Latvian footballer, one of the most popular Latvian footballers in the era before World War II. In 54 matches for Latvia he scored 14 goals-Biography:...
from RFK
Rigas FK
Riga FK was a Latvian football club which was founded December 14, 1923. It was the strongest and most popular Latvian football club in 1920s and 1930s, it was also the base team for Latvia national football team in its early years...
) that year Vanderers finished with the same amount of points as ASK. Therefore a golden match was necessary, and in it ASK proved to be the stronger side by winning 3-1.
Vanderer could not better its 1932 result over the years, yet it repeated the second place finish in 1934, but the margin between Vanderer and the title winners RFK
Rigas FK
Riga FK was a Latvian football club which was founded December 14, 1923. It was the strongest and most popular Latvian football club in 1920s and 1930s, it was also the base team for Latvia national football team in its early years...
was big. The next years showed a decline in the league performance for Vanderer that didn't earn any more league medals after 1934. The performance was much better in the cup tournaments. Vanderers reached its first Riga Football Cup
Riga Football Cup
Riga Football Cup was a knockout tournament held in Latvian football between 1925 and 1936. In 1937 it was replaced by the Latvian Football Cup. Clubs from other cities than Riga were allowed to participate in the tournament....
final in 1933 where it was beaten by ASK Riga
FK ASK
FK ASK Riga was a Latvian football club of the Latvian army, founded in 1923. In the 1920s and 1930s it was one of the leading clubs in Latvia. In 1940s it was disbanded, a new football club of the Soviet army was created in Riga under the name FK AVN, later AVN was renamed to ASK...
, but the next year it won its first cup and a second victory in the tournament came in 1936 when it was already renamed as the Latvian Cup. However the most important cup victory for Riga Vanderer is considered the one it achieved in 1938 when the Latvian Cup was already a very prestigious tournament in which participated all the best Latvian football clubs. In the autumn of 1938 the club changed its name from the foreign-sounding Vanderer to the Latvian Rīgas Vilki (Riga Wolves), in short - RV.
The main problem for RV for several years in the 1930s was lack of a reliable first choice goalkeeper after Jurgens had left it. Degners, Zakss, Strautmanis, Katlaps, Jūlijs Lindenbergs (a former national team goalkeeper) were tried but none of them proved to be good enough. That changed in 1936 when Jānis Bebris
Janis Bebris
Jānis Bebris was a Latvian footballer, he was the main goalkeeper of Latvia national football team in the closing years of 1930s. After World War II, Bebris played in West Germany and France.- Biography :...
from Union Riga
Union Riga
Union Riga was a football club established in Riga in 1907. It was the winner of the Riga football league in 1910. In the period of independence of Latvia between the World wars Union played in the Latvian Higher League for several years...
joined the club, thus filling the weakest position in the Vanderer squad. The best goalscorers for RV in the second half of the 1930s were Hugo Vītols and Alfrēds Verners
Alfreds Verners
Alfrēds Verners was a Latvian footballer and ice hockey player who played 10 matches for Latvia national football team in the 1920s.-Biography:...
, Hermanis Jēnihs and Alberts Šeibelis
Alberts Šeibelis
Alberts Šeibelis was a Latvian footballer, one of the most popular Latvian footballers in the era before World War II. In 54 matches for Latvia he scored 14 goals-Biography:...
(the latter spent a couple years with V. Ķuze before it was disbanded. The most long-lasting member of Vanderer was Ādolfs Sīmanis
Adolfs Simanis
Ādolfs Sīmanis was a Latvian football defender, the most long-time player with Riga Vanderer.-Biography:Sīmanis came from the Latvian countryside and when he joined the newly founder Riga Vanderer football club, the club coach considered him too slow and to heavyweight in order to become a good...
who played for the club from its very first days until 1940.
Dissolution
In 1940 after Latvia was annexed by the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
there were major changes in the sports club structure in Latvia and most of the former clubs were disbanded, and RV was one of those. Its footballers joined different newly founded clubs of the Soviet system: RDKA Riga (Jānis Bebris
Janis Bebris
Jānis Bebris was a Latvian footballer, he was the main goalkeeper of Latvia national football team in the closing years of 1930s. After World War II, Bebris played in West Germany and France.- Biography :...
), FK Dinamo Riga (Ādolfs Sīmanis
Adolfs Simanis
Ādolfs Sīmanis was a Latvian football defender, the most long-time player with Riga Vanderer.-Biography:Sīmanis came from the Latvian countryside and when he joined the newly founder Riga Vanderer football club, the club coach considered him too slow and to heavyweight in order to become a good...
), Spartaks Rīga
Spartaks Riga
Spartaks Rīga is a defunct Soviet Latvian football club. It was founded in 1945 and its manager was the popular Juris Redlihs .-Team history:...
(Alberts Šeibelis
Alberts Šeibelis
Alberts Šeibelis was a Latvian footballer, one of the most popular Latvian footballers in the era before World War II. In 54 matches for Latvia he scored 14 goals-Biography:...
), RGK Riga (Šeino). Meanwhile several other former RV footballers had repatriated to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1939, including former national team players Ēriks Brēde and Ēriks Bēze.
During WW2
RV was restored in 1941 by the German occupation forces and in 1942 the club competed again in the RigaRiga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
championship. The restored Vanderer squad contained most of its former stars including Bebris, Šeibelis, Juris Skadiņš and future Daugava Rīga coach Vadims Ulbergs
Vadims Ulbergs
Vadims Ulbergs was a Latvian football player and manager, one of the most respected veterans of Latvian football.-Biography:...
. Only the top four teams from the Riga tournament qualified to play in the Latvian Higher League and RV was the first on the wrong side of the line. RV returned to the higher league in 1943 but it wasn't unable to compete with stronger sides any more. In 1944 when the war interrupted the football tournament RV was in the last place in the Latvian league.
When the Soviet army entered the territory of Latvia in 1944 RV was disbanded the second and final time.
Honours
- Latvian Higher League:
- Runners-up: 2 (1932, 1934)
- Riga Football CupRiga Football CupRiga Football Cup was a knockout tournament held in Latvian football between 1925 and 1936. In 1937 it was replaced by the Latvian Football Cup. Clubs from other cities than Riga were allowed to participate in the tournament....
:- Winners: 2 (1934, 1936)
- Latvian Cup:
- Winners: 1 (1938)
Managerial history
Karl KurzKarl Kurz
Karl Kurz was an Austrian football player and manager.-Club:Kurz played mostly as a winger but by the end of his career he had been deployed as a central midfielder on occasions...
(1928) Peter Tandler (1931) Voldemārs Plade
Voldemars Plade
Voldemārs Plade was a Latvian football forward and manager, the most notable of four Plade brothers who played for Latvia national football team.-Biography:...
(1936)
- Hilberg (1937)
Notable players
- Aleksejs Andrejevs
- Aleksandrs ĀbramsAleksandrs AbramsAleksandrs Ābrams was a Latvian football forward who used to play with Rīgas FK, the most successful Latvian football club of 1920s and 1930s.-Club playing career:...
- Augusts Baraks
- Jānis BebrisJanis BebrisJānis Bebris was a Latvian footballer, he was the main goalkeeper of Latvia national football team in the closing years of 1930s. After World War II, Bebris played in West Germany and France.- Biography :...
- Ēriks Bēze
- Vaclavs BorduškoVaclavs BorduškoVaclavs Borduško was a Latvian international footballer, a two-time champion of Latvia.-Biography:...
- Ēriks Brēde
- Harijs FogelisHarijs Fogelis-Biography:Fogelis' first season in senior football came in 1925 when he played with LSB Riga as it finished third in the top Riga football league. After two years with LSB Fogelis moved to the flagman of Riga football RFK...
- Hermanis Jēnihs
- Arvīds JurgensArvids JurgensArvīds Jurgens was a Latvian footballer, ice hockey, basketball and bandy player who play played for Latvia national teams in all four of these sports...
- Rūdolfs KundrātsRudolfs KundratsRūdolfs Kundrāts was a Latvian football defender, one of the most reliable in his position in Latvia in 1920s and 1930s.Kundrāts first gained attention as a good defender when still playing with LNJS Riga in 1926, the following year he moved higher - to LSB Riga, one of the four clubs playing in...
- Jūlijs Lindenbergs
- Alfons NovickisAlfons NovickisAlfons Novickis was a Latvian footballer.-Biography:Novickis rose to fame as a great footballing talent aged just 15 when he worked as a paper-boy at a publishing company. His first senior football club was LNJS Riga for which he played in 1926...
- Aņisims Pavlovs
- Arvīds Plade
- Voldemārs PladeVoldemars PladeVoldemārs Plade was a Latvian football forward and manager, the most notable of four Plade brothers who played for Latvia national football team.-Biography:...
- Ādolfs SīmanisAdolfs SimanisĀdolfs Sīmanis was a Latvian football defender, the most long-time player with Riga Vanderer.-Biography:Sīmanis came from the Latvian countryside and when he joined the newly founder Riga Vanderer football club, the club coach considered him too slow and to heavyweight in order to become a good...
- Juris Skadiņš
- Česlavs StančiksCeslavs StanciksČeslavs Stančiks was a Latvian footballer. In 1939 he resettled in Germany as part of resettlement of all Baltic Germans.-Club playing career:...
- Vladimirs Svistuņenko
- Vadims UlbergsVadims UlbergsVadims Ulbergs was a Latvian football player and manager, one of the most respected veterans of Latvian football.-Biography:...
- Emīls UrbānsEmils UrbansEmīls Urbāns was a Latvian footballer, a three-time champion of Latvia.-Biography:Before World War I Urbāns played in a youth football club called Jakor Riga together with other future Latvia national football team footballers Kārlis Bone, Alberts Šeibelis and others...
- Alfrēds VernersAlfreds VernersAlfrēds Verners was a Latvian footballer and ice hockey player who played 10 matches for Latvia national football team in the 1920s.-Biography:...
- Hugo Vītols
- Fēliks Zandbergs