Full name | Havnar Bóltfelag Tórshavn |
---|---|
Founded | 4 October 1904 |
Ground |
Gundadalur Stadium Tórshavn, Faroe Islands |
Capacity | 5,000 |
Chairman | Finnbogi Arge |
Manager | Heðin Askham |
League | Effodeildin |
2016 | Effodeildin, 5th |
Havnar Bóltfelag is a Faroese semi-professional football club. The club is one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in the Faroe Islands. The club was founded in 1904, and is based in the capital, Tórshavn. Home matches are played at the Gundadalur and they compete in the Faroe Islands Premier League. HB stands for Havnar Bóltfelag, or Harbour Football Club, with Havn coming from the name of the town of Tórshavn.
HB Tórshavn was founded in October 1904. The club's first board was elected in a meeting, on 14 November 1904. The board consisted of three people: Mads Andrias Winther, Joan Pauli Joensen and Jakup Mouritsen. The future mayor of Tórshavn (1909–12), Mads Andrias Winther, was HB's first chairman. HB's first match against TB Tvøroyri took place on 23 May 1909, in Tvøroyri. The match ended in a 2–2. Two months later, on 18 July 1909, a second match was organized against TB Tvøroyri, this time held in Tórshavn. HB won the match 3–1. The first against future rivals KÍ Klaksvík was held on 16 July 1911, which finished in a 3–3 draw.
In 1942 a national league was formed in the Faroe Islands. The first few seasons weren't very successful ones for HB. Later their results improved and they finished runners-up in 1948, 1949, 1953 and 1954. Then in 1955 HB won the double, by winning the league and the first ever national cup competition, beating KÍ Klaksvík in the final. HB went on to win many more trophies; despite this by 1970 KÍ Klaksvík were the most successful club in the Faroe Islands at the time. That year HB were due to play KÍ Klaksvík in the national cup final. But the final never took place, as KÍ refused to play the final in Tórshavn. HB was not named the winners of the cup that year, even though KÍ failed to appear. HB were the current holders at the time, after beating B36 Tórshavn in the cup final, the previous year. They finished runners-up in 1970 after KÍ Klaksvík won their 5th title in a row. It was the fourth time HB had finished runners-up in the league in the past 4 seasons. The following year it was HB v TB in the cup final, the match went ahead this time and HB won. In the final round of the league there was fighting in the match between HB and KÍ. HB were the eventual winners of the league and KÍ finished runners-up. HB also won the cup in 1972 and 1973, making them 11 times winners, and winning the cup for 5 consecutive years. They also won the cup 5 times in a row, in years between 1978 and 1982. HB are the only club in the Faroe Islands to achieve this, with other clubs only having won the cup 2 years consecutively. By this time they had won the Faroe Islands Cup many more times than all other clubs in the Faroe Islands, but KÍ still held the most league titles.