Hammarby IF Speedway was a Swedish

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

team based in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden. The club has not been competing in the domestic leagues since 2016, after their home ground

Gubbängens IP Gubbängens IP or Gubbängens Idrottsplats (Sports Ground) is a former motorcycle speedway track, located in Enskede in the southern part of Stockholm, Sweden. From the 1950s to 2010, it hosted Getingarna, the most successful club in Swedish ...

was demolished. Their biggest success was winning the bronze medal in

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

in 2007.

Season summary

History

SMK Stockholm and Monarkerna

SMK Stockholm were one of the seven inaugural members of the Swedish speedway league, which started during the 1948 Swedish speedway season. They raced at

Hammarby IP Hammarby IP (short for "''Hammarby Idrottsplats''", "Hammarby Sports Ground") also known as "Kanalplan", is a football stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. The current main tenant is the women's football team Hammarby IF. The stadium was officially op ...

, a ground based in

Södermalm Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is the southern district of Stockholm City Centre. Overview The Södermalm district covers the island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''), which, however, is not fully separated from th ...

, an area Hammarby IF considers its heartland. In

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

, SMK Stockholm became Monarkerna (the Monarchs) and the team won the

Swedish Speedway Team Championship The Swedish Speedway Team Championship is the team championship of motorcycle speedway, speedway in Sweden. History The Championship was introduced in 1950. In 1982 the Championship was renamed with a new league called the Elitserien (speedwa ...

in 1955 and 1956, with riders such as

Olle Nygren Harald Olof Ingemar Nygren (11 November 1929 – 13 February 2021) was a Swedish motorcycle speedway rider, who reached the finals of the Speedway World Championship five times. He earned 90 caps for the Sweden national speedway team. Career ...

and Ulf Ericsson. Monarkerna competed until the end of the 1963 Swedish speedway season.

Hammarby IF

In 2004, Hammarby IF Speedway was established, as a section under multi-sports club

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differ ...

. Gary Selan was the driving force behind the project and became the first team president. Racing at Gubbängens IP, in a suburban district in the southern part of Stockholm. The club (colloquially known as Bajen Speedway) went on to compete in the second tier

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

during their inaugural season, which was the 2004 Swedish speedway season. In

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, Hammarby won the Allsvenskan in superior style and secured a promotion to Elitserien. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, Hammarby signed former World Champion

Nicki Pedersen Nicki Pedersen (born 2 April 1977) is a Danish motorcycle speedway rider. He is a three time world champion having won the World Championship in 2003, 2007 and 2008. He has also won the World Cup with Denmark in 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014. Car ...

, who was a leading rider in the Elitserien in his debut season. The club's biggest success came in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, when they finished second in the table in the regular season before winning the bronze medal in the playoffs. After a promising start to the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Elitserien season, Hammarby dropped off in the table in the second half, and ultimately finished in eight place. At the end of the year, the club chose to withdraw from he league due to financial difficulties. They competed in Allsvenskan in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, before returning to Elitserien in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

with World Champion

Tomasz Gollob Tomasz Robert Gollob (; born 11 April 1971 in Bydgoszcz, Poland) is a former Polish motorcycle speedway rider. He appeared in every Speedway Grand Prix series between its inaugural season in 1995 and 2013. He earned 52 caps for the Poland nati ...

as one of their riders. Hammarby competed in Elitserien for the last time in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, before getting relegated to Allsvenskan. The club was, however, expelled from the second division at the end of

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

due to financial problems. At the end of 2016, the club was effectively dissolved, after not being able to find a track to race on in the Stockholm area. After competing in Division 1, the domestic third tier, for several seasons, it had been announced that Hammarby's home ground Gubbängens IP would be demolished. At its peak, Hammarby drew regular attendances of some 2,000 people.

Season summary

Notable riders

* (2004–2008, 2013) * (2006–2007) * (2007–2008) * (2011–2013)

References

{{Hammarby IF sections Speedway teams in Sweden Hammarby IF Sports clubs and teams in Stockholm 2004 establishments in Sweden 21st-century establishments in Stockholm 2016 disestablishments in Sweden 21st-century disestablishments in Stockholm