SoIK Hellas is a

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

in Stockholm, Sweden, established on 14 May 1899 as Pastorns gossar by Katarina Parish

confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant (religion), covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an wikt:affirmation, affirma ...

priest Ernst Klefbeck, before changing name to SoIK Hellas in 1912, also on the initiative of Ernst Klefbeck. Nowadays running

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thoug ...

track and field athletics Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

, handball,

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

, and

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with t ...

, the club earlier also ran soccer,

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

ski orienteering Ski orienteering (SkiO) is a cross-country skiing endurance winter racing sport and one of the four orienteering disciplines recognized by the IOF. A successful ski orienteer combines high physical endurance, strength and excellent technical skii ...

, and

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

. The men's water polo team has won Swedish championship titles. In 2009, the club decided to become an alliance club starting in 2010.

Handball

The handball team have won seven Swedish Championships (1936, 1937, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1977). They played in the first season of

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football le ...

, the Swedish top division, finishing fifth. Until 1952, the Swedish Championship (SM) was decided as a knockout tournament independent of the league. During this time, Hellas were considered "cup specialists". Until 1946, only the district champions qualified for SM, meaning that Hellas had to compete with other Stockholm clubs to qualify. In 1935–36, Hellas again finished fifth in the league and qualified for SM for the first time. They defeated Flottans IF Karlskrona in the final to become Swedish Champions. In the following season, Hellas improved to fourth in the league and successfully defended the Swedish Championship title, winning the final against

Redbergslids IK Redbergslids IK (RIK), is a handball team from Gothenburg, Sweden founded in 1916. Redbergslids is the most successful club in Sweden, having won 20 Swedish Championship titles. Home games are played in Prioritet Serneke Arena. Redbergslid i ...

. They finished fourth in the league again in 1937–38, but lost the Stockholm final against

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is nam ...

and did not qualify for SM. In the following season they were relegated, but were promoted again after a single season. In 1942–43, Hellas finished second in Allsvenskan, their highest league finish at that point. In 1944–45, they finished third in the league and reached the semifinals of SM, where they lost to Majornas IK. Hellas were relegated in 1946–47, but still reached the semifinals of SM, this time losing to

IK Heim IK Heim were a Swedish handball club from Gothenburg, founded in 1923. They have been Swedish champions 7 times. They won the title in 1950 (by defeating Örebro in the final), 1955, 1959, 1960 and 1962 (by winning the league). They were relega ...

. Despite playing in the second level, Hellas reached the SM semifinals again in 1947–48, where they were eliminated by Redbergslid. In the following season, they were promoted back to Allsvenskan and reached the final of SM. They were defeated by cross-town rivals

IFK Lidingö IFK Lidingö is a Swedish sports club, part of the IFK system, based on the island of Lidingö outside Stockholm. Although the club takes part in numerous sports, it is most famous for its football, athletics and orienteering sections. The foo ...

, who were relegated from the top division in the same season. Hellas finished third in the league in 1949–50, and reached the SM semifinals, where they were eliminated by Heim. Two years later they were relegated from the top level, but still reached the SM semifinals for a sixth time in eight seasons. They lost to cross-town rivals AIK. After this season, the SM tournament was discontinued. Hellas did not return to the top division until 1961. In the first five seasons after their return they finished mid-table, but in 1966–67 they improved to second in the league. From the 1967–68 season, the top four in the league qualified for a playoffs to determine the Swedish Champions. In the same season, Hellas won the league but lost the final against

IF Saab Idrottsföreningen Saab was a Swedish sports club from Linköping, Östergötland County founded in 1941 by people working at Saab and most known for its association football and handball teams.http://www.bolletinen.se/sfs/allsvenskan/grundades. ...

. In the following season, they finished second in the league and won their third Swedish title by defeating

Ystads IF Ystads IF is a handball club from Ystad, Sweden. They play in Handbollsligan. They won the Swedish Championship in 1976, 1992 and 2022. History Ystads IF was founded in 1908 and took up handball on the programme in 1929. In 1933–34, the cl ...

in the final. They finished second in the league again in 1969–70, and defended the title by winning the final against

HK Drott HK Drott Halmstad is a handball club, based in Halmstad, Sweden. The club has won the Swedish Championship eleven times, last in 2013. Together with Redbergslids IK, HK Drott have dominated Swedish handball between 1984 and 2003. This club has ...

. In 1970–71 and 1971–72, Hellas won "the double", winning the league both years and defeating Västra Frölunda IF and Drott, respectively, in the final. In 1972–73, they reached the semifinals of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

, where they were eliminated by Yugoslav club

Partizan Bjelovar RK Bjelovar (Rukometni Klub Bjelovar) is a team handball club from Bjelovar, Croatia formed in 1955. The club currently competes in the Croatian Second League of Handball (North) and the Croatian Handball Cup. During Communist Yugoslavia, the cl ...

. In both 1972–73 and 1973–74, Hellas lost the Swedish final against

. They finished seventh in the league and failed to qualify for the playoffs in 1974–75 and were eliminated by Heim in the semifinals in 1975–76. In 1976–77, Hellas won "the double" again, defeating Heim in the final. After this their performances declined and they were relegated in 1981. They were promoted again in 1985 but were relegated two years later and have yet to return to the top division. As of 2017–18, they play in Division 3, the fifth level.

Orienteering

Hellas won the first

Tiomila Tiomila or 10-mila is an orienteering race held annually in Sweden since 1945, usually in late April or early May. It is a 10-man relay which includes both night and daytime legs. The women's race consists of five daylight legs. Tiomila attracts c ...

in 1945. In 1966 Jonas Ernfridsson led by a quarter of an hour after the fifth leg. Harald Tirén increased it by half an hour on the sixth leg. However, the next runner lost more than that and the club did not get any medal.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hellas SOIK 1899 establishments in Sweden Orienteering clubs in Sweden Sports clubs established in 1899 Sporting clubs in Stockholm Swedish handball clubs Swimming clubs Tennis in Sweden Water polo clubs in Sweden Defunct football clubs in Sweden