SC Hakoah Graz
The Sportclub Hakoah Graz (Hebrew: Hakoah - strength) was a Jewish sports and football club from the Styrian capital Graz. It was beside Sturm and GAK the third top league team from Graz.
History
The club was founded on 12 March 1919 to offer the Jewish people of Graz (around 4000) the possibility to do sports. The old club Jüdischen Turnvereins zu Graz was dissolved in 1917. Jewish officials were against the club. The club was highly accepted by the young football players.
In 1921, the football section took part in the 2.Klasse of the Styrian football championship. The first classes of the federal states were the highest, because at that time there was no Austrian-wide championship. The champion of Viennas highest league was considered Austrian champion. They played in blue and white jerseys with the Star of David on the breast. It was difficult for them to play because they had no ground of their own. Due to the antisemitism of that time other clubs often did not allow them to use their grounds. In 1923, they leased an own ground.
In the 1921/22 season, they reached the first place and were promoted to the 1. Klasse. In the 1. Klasse, the club was again confronted with antisemitism. The Deutscher Sportverein Leoben and Turnverein Leibniz did not want to play against a Jewish club. They were disqualified. During the years in the first class Hakoah often reached places on top of the table.
In 1935, the club was relegated to the 2. Klasse. The reason for this was that some players went to other clubs and some ended their career because antisemitism grew at that time. The club also lost its ground which was only leased. The contract was not prolonged. In the Second Class, they gained again strength but the occupation of Austria by Nazi Germany ended its history. The club was dissolved like all other Jewish sports clubs in Austria.
Other websites
- Article about Hakoah Graz Archived 2016-03-06 at the Wayback Machine (in German)