 | ||
Finnish Workers' Sports Federation football team was a association football team representing the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation from the 1920s to the 1940s. It participated the International Workers' Olympiads in 1921, 1925 and 1937 and The Moscow Spartakiad in 1928.
Contents
Background
The Finnish Workers' Sports Federation (TUL) was established after the Finnish Civil War in January 1919. It was afflicted with the left-wing parties and the labor unions. Due to political reasons, TUL athletes were not allowed to represent their country in the Olympic Games neither any other major international competition until the end of World War II. During the pre-war years, TUL athletes competed at the International Workers' Olympiads instead and had contacts with other European labor sports federations.
Also the Finnish football was split in two. TUL players were not selected to the national team and the Finnish Football Association and TUL had both their own Championship series. The FA's winner was declared as the Finnish Champion until 1944. In 1945–1948 the title was decided on a final match between the two champions and the series were finally merged in 1949. As a result of this break-up, several TUL footballers switched into FA clubs to be able to play in the national team. Eight of these "defectors", including Ernst Grönlund and Frans Karjagin, were later members of the Finnish squad at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.
Competition record
Finnish Workers' Sports Federation football team took part at the all three International Workers' Summer Olympiads, 1925 in Frankfurt am Main, 1931 in Vienna and 1937 in Antwerp, as well as the 1928 Spartakiad in Moscow. At the 1925 Olympiads TUL football team reached the final against the German team. It was played at the Waldstadion in Frankfurt am Main in front of a crowd of a 40,000 spectators. The final result was a 2-0 victory by the Germans.