HK Drott
| HK Drott | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Full name | Handbollsklubben Drott Halmstad |
| Founded | 1936 |
| Arena |
Halmstad Arena, Halmstad |
| Capacity | 4,000 |
| League | Elitserien |
HK Drott Halmstad is a handball club, based in Halmstad, Sweden. The club has won the national championships eleven times, last in 2013.
Together with Redbergslids IK, HK Drott have dominated Swedish handball prior to 2000. This club has had many famous players, among them Magnus Andersson, Ola Lindgren, Bengt Johansson and Göran Bengtsson.
HK Drott was founded in 1936 by Lars-Erik Dymne, Erik Månsson, Arvid Fridh and Ingvar Svensson, all 13 years of age; the club was originally formed as a football club. A few games were then played in 1937, with HK Drott winning all games played in the rural areas, while at least 3 of the games played in town were lost. The club also bought their first sports kit, based on the Arsenal F.C. model, and for practice the club rented I16's gym. When playing away against Laholm, the club members pretended to be children to be able to buy the cheaper children's tickets.
Several more football matches were played in 1938, but during this year handball became stronger within the club and the first handball matches were played against Läroverkets realskolelag. At this time no center halfs were used so only 6 outfielders and 3 substitutes were used. In 1939 the football part of the club lost a number of key players to their larger local rivals, the same year the handball section successfully filed for entrance to both the Swedish Sports Confederation and Swedish Handball Federation, and the club participated in Division 3.
In 1940 it was decided to shut down the football section completely and on 20 September the same year the name was changed from Fotbollsklubben, F.C., to Handbollsklubben Drott. The club also ended up last in Div. 3 the same year. Drott ended up last in 1941 as well, however Halmstads BK declined its place in Div. 2 and the Federation called for a playoff for the position between newly demoted IF Cate and HK Drott. Cate won the game by 10–0. To celebrate the club's 5 years of existence a tournament was played between all the teams in the Halmstad, which was won by IS Halmia. The club's first success came in 1942 as it was able to win Div. 3 and gain promotion to Div. 2. The success continued in 1943 as Drott won Div. 2 in their first year of participation. They then played qualification games against Ystads IF and Pantarholmens SK; Ystads IF won the qualification and were promoted. 1944 saw a change of the league system which was remodeled in football style, creating only four divisions. Drott was placed in Division 2 Södra and were relegated to Div. 3 in 1945 as the club ended up last in the league. The club's first international game was played that year against IF Vidar from Copenhagen.
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