S.C.F. Quarnero

It has been suggested that this article be merged into HNK Rijeka. (Discuss) Proposed since October 2021.

Società Cultura Fisica Quarnero (in Croatian Sportsko Društvo Kvarner) was a Fiume-based football club, the restructured U.S. Fiumana under the new sport rules formed socialist state of Yugoslavia, and the predecessor to today's HNK Rijeka.^[1] In 1948 it was renamed to Club Calcio Quarnero (in Croatian NK Kvarner) and was in 1954 to NK Rijeka.^[2]

History[]

Quarnero was created on the 29th of July 1946 as the successor to the previous municipal-owned representative club of Rijeka, U.S. Fiumana,^[3] a brand name at the time considered by communist compromised by playing in the Italian football championships during the fascist regime.^[4] The new name followed the more geographic naming conventions requested to local councils by the central authorities in Belgrade in order to approve the reestablishment of the local sport club activities and to participate in competitions. All sport and football clubs in Yugoslavia got formally disbanded in 1945 and almost all rebranded with more ideologically-sounding names. Fiume and the whole B Zone of the Julian march being at the time still legally a part of Italy and formally under Jugoslav military administration, was not subject to these laws. Fiumana's management, players, supporters, headquarters and stadium simply continued under the new city club brand Quarnero. The club played a first home game under the new name against Hajduk Split, beating it 2-0 with goals from Petroni and Nori. Like all other clubs in the new state, has several sports sections added to it, 11 of them, some of which have achieved solid results in various fields: in boxing, fencing, basketball and tennis. International tennis champion Orlando Sirola started his career in Quarnero, before his exile.

The football club with the new name was then invited to participate in the first edition of the Jugoslav football league in '46-'47 as an external guest representative of the occupied Zone B of the Julian March region, but only after a play-off with the Pula-based club Unione Sportiva Operaia. But at the end of the season the club was forced out of the league due to Belgrade's political decision to favour of Ponziana, who finished the season two places behind Rijeka, due to the propaganda need to keep Triest inhabitants interested Yugoslav football in a time when Jugoslavia's grip on the city was eroding.

When Rijeka got finally assigned by allies to Jugoslavia in February 1947 and Tito also broke all ties with Stalin in 1948, most Jugoslav clubs underwent a further reorganization of their sport activities. In 1948 Quarnero thus was allowed to become once again a purely all-football club, and the name was consequently modified into Club Calcio Quarnero / Nometni Klub Kvarner.

The club continued to play with mixed results in the second and third leagues of Yugoslav football. The club display worse and worse results over the next ten years concurrently to Rijeka's autochthonous population slowly leaving their hometown over the years. Consequently also the club was bleeding many of its best players year in year out, because many opted to leave Yugoslavia and move overseas.

In 1954, following rising ethnic tensions around the Triest Crisis and the subsequent elimination of all forms of bilingualism in the city, paired with a desire to have a brand more recognizable and associated the club was further renamed into NK Rijeka.^[5]

References[]

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