Pyrkivä Turku, Finnish Turun Pyrkivä, earlier Maarian Pyrkivä (pyrkivä meaning "endeavouring") is a sports club from Turku, Finland, which was founded in 1906 by sportsmen who represented artistic gymnastics.History of Turun Pyrkivä Gymnastics section.
The club was founded as a section of the Työväenyhdistys Tarmo (‘Workers Association Vigour’ or ‘Stamina’ of Raunistula, Maaria. In 1912 the club became independent of its parent organisation, and green was chosen as its colour.
In the early years the most popular sports were athletics and wrestling, but perhaps surprisingly, drama was also popular, and at best the club presented 16 different plays per year, and it also arranged screenings of movies.
Today the main sports of the club are association football, rink bandy, basketball, artistic gymnastics, badminton, table tennis, and athletics.
The gymnasts of Pyrkivä Turku have had considerable success both on the national and the international level: Kaino Lempinen was a member of the team that won gold in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. The most recent successful gymnast from Pyrkivä has been Annukka Almenoksa, who won 18 Finnish championships (1998–2004) and is still the only Finnish woman who has reached the finals in a major international competition (2002 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships).
In rink bandy Pyrkivä played in top flight, in the Finnish Rink Bandy League, until the end of the 2007–2008 season. The club is also active in bandy proper and ice hockey. In the former sport the club holds 11 championships in the competitions of the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation. The club played in the Finnish Bandy Championship Series in 1945. During the years 1948–1952 the club played in a Championship challenge against the bandy champion of the series governed by the Football Association of Finland, but they lost each time.
Pyrkivä has played two spells in the top flight of Finnish football, the Mestaruussarja, during 1952—1956 and during 1978—1979. In 1954 the club won the championship, and in 1952 it achieved bronze. In addition to this, the club has played 17 seasons on the second level, in Division I.
Season to season
SeasonLevelDivisionSectionAdministrationPositionMovements1948Tier 2Suomensarja (Second Division)South GroupFinnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)6th1949Tier 2Suomensarja (Second Division)West GroupFinnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)4th1950Tier 2Suomensarja (Second Division)West GroupFinnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)3rd1951Tier 2Suomensarja (Second Division)West GroupFinnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)1stPromoted1952Tier 1Mestaruussarja (Premier League)Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)3rd1953Tier 1Mestaruussarja (Premier League)Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)5th1954Tier 1Mestaruussarja (Premier League)Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)1stChampions1955Tier 1Mestaruussarja (Premier League)Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)7th1956Tier 1Mestaruussarja (Premier League)Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)10thRelegated1957Tier 2Suomensarja (Second Division)West GroupFinnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)7th1958Tier 2Suomensarja (Second Division)West GroupFinnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)8thRelegated1959Tier 3Maakuntasarja (Third Division)Group 3 Turku & Åland IslandsFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto)8thRelegated1960Tier 4Aluesarja (Fourth Division)Group 6 Turku & Åland IslandsFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto)2ndPromotion play-offs1961Tier 4Aluesarja (Fourth Division)Group 5 TurkuFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto)3rdRelegation play-offs - Relegated1962Tier 5Piirinsarja (Fifth Division)Turku District (SPL Turku)Promoted1963Tier 4Aluesarja (Fourth Division)Group 5 TurkuFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto)1stPromoted1964Tier 3Maakuntasarja (Third Division)Group 3 Turku & Åland IslandsFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto)2nd1965Tier 3Maakuntasarja (Third Division)Group 3 Turku Finnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto)1stPromoted1966Tier 2Suomensarja (Second Division)West GroupFinnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)9th1967Tier 2Suomensarja (Second Division)West GroupFinnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)10th1968Tier 2Suomensarja (Second Division)West GroupFinnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)4th1969Tier 2Suomensarja (Second Division)South GroupFinnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)7th1970Tier 2II Divisioona (Second Division)West GroupFinnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)5th1971Tier 2II Divisioona (Second Division)West GroupFinnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)12thRelegated1972Tier 3III Divisioona (Third Division)Group 2 Turku & Åland IslandsFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto)6th1973Tier 4III Divisioona (Third Division)Group 3 Turku & Åland IslandsFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto)1stPromoted1974Tier 3II Divisioona (Second Division)West GroupFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto)1stPromoted1975Tier 2I Divisioona (First Division)Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)5th1976Tier 2I Divisioona (First Division)Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)9th1977Tier 2I Divisioona (First Division)Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)2ndPromoted1978Tier 1Mestaruussarja (Premier League)Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)10th1979Tier 1Mestaruussarja (Premier League)Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)11thRelegation Group 5th - Relegated1980Tier 2I Divisioona (First Division)Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)5thRelegation Group 4th1981Tier 2I Divisioona (First Division)Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto)12thRelegation Group 8th - Relegated1982-921993Tier 5Nelonen (Fourth Division)Group 4 Turku & Åland IslandsTurku District (SPL Turku)10th 7 seasons in Veikkausliiga 17 seasons in Ykkönen 5 seasons in Kakkonen 4 season in Kolmonen 2 season in Nelonen
References
External links Pyrkivä Turku homepages