Ullern IF

Ullern Idrettsforening is a Norwegian multi-sports club from Ullern, Oslo. It has sections for association football, team handball, basketball, bandy and cheerleading. The club colors are white and red.

General history

The club was founded in 1971 as a merger of the multi-sports club Liull, the multi-sports club Bestum IF (founded 1914), the gymnastics club Lilleaker TF and Ullern Basket (founded 1956). Liull was in turn a merger of the skiing club Ullern SK (founded 1909) and Lilleaker IF (founded 1913). The club counts 1909 as its founding year.

Lilleaker IF had been named Fagforeningenes IL, Lysaker from 1913 to 1924. That year, the Workers' Sports Federation was founded, but membership for Lilleaker IF here was voted down. As a result, the splinter club Fagforeningenes IL, Lilleaker was established. LIF and Fagen were reunited again in 1936, on the condition that the membership in the Workers' Sports Federation was retained. This federation was discontinued after the Second World War, as the club was also merged with Ullern SK to Liull (a portmanteau of the two names).

Reserve teams in Norwegian football

Reserve teams in Norwegian association football play in the ordinary league system. They are always attached to their first teams with a "2" suffix, must play in a lower league than the first team, and cannot play in the Premier League or First Division. Furthermore, if a club's first team plays in the First Division, the reserves team cannot play in the Second Division either.

Controversy

Reserve teams have in general been criticized for fielding uneven teams from week to week, with many first-team players one week and more youth players the next. They have also been criticized for keeping smaller clubs out of the Second Division, meaning a more centralized football culture. In 2009 manager Ivar Morten Normark proposed to throw the reserve teams out of the ordinary league pyramid, and other managers like Dag Eilev Fagermo agreed. In a survey, 19 of 31 responding Second Division clubs wanted the reserve teams out, as did 30 of the 49 responding Third Division clubs.

Ullern

Ullern is district of the city of Oslo, Norway.

History

The district has its name from an old farm, Norse Ullarin. The first element is the genitive case of the name of the Norse god Ullr. The last element is vin, meaning pasture or meadow. In Medieval times, the farm belonged to the monastery at Hovedøya. Following the Reformation in 1536, the farmland was separated between the crown and the local canon. Formally divided into lower and upper Ullern in 1740, both farms were bought by Herman Severin Løvenskiold, in 1878 and 1866 respectively.

At the time Ullern was a part of the rural municipality Aker. Signs of urbanization began in the 1800s, when Skøyen and areas along the Lysaker River, which divides Ullern from Bærum, began developing into industrial sites. The 1872 opening of the Drammen Line railway was a catalyst for further building activity, as were the 1912 opening of the Smestad Line and the 1919 extension of the Skøyen Line to Lilleaker. The two latter lines were later extended further, in 1935 and 1924 respectively. In 1942, a connection between the two lines, between Jar and Sørbyhaugen, was opened, providing public rail transportation to the northern part of Ullern. In 1948, Ullern became a part of Oslo, when Oslo absorbed the entire Aker municipality. In the post-World War II period, the villa-dominated housing was supplemented by tower blocks, scattered across the borough.

Ullern (station)

Ullern is a light rail station on the Oslo Tramway.

Located in Ullern borough, it was opened by Kristiania Elektriske Sporvei together with the rest of the Lilleaker Line, as an extension of the Skøyen Line.

References