Alumni Athletic
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| Full name | Alumni Athletic Club of Archangels | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Magistrati (The Magistrates) Rizos (The Rizos) Pigum (The Lazy) | ||
| Short name | Alumni | ||
| Founded | 1 March 1919 | ||
| Ground | Nikola Berikashvilis Stadioni | ||
| Capacity | 23,200 | ||
| President | Ekhos Sabauri | ||
| Manager | Lito Balanchivadze | ||
| League | Satsolivelos Bolnisiliga | ||
| 2023 | Bolnisiliga, 2nd of 22 | ||
| |||
The Alumni Athletic Club of Archangels, commonly referred to simply as Alumni, is a football association club of Salikhia. It was founded on March 1, 1919 in the city of Mtavarangelozi, after the union of Rubum Athletic and Virtus Proclus. It plays its matches at the modest Nikola Berikashvilis Stadioni, with a capacity of 23,200 spectators.
History
The Alumni Duel
A Rizealander general, named Zachariah Wolff, was hired to lead the first regular Salikh Legions and train them in the use of modern armaments in 1882. He embarked on the adventure with a group of assistants and a couple of his soldiers, and was granted an old fortification rebuilt with funds from the soravian-led State of Salikhia, which was named in Zachariah's honor as Fort Wolff. In that area functioned the legendary Rubum Institutus, with Solarian and Catholic - Contrary to the orthodox faith of the territory - connections. Over time, the colony expanded, which caused the student body of the Rubum to grow, and its influence allowed the adoption of Estmerish as the official language within the institution, along with Solarian.
These immigrants would introduce football to the city of Mtavarangelozi, which was quickly seen as a novelty by the locals, who were interested in practicing the sport. In the last decade of the 19th century, it became common for Rubum's rizealander - and salikh - students to practice football on its large campus; this caught the attention of the rectorate, which, seeing the rapid advance of the sport in the city, decided to order the creation of an official club, initially called Rubum Athletic Club. An immediate attempt was made to gain membership in the newly formed Amateur Archangeline Championship of Football Association - Curiously abbreviated as Archamp in official documents, and later by the common spectator -, which would only be granted in the 1901 edition.
Rubum Athletic would reap great performances in its first years within the Archamp, such as a runner-up in its first participation, and three championships, in 1902, 1903 and 1904; After that, their dominance would be interrupted by Virtus Proclus, the club of the Polytechnic University of Mtavarangelozi, which would win the 1906 championship, automatically becoming Rubum's first rival, a confrontation that would be popularly known as the Alumni Duel, since as time went by, the best players gaduated from the universities they represented, so that more and more, Rubum and Proclus were evidently made up of more alumni than actual students.
The Rubum were identified by their red clothing, while the Proclus wore white. Rubum were nicknamed The Rizos for their notable Rizealander ancestry, and Proclus were known as The Pigum (The Lazy), a derogatory nickname given by Rubum fans for their opponents' tendency to score big in the first half, only to falter and be pegged back in the second half.
For the late 10's, after the retirement of many of their stars, both clubs had drastically decreased their level, a factor that especially spiced up the duel of 1919, as the Greater Championship, the first official footbal tournament in the State of Salikhia, with clubs from all over the country, So with the intention of reaching a number of 20 teams, with 21 willing to participate, the Football Union of Salikhia decided that the two lowest ranked teams in the last edition of the Archamp should play a playoff match, in which the loser would be banished to play in the B Championship; Coincidentally, these two teams were Rubum and Proclus, so on February 8, 1919, both teams would face each other at Rubum's stadium, a duel that ended in an epic 5-5, which would force a rematch on February 11, a 2-2 draw, on February 15 the result would be 3-3, on February 21 a boring, souless 0-0, and on February 27, finally Virtus would beat Rubum by a 4-2 score. However, in view of the enormous parity, and - despite the fact that at that time they did not want to recognize it - the similar histories between both clubs, on March 1, 1919 an agreement was reached between The Rizos and The Pigum, which would unify Rubum and Proclus under the name that once confronted them, we are talking about the foundation of the Alumni Athletic Club of Archangels.