#26 Bohemians 1905 (Home, 2007/2008?)

23:38 antonin panenka , bohemians 1905 , bohemians prague , bohemians praha , czech republic football , fk bohemians , football shirt collection , gambrinus liga , panenka , panenka shirt , rare football shirt 5 Comments

Here it is, a nice Bohemians 1905 shirt. Not to be confused with FK Bohemians Praha. Prague was definitly too big to have only one team called Bohemians, that's why they have two. And if you think about it, they look pretty much the same.

Hum, yeah. So, we have two Bohemians, both white and green, and both with a kangaroo as mascot. What a coincidence. Confused? A little bit of history now, then.

In 2005, historic Bohemians Praha was facing troubled times, and were demoted to the Czech 3rd Division because of financial problems. Back then, it seemed the club had no solution. That's when FK Bohemians appeared! TJ Bohemians Praha, apparently some kind of sports franchise that used to own the original Bohemians, somehow sold the club crest to FC Strizkov Praha 9, a small club that used to play in 3rd Division. Along with the club logo, TJ Bohemians invested in this "new" club and took it to the 1st Division again. But wait, things get even more confusing.

The fans kept loyal to the original Bohemians, and actually managed to save the club. That meant Bohemians could compete again (the old one, the new one was playing in the 2nd League). So, in 2007, Bohemians 1905 (the old one) went all the way up back to the 1st Division. Actually faster than the new FK Bohemians, that only managed to reach the Gambrinus Liga in 2008. So, both teams actually played against each other in 2009/2010. The old Bohemians 1905 did better: they finished 12nd and FK Bohemians finished last in the table.

Bohemians 1905, the good old ones (I own their shirt) are still playing top-league football, and FK Bohemians plays in Czech 2. Liga, after being deducted 20 points after refusing to play against... Bohemians 1905. Crazy czech football.

In case you didn't understand any bit of it, nope, you're not dumb, the story itself is quite complicated.


I bought this shirt in Prague, while I was looking desperatly for a Slavia shirt. I managed to find this cool shop with plenty of smaller czech clubs shirts (Teplice and Brno, for example), and they had this Bohemians one. I wasn't really sure about it: I didn't know much about them, and I was really hoping to find a Slavia one. A few minutes after getting ouf of the store, I realized I had to buy it, so I went back. I'm glad I did.

There's no way you don't fall in love with a club that had an evil twin and has Antonin Panenka as president.


Yeah, that Panenka. That's one of the most brilliant moments in football, pure class and pure craziness. He was ahead of his time.

Now look at this:


Here's Panenka, many years later! The nice guy in the shop said he was "the best". It came with it, I guess someone asked for name and number and then gave it up. Good for me.


The shirt itself isn't brilliant. Even though it's Umbro, the quality is far from great, and the design is also quite basic. Still, I love the shirt.

There's so many stories around Bohemians. For example, according to Wikipedia, in 1927, the club toured Australia, and as they were leaving, they were awarded two real kangaroos. They then donated the animals to Prague's Zoo.

Nice mascot, lads. But I guess this is their handball team.

Panenka was a brilliant footballer, and now he's a brilliant president. A few years ago, he hired some hot chicks and did this to promote the club:

Party animal.

Oh god, this looks like a cheap czech porn.

I love you, Panenka. I really do.

And by the way, don't forget to take a look at Panenka, a brilliant spanish football magazine. If you can understand spanish, great. If you can't, have a look anyway, the design is good and the pictures look nice.



I'm still thinking about those chicks. Got to love Bohemians 1905.