CLUB HISTORY

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Founded in the summer of 2006 by Lee Matthews, Ely Vikings Korfball Club has grown over the last 18 years to become a fully established team in both local and regional leagues. The Vikings played their first-ever game on the 12th of October 2006 against Pheonix 2, in Division 2 of the Cambridgeshire Korfball League (CKA). By 2008, the club had expanded to four teams, along with a junior section, with the first team winning promotion to Division 1 at the end of the 2008/09 season.

The success continued for the club in the 2009/10 season, with Team 1 securing a respectable 4th place finish in Division 1, and both Team 2 and Team 3 winning CKA Divisions 2 and 3 respectively. This meant that going into the Vikings' fifth season as a club, they had two teams in the top division and one team in the second.

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The first Division 1 title challenge came in the 2013/14 season, where the title fight went to the final game of the season. Unfortunately, Team 1 couldn’t quite get over the line

and finished as runners up. However, the following season Team 1 won the clubs maiden CKA title, with the club’s youth section playing a huge part in the success, 90% of the squad having come through the ranks. Success continued for the Vikings in 2015/16, following up their first-ever Division 1 win by retaining the CKA title, winning 11 out of their 12 matches that year.

 

Unfortunately, in the same season, Team 2 were relegated from Division 1 back down into Division 2. Between 2008 and 2016, the Vikings also competed in the Southern Eastern Regional League, dropping into SERL 2 in 2012/13 before winning promotion back up to SERL 1 the following year.

Since their title success in 2016, Ely Vikings have not yet won a third title, despite a 2nd place finish in 2017/18 and a 3rd place finish in 2022/23. However, their stay in the top division has continued throughout this time, and they have now been playing Division 1 Korfball for an impressive fourteen years. Team 2 have been switching between Division 2 and Division 1 every season since 2018/19 and are now back in the top flight after winning Division 2 in 2023/24.

The club's youth team was a huge part of their success in their two title-winning seasons, and the youth ranks have continued to impress in the last few years. Since 2019, 7 youth players at the club have represented England at international level, with players featuring in U15, U17 and U19 squads. The talent coming through at youth level meant that the club was able to re-enter the Southern Eastern Regional League for the 2021/22 season, where they have remained since. In 2023/24, Vikings secured their status in SERL for another season, by winning the promotion/relegation playoff.