History of the stadium WAT Kredmash

Kremenchuzhans are well aware of the stadium of the Kredmash plant, located in the city center along Gagarin Street. Today there are more often city exhibitions of animals, various meetings than sports competitions.
In the pre-war period and after the Great Patriotic War, until 1991, everything was different. It was a sports and recreation complex, on the football field of which regional and city interteam football matches were held, and on sports grounds and treadmills – athletics competitions, crosses, recreational training for joggers. Much has been written about ancient and modern Kremenchug. But practically nowhere is there more or less complete information about this stadium. Only in the book by A.M. Lushakova “The Streets of Old Kremenchug”, where Gagarin Street is mentioned, it is remembered that it once had the name of Pokrovskaya Street, and there was a swamp on the site where the stadium is currently located.

Years passed, the face of the city changed – some buildings disappeared, others appeared in their place. The stadium remained, although it changed its name several times. About 80 years have passed since its foundation. The term is supposedly not very long, but today there are a lot of questions that need to be answered: how the appearance of the stadium and its name changed, who owned it, who was involved in its restoration after the Great Patriotic War and when it became the property of the Kredmash plant .

According to the author, there are no trifles in local history. The history of the modern Kredmash stadium is also interesting because it is connected with the development and construction of the central part of our city. That is why the author decided to restore all the facts and offer readers the history of this stadium since its foundation. The collection of materials on the designated topic turned out to be quite a painstaking task and dragged on in time. In his work, the author uses documentary materials from the archive department of the Kremenchug city council, as well as the archive of the Kredmash plant (department of capital construction and service of buildings and structures of the plant). ”and“ Kremenchug Dawn ”from 1951 to 1971 and the factory circulation“ Kremenchug Machine Builder ”from the date of issue of its first issue on 09/02/60 to 12/31/1970 inclusive.
Extremely useful was personal communication with the old-timers of the city, I. F. Medvedev and V. S. Navozny. Vladimir Sergeevich Navozny for 30 years (from 1957 to 1987) headed the physical education team of the plant and directly participated in the creation of a sports base for Dormashevites. The memoirs of V. S. Navozny, written at my request, and two very interesting photographs from the sports life of the plant, one for 1947-1948, the second for 1960, replenished the archive of the museum and its funds.
I. F. Medvedev, a well-known local historian and collector in the city, author of a number of publications on the history of the city, worked for 42 years at a road machinery plant. He remembers well the history of the restoration of the stadium after it was handed over to the plant.
Of particular interest are his stories about the moods of people, their attitude to work, physical culture, and sports.
Assistance in collecting the necessary information was also provided by the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Kremenchuk Mashinostroitel” L. L. Olovyatenko. And, finally, to create a complete picture, including the last 20 years, I was helped by meetings with the director of the PC “Kredmash” and the chairman of the KSK Tatyana Alexandrovna Kukhtik; her deputy, he is also the last head of the physical culture team of the plant, Nikolai Stepanovich Tkachenko; former Art. instructor Anatoly Aleksandrovich Pokhilov and foreman in sports facilities of the stadium Vasily Pavlovich Lemishchenko.

All the materials collected by the author formed the basis of the scientific reference “History of the stadium of the Kredmash plant”. The modern stadium of the Kredmash plant is located in the very center of Kremenchug on Gagarin Street. At the end of the 18th century, it was here that the old city ended, and a lake stretched nearby. In the middle of the XIX century. on the shore of the lake, the Church of the Intercession is being built, and the outlying street is called Pokrovskaya. Over time, the lake turns into a swamp, a large number of mosquitoes and other inconveniences associated with such a neighborhood appear. Therefore, mostly poor people settled on Pokrovskaya Street.
After the formation of Soviet power in 1925-1927, the swamp was drained and filled up, and a stadium was built in its place, which was named after him. First of May. The opening of the city stadium took place on May 2, 1928. The entrance to it was in the same place as it is now, but it began from Teatralnaya Street (modern Gagarin Street). The stadium was located between the circus and private residences. According to the memoirs of old-timers, shortly before the war, the stadium was given the name “Dynamo”.
During the Nazi occupation, the city stadium was completely destroyed, leaving only an abandoned football field, even without a fence. After the liberation of Kremenchug from the fascist

in 1943 the city gradually returned to normal life. Streets are cleared of brick rubble, residential buildings, industrial enterprises and utilities are being restored. And in parallel with this, despite the post-war difficulties, the city leadership did not disregard both the cultural and sports and recreational spheres.
At the industrial and municipal enterprises of the city, as well as at educational institutions, physical education teams are being created. At the end of the 40s, 82 sports teams already existed in Kremenchug, which united 1260 people. The city hosts a variety of sports competitions from chess and checkers tournaments to football matches of various levels.
The leading enterprises of Kremenchug create their own football teams. In 1947, a football team appeared at the Dormash plant, which already in the early 50s of the last century successfully performed at city and regional inter-team meetings. For full-fledged training, an appropriate base was needed. And by that time, all the sports work of the city was carried out on the only football field of the city stadium. Considering all these circumstances, in 1949 the then chairman of the executive committee of the Kremenchug City Council Gavrilov K.A. appeals to the Council of Ministers of Ukraine on the need to restore the city stadium in Kremenchug, calling it an urgent and even a priority.
The draft plan for the restoration of the city of Kremenchug for 1950-1955 was developed on behalf of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR Korotchenko D.S. and adopted by the State Planning Committee of the Ukrainian SSR. This plan also provided for allocations for the restoration of the city stadium in the amount of 2 million 400 thousand rubles, 400 thousand of which were to come from the Ukrainian Republican Council of Trade Unions. In the same 1949, an agreement was concluded with the Kyiv Design Institute “Giprogorod” for the reconstruction of the stadium in Kremenchug. Relevant documentation is being developed in detail. The total amount of the work proposed by the agreement was 85,879 rubles.
But, unfortunately, for reasons unknown now, funding for the restoration of the stadium never happened. Sports life in the city was gaining momentum, the need for an orderly stadium grew. The initiative group for the improvement of the city stadium appeals to the city authorities of Kremenchug to resolve this issue. The most sporting society in the city was then the Spartak society, which included light and food industries, government agencies, cultural and public education institutions. The leadership of the Voluntary Sports Society “Spartak” comes out with a petition to the city executive committee to transfer this stadium to it, which was done in the early 1950s. The pre-war name of the Dynamo stadium is also changing to Spartak.
Shortly after that (late 50s – early 60s of the XX century) a wooden working room and a room for the chairman of the society were built at the entrance to the stadium. Next to it, to the right of the entrance, a stationary boxing ring was built, and to the left of the entrance, 2 basketball and 2 volleyball sports grounds were equipped. By that time they were considered the best in the area. Nikolai Ivanovich Linenko was then the director of the stadium. In 1955, a water pipe was laid to the stadium. Old-timers recalled that after that, a small fountain was built in front of the boxing ring, from which one could get drunk or wash one’s face. Judging by the fact that the Dormash factory laid this water supply to the stadium, he took a share in its improvement, because the factory football team trained there and factory competitions were held.
And yet, there were no proper conditions for training. There were no locker rooms, no showers, no other premises and facilities provided for at the stadium. SO “Spartak” was simply not able to carry out the necessary construction work. Based on this, the city leadership decides to transfer the Spartak city stadium to the balance of the road machinery plant on April 6, 1960, according to the decision of the Poltava Regional Executive Committee No. 192 of March 26. 1960, the executive committee of the City Council of Workers’ Deputies of Kremenchug transfers the stadium of the road machinery plant to them. Stalin.
By the way, in the above documents, the stadium was called an intra-quarter site without the right to permanent fencing. The name “sports ground” was due to the fact that it was located in the middle of block No. 497504 along Teatralnaya Street, intended for residential development for settlement by workers at the plant of road machines named after. Stalin. At the same time, the authorities oblige the plant, represented by its director Comrade. Paly, to return to the account of the Voluntary Sports Society “Spartak” 201 thousand rubles spent on the construction of a sports ground. N. I. Linenko remained the director of the stadium. After M. I. Linenok, the stadium directors were: Alexander Glushko, Nikolai Babenko, Ivan Golovko.

Almost immediately after the transfer of the stadium to the Dormashevites in 1960, the plant began to improve it. True, the reconstruction of the factory

about the stadium went in stages and stretched for 10 years. The essentials were done first. In 1960, a utility room was built at the stadium, the football field was put in order, and treadmills were taught. Later they make stands for spectators for 6 thousand people, a radio room.
The work at the stadium was carried out with the enthusiasm characteristic of the post-war period. Not only factory workers, but also students and various organizations of the city took part in its restoration. The question of the need for an orderly stadium was raised at factory conferences, and the factory newspaper “Kremenchug Mashinostroitel” also reported about this. On the 2nd page of the newspaper there was a permanent heading “Sport”, which regularly published sports news from the life of the Dormashevites. If at the beginning of 1961 they talked about the improvement of the factory stadium, about football matches and athletics competitions, then already at the beginning of 1962 about mass character in sports. By that time, there were about 2 thousand athletes at the plant, and the number of people who wanted to go in for sports was growing not only among young people, but also among the elderly. Emphasis was placed on the fact that industrial gymnastics should be an integral part of the labor process. In one of the issues, it was noted that the Dnepr stadium should become a health workshop and a center for mass physical education. That is, there was a clear trend towards mass recovery of people. Then (in 1960) the stadium was given a new name “Dnepr”. The name change is a different story.
In the early 60s of the last century, the post-war reconstruction ends, life returns to normal. In their free time after work, people enjoyed visiting amateur art circles, cinemas, stadiums. During that period, the passion for football acquired an extraordinary scope. Football matches gathered a huge number of fans. Many cities have their own football teams. The industrial Kremenchug did not stand aside either. The city government decided to create its own football team. To do this, they invited the coach G. M. Melnik from the Moscow region, who assembled such a team. The name was given to her “Dnepr-1”. The players of the team were assigned to the leading enterprises of the city: the automotive industry, Dormash and the Kryukov Carriage Works. The Dormash plant was identified as the base plant, since it had its own stadium in the city center.
In a short time, the team achieved significant success: already in 1960, it became the winner and owner of the Poltava Region Championship Cup, as well as the champion of the Regional Council of the Avangard DSO in football. After the victory of the football team in the regional championship, the city administration, together with the leadership of Dormash, decided to rename the Spartak factory stadium to Dnepr. This is how its new name came about. When the construction of the quarter with residential five-story buildings began, part of the stadium was taken away: the volleyball and basketball courts were removed to the left of the entrance, the wooden utility room and the stationary boxing ring to the right of the entrance were demolished. Now there is a wide alley along which there are residential buildings, it leads to the central entrance to the stadium, moved to the depths from the street. After that, the territory that remained was reconstructed.
In 1970, heating networks were brought to the stadium. In 1971, a one-story building with three block rooms and an arch in the middle for the central entrance was completed. One half of the room was equipped for a wrestling hall and for training with a barbell; the second housed an administrative room, a locker room, showers, and a coaching room. And in the same 1971, the plant installed a fence made of reinforced concrete slabs around the stadium. Outside the stadium fence, on the opposite side from the main entrance, there was a spare football field, the territory of which was also built up with five-story residential buildings. At the same time, a new volleyball court was built on the outside of the fence, to the right of the entrance to the stadium.
Remembering the 70s of the last century, one cannot ignore the fact that, among various aspects of life, the state paid due attention to the development of mass sports work. As an example of this at the local level, one can cite the materials of the 1st session of the Kremenchug City Council of Workers’ Deputies dated 22.06.1971 at which the issues “On the tasks of local Councils for the implementation of the decisions of the XXIV Congress of the CPSU and the XXIV Congress of the Communist Party of Ukraine” were considered, the first secretary of the city committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine N. G. Kozenko at this session drew the attention of those present to the fact that at the leading enterprises of the city (KrAZ, Kryukov Carriage Works, a road machinery plant) are slowly solving the problems of building sports facilities.
Another example of attention to the sports life of the city is found in the decision of the City Council of Workers’ Deputies dated April 13, 1972 “On the state and measures to improve educational work among the youth of the city”, where in the report of the deputy chairman of the city executive committee V. V. Bychkovsky it was noted that in the city there are 10,800 athletes and 7,700 badges

ov GTO.

In 1974, at the IX session of the Kremenchug City Council of Workers’ Deputies, which took place on October 17, the main question was “On the state and measures to improve educational work among the population at the place of residence.” It was about the need to seriously engage in the construction of simple sports facilities and playgrounds in all microdistricts of the city in order to give a reasonable outlet of energy not only for children, but also for adults. Attention was drawn to the fact that in the residential districts of the city this issue is not sufficiently dealt with, as well as to the expediency of additional staffing of housing and communal services for sports workers. The executive committee suggested that the permanent commissions on public education and youth affairs urgently look into these issues and provide assistance to the microdistricts of the city.

The fact that the issue of the development of mass physical culture work is closely connected with the education of young people, the fact that this work was planned and put under control at the state level, gave positive results. In the 1970s and 1980s, sports and physical culture work reached its highest level. The Dormash plant in those years had a powerful sports base – a stadium, sports grounds, a boat station. The best athletes of the association successfully performed at republican and all-union competitions: international master of sports in pentathlon Vera But, candidate master of sports in chess among women Larisa Soboleva, candidate master of sports in athletics design engineer Vladimir Pozdnyakov, champion of the region in pole vaulting foreman Boris Lisnovsky.
Under the trade union committee of the association, a children’s and youth sports school (DYUSSH) worked with athletics, football and judo wrestling departments. About 350 students attended the school. For 10 years, 7 masters of sports and 24 candidates for master of sports have been trained here. Pupils of the Youth Sports School were winners of republican and all-Union competitions. The plant had a tourism section. Restoring the history of the stadium of the road machinery plant, it is advisable to recall those who were directly involved in the organization and holding of events for sports, sports, mass and recreational work at this enterprise. Back in 1947, a physical education team was created at Dormash, which initially consisted of several people. Over time, the volume of work increased, and the number of its employees increased.
Already in the early 70s of the last century, the physical education team of the plant consisted of a chairman of the team, two instructors, a methodologist in industrial gymnastics, a director of a children’s sports school, 7 coaches, a director and several stadium workers, more than 14 employees in total. In the mid-60s and in the 70s, track and field athletics acquired an extraordinary take-off at Dormash. At that time, this department was led by the honored coach of Ukraine Ivan Bezpalov. Among his pupils were not only sportsmen-dischargers, masters of sports, but also repeated champions and prize-winners of Ukraine and the Soviet Union in athletics. In view of the fact that volleyball and basketball were very popular among the factory workers, two coaches from Poltava were invited. With volleyball Viktor Rebrun, basketball Leonid Glushchenko.
All these coaches worked at the factory physical education team during approximately the same period in question. At the plant, intra-factory sports days were held annually in various sports, in which all workshops and departments of the plant took part. In addition, industrial gymnastics was obligatory, and health groups acted for those who wished. The stadium hosted competitions throughout the year. Summer athletics, volleyball and basketball. In winter, the skating rink was flooded. There was a constant rental of skates, and there were even rooms for sharpening them. A field for bandy and puck training was poured separately. In addition to intra-plant competitions, plant athletes took part in all city and regional events.
In 1991 Ukraine becomes an independent state. Life in the country is completely changing. Capitalist attributions dictate their terms. In the early 90s of the XX century. privatization and corporatization of state property. Industrial enterprises are abandoning the social sphere. The construction of housing, kindergartens, cultural, sports and recreational institutions, the provision of free vouchers and other benefits for those working at enterprises is being stopped. Those facilities that enterprises had before are leased or sold. Separate structures are combined or reduced. Similar changes took place at the Dormash plant. Since 1994, the Kremenchug State Plant of Road Machines has become the Joint Stock Company “Kredmash”. And even before that, in 1992, in pursuance of order No. 175 of 03/02/92, a cultural and sports complex (abbreviated KSK) was created at Kredmash at the Palace of Culture of the plant, which combines cultural and sports work. The physical education team, as a separate structural unit, is cancelled. The director of the Palace of Culture is appointed at the same time as the chairman

m KSK, and its deputy chairman of the former physical education team. At the same time, several employees of the physical education team are being cut.

Quietly and imperceptibly, the name of the stadium “Dnepr” also became a thing of the past. With the formation of the Joint Stock Company “Kredmash”, a sign “Stadium Kredmash” appeared above the entrance to the stadium. In 2000, the cultural and sports complex was separated as an independent unit without legal rights. Gradually, the cultural component of the complex absorbs the sports one. In the situation that has developed after the creation of the KSK, the number of creative teams at the Palace of Culture of the plant is increasing. Today there are 17 of them and about 500 participants visit these groups. At the same time, sports and training work, on the contrary, is reduced to a minimum. The children’s and youth sports school is closed. Sports sections for adults are transferred to a paid basis. Out of 7 coaches today there was only one mini-football coach. Following the coaches, their pupils followed.
It is impossible to say that sports and training work has stopped completely, but it has narrowed very, very much. Even before 2008, sports meetings were held between Dormashevites, workers of the oil refinery, car-building plants and other enterprises of the city. In 2007, Dormash pupils took part in the All-Ukrainian Spartakiad, having won a victory among 16 regions of Ukraine.
In 2007, the last instructor in physical culture and mass work, Anatoly Aleksandrovich Pokhilov, who had worked in this position for more than 30 years, was fired. In 2009, Nikolai Stepanovich Tkachenko resigned from the post of deputy director of the KSK, an extremely energetic person with good organizational skills. Since 1990, Nikolai Stepanovich served as chairman of the factory physical education team, and after the creation of the KSK, deputy director of this complex. In addition to the fact that Nikolai Stepanovich was organizing all types of sports events with the participation of Dormashevites, he also led the judo section. M. S. Tkachenko brought up a lot of sportsmen-dischargers, among whom were repeated winners and prize-winners of both regional and All-Ukrainian competitions.
In a conversation with the current director of KSK Tatyana Alexandrovna Kukhtik, it was said that one of the main areas of physical education work today is to improve the physical health of workers at the plant. Unfortunately, the facts show otherwise. Instead of 1314 professional people who were part of the physical education team and were engaged in sports and recreational work among the factory workers, there was only one football coach and an unfilled position of the deputy director of the KSK, designed for the organizer of sports work.
What does the Kredmash stadium look like today? The fence, sports facilities and facilities have remained unchanged since the 6070s. The main entrance is located in the same place where it was made in 1971 of the last century in the depths of the block. In the center of the stadium is a football field surrounded by running tracks, with spectator stands around. To the left of the football field is an unfinished basketball court, on the opposite side is an outbuilding. Some changes have taken place in the main building of the stadium with a central entrance. In the gym, where wrestlers and weightlifters used to train, simulators have been installed and paid services are provided there. The dressing room, showers, coaching and administration office remained the same, in the second wing, on the other side of the entrance.
The last director of the stadium was I. I. Golovko. In 1992, when they created a cultural and sports complex and combined culture and sports, they reduced some of the staff and the unit of the stadium director too. They left the master of sports facilities, he is responsible for the work at the stadium. This post is now occupied by Vasily Pavlovich Lemishchenko. In addition to the master, several workers were left at the stadium. We must give credit to these people who work there for meager means. They maintain the territory and premises in good condition everywhere is clean, the buildings are tinted. After talking with those working at the stadium and former employees of the physical education team, the author came to the conclusion that this stadium in the city center exists only because it belongs to the Kredmash plant. If in the early 1990s it had been transferred to communal ownership, as was done en masse with various institutions, a high-rise building or another supermarket would have already risen in its place, which in recent years have flooded the central part of Kremenchug.
After all, the volleyball court to the right of the main entrance, on the outer side of the fence, was taken away as a parking lot. Later, there were repeated attempts to take away the second basketball one, which was already located directly on the territory of the stadium. These encroachments were “repulsed” only thanks to the opposition of the inhabitants of neighboring five-story buildings and the appeal of the former chairman of the district sports committee, V.I. Mankovsky, to Kyiv for help. I do not want to finish the story of one of the oldest stadiums in our city, located in

oh center, on a sad note. For not only Dormashevites, but also the majority of Kremenchan residents hope that the stadium will remain a stadium in order to serve the purpose for which it was built.

Bliznyuk G.O.

Materials of the scientific – practical conference “Kremenchuk – 435 years”