Stavanger Women

The women's team never matched that, but it held its own in the top flight through the 1980s and 1990s, a period long enough to outlast most of the partnerships around it. That partnership itself did not survive: relegation from the Eliteserien in the 2008/09 season broke the arrangement, and by September 2009 the joint club had been wound up, its licence passed back to Viking Håndball Klubb. What carried on under the SIF name kept its home in Stavanger Idrettshall, the hall built into the Stavanger Forum complex at Tjensvoll, with room for around 4,100 spectators watching a much smaller stage than the old derby crowds once filled.

That rivalry with Viking HK is still the fixture people in the city reach for, even if today's version of it plays out several divisions lower than it used to. Stavanger IF Håndball's women now compete in the 2nd and 3rd divisions rather than the Eliteserien, working their way back up rather than defending a title they never actually won.