Riga FK were founded in 1923. By the time the Latvian club came to Malta in December 1938 for the Christmas Tourney they had already won the domestic championship eight times and the cup twice.
Riga were virtually unknown but this did not stop the Maltese from going to the stadium in their thousands to see the visitors play.
Erikes Petersons, who finished his career as the Latvian international top scorer, was the best player of the tourney. Together with Raisters, Freimanis and Reziters, he contributed to the team’s success.
The first match played by Riga in Malta was on Christmas Day against St George’s. The visitors started well, winning a very keen game 3-2 after being two goals down.
St George’s took the lead when Carmelo Scerri burst through and shot on the run. The ball hit the goalkeeper and fell at Connor’s feet who quickly slipped it into the net.
The Saints scored another goal a few minutes later. Scerri exchanged passes with Carmelo Micallef before shooting hard past the goalkeeper.
But in less than a minute Kaneps had reduced the lead. Then, a few minutes later Rozite met a perfect cross to head in the equaliser.
Just before half-time Freimanis gave Riga the lead.
The next day a crowd of over 4,000 saw Riga beat the Navy XI 4-2 and on December 31, Riga met Melita who were making their first showing in the tourney.
At half-time, Melita were leading 2-1. They concentrated on keeping their advantage and it took the visitors half an hour before they equalised through Kaneps.
Melita, however, were soon back in front. Victor Vassallo won the ball in midfield, raced past three defenders before firing into the net.
As the game wore on the fast pace of the game began to tell on the Melita players. Riga took command and by the end they had turned the score 4-3 in their favour.
Riga kept their unbeaten record with a tight 1-0 victory over Valletta.
This was Riga’s toughest game in Malta. City managed to keep the Latvians at bay up to the hour mark when Freimanis beat Manwel Azzopardi to grab the winner.
Against the Army, the Latvians produced their best performance here. Keeping the ball low, they ran circles around the Army winning an excellent game 4-2.
When Riga met Sliema in the penultimate match the rain fell in buckets before and during the match turning the hard ground of the stadium into a sea of mud.
Early on, the Wanderers’ fort was besieged from all directions but just before half-time Harry Edwards went down to a low shot, and in the process hit his head against the goal-post. Edwards was badly dazed and it was lucky for Sliema that shortly afterwards the referee sounded the half-time whistle.
In the second period, Edwards was replaced by Pearson of St George’s who was recruited from among the spectators.
When the match was restarted, Sliema forced the Latvians into their own area and in a melee that ensued, Pace drove in a hard shot which was stopped by a Latvian defender with his hand and Tony Nicholl scored from the penalty.
The score, however, did not stay that way for long. On 65 minutes, Rozite delivered an inviting ball and Kaneps rushed in to score.
At the end everyone went home cold, wet and disappointed. What was expected to be the match of the tourney was spoiled by rain and a slippery pitch.
The Riga tourney came to an end on January 8, 1939 with a match against the MFA XI which ended in a 2-2 draw.
This was the best contested game of the tourney which brought the series to a close before the outbreak of World War II.
Riga won their last Latvian championship in 1940, just months before the Soviet occupation of Latvia. They were disbanded with their best players joining FK Dinamo Riga.