Vul. Sulymy, 1 – "Silmash" stadium

 Construction on the RKS sport facility was begun in 1929 after the club received permission from the magistrate (city government) to take possession of the unimproved lot where it hoped to build. (Górski, 1985, 10; Lwów i Wilno, 1997, 89). It was due to the efforts of the Drobut brothers – Tadeusz and Bronisław – that the land was ceded to the ‘worker-athletes’ and not to Lviv’s more affluent Lexia Club (LwówiWilno, 1997, 89). RKS first appeared in 1921, uniting the greater part of railroad workers and mechanics then residing in the Bohdanivka neighborhood (Krótkirys, 36). The club financed stadium construction entirely by soliciting donations as there were no State funds available. Building was completed in 1934, and the grandstand purchased in Lviv and installed following the Poland – Romania football match which had taken place in the city (Górski, 1985, 23). Already as early as 1935, RKS had won a Polish Workers’ Championship at the stadium (Lwów i Wilno, 1997, 89). It was in that same year that Kazimierz Górski was added to the RKS team roster; he would go on to become the most celebrated player in club history.

The RCS facility at the time consisted of a central soccer field and a training field (where local ‘pick up’ football teams could play), volleyball, basketball, and handball courts (Wacławski, 1992, 17). An inclined running track – utilized also by bicyclists – surrounded the main soccer field (Górski, 1985, 10). RKS Stadium also served other clubs including the Railroad Workers Union (Związek Zawodowy Kolejarzy – ZZK), and the Ukrainian artisan/mechanics club Zorya. JanPinecki proved to be an extraordinarily devoted superintendent of the facility (Piłkanożna, 1996, 105).

In the postwar period, the Silmash agricultural equipment factory provided for the stadium’s upkeep. Upon acquiring the property, the manufacturer expanded the stadium, bringing its seating capacity to 10,000. In the 1950s and 60s, the Silmash-sponsored football team (forerunners of Lviv’s current Karpaty club), played its matches here. In 1962, the club won the right to represent Lviv in the USSR’s “Class A” football league. The Silmash players would form the core of the Karpaty club (established 1963), which would go on to compete in the Soviet Union championships. Notable among the players of that era are Ihor Kulchytskyi – the Kaparty team captain, and Bohdan Keslo, who had played for the 1972 Soviet Union Champion Zorya squad from Luhansk. In 1976, Silmash Stadium hosted the football tournament of the XIV Pan-Soviet School Championships. Future Soviet football greats to appear in those matches included Valdis Jurkus and Ivars Intenbergs of Lithuania; Ashot Saakian and Ashot Khachatrian of Armenia; Vagiz Khidiyatulin and Valery Glushakov of Russia; and Viktor Kaplun, Valentyn Kriachko, Anatoly Saulevych, and Yaroslav Dumans’kyi, Ukraine. It was also here that the Lviv FC got its start at the beginning of the 1990s. Lviv excelled, reaching the highest levels of football excellence by the early 2000s.

The stadium has hosted a wide variety of sport in its history. At the close of the 1960s, the track was outfitted to host motocross championships, which had moved over from Lviv’s SKA Stadium; Serhiy Liatosynskyi distinguished himself at these competitions, taking home multiple awards. In the mid-90s, the Yevko Rugby School began working out here, going on to success in European competition. Lviv’s Sokil Club played a number of its Ukrainian League matches here as well.

Since the start of the new millennium, the stadium has fallen into disuse and is currently in a dilapidated condition. Only the football field sees any matches.