Governing body
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| Rugby union in Yugoslavia | |
|---|---|
| Country | Yugoslavia |
| National team(s) | Yugoslavia |
National competitions | |
Club competitions | |
Rugby union in Yugoslavia was a moderately popular sport. It was most popular in the Croatian SR (especially Zagreb), and to a lesser extent in the Serbian and Slovenian SRs (especially Belgrade and Ljubljana), with some presence in the Bosnian SR as well.
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Some people date the start of Croatian rugby to the 17th of January 1954 when the Mladost team from Zagreb was formed to become Croatia's first rugby union club.
In 1953, the rival code of rugby league was introduced into Serbia, rather than rugby union played in Croatia and the authorities demanded that Serbian clubs switch to rugby union to unite Yugoslavia under one form of rugby football in 1964. [1]
Yugoslav rugby did not enjoy high reputation. For example, in 1988, an anonymous French rugby official joked that "one of the FIRA nightmares... is to have Yugoslavia playing Bulgaria refereed by a Soviet." [2]
Yugoslavia was not invited to the first Rugby World Cup in 1987, and did not qualify for the second in 1991.
The former All Black scrum half Chris Laidlaw, writing at the end of the 1970s, saw rugby as a positive force in east-west relations at the time:
Yugoslavia affiliated to the IRB in 1988, [4] and played in the 1988 World Cup qualification.
Due to the links between many Yugoslav (mostly Croat) and New Zealand families, the side also toured there. [4]
1. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2. Croatia, 3. Macedonia,
4. Montenegro, 5. Serbia,
5a. Kosovo, 5b. Vojvodina, 6. Slovenia
In the early 1990s, former Italian cap, Dr Giancarlo Tizanini was a major driving force in Austrian rugby. Before his death in 1994, he tried hard to establish a Central European equivalent of the Six Nations between Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia. [5]
Rugby union was a moderately popular sport in Yugoslavia (a name which Serbia retained long after the disintegration of that state). Although rugby union in Croatia was the main centre for the sport in the former Yugoslavia, there was still quite a bit of rugby played in Serbia. The Rugby Championship of Yugoslavia ran from 1957-1991. Partizan, a Belgrade team, won the second, third, and fourth title, as well as the final one in 1991 and Dinamo Pančevo won the first ever championship played in 1957, and won again in 1968, 1969, 1974 and 1979. Dinamo Pančevo won their first Cup in the same year.
The SFR Yugoslavia side was, strictly speaking, a multinational side, consisting as it did of representatives of all the various nations within the SFR Yugoslavia.
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or Socialist Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yugoslavia occurring as a consequence of the Yugoslav Wars. Spanning an area of 255,804 square kilometres (98,766 sq mi) in the Balkans, Yugoslavia was bordered by the Adriatic Sea and Italy to the west, by Austria and Hungary to the north, by Bulgaria and Romania to the east, and by Albania and Greece to the south. It was a one-party socialist state and federation governed by the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, and had six constituent republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. Within Serbia was the Yugoslav capital city of Belgrade as well as two autonomous Yugoslav provinces: Kosovo and Vojvodina.
The Yugoslav First League was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–1992).
After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart, but the unresolved issues caused a series of inter-ethnic Yugoslav Wars. The wars primarily affected Bosnia and Herzegovina, neighbouring parts of Croatia and, some years later, Kosovo.
Yugoslavia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 27 times, debuting in 1961 and competing every year until its last appearance in 1992, with the exceptions of 1977–1980 and 1985. Yugoslavia won the 1989 contest and hosted the 1990 contest.
The Yugoslav Cup, officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (Serbian: Куп краља Александра; Croatian: Kup kralja Aleksandra, and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup, was one of two major football competitions in Yugoslavia, the other one being the Yugoslav League Championship. The Yugoslav Cup took place after the league championships when every competitive league in Yugoslavia had finished, in order to determine which teams are ranked as their corresponding seeds. The Marshal Tito Cup trophy was based on a design by Branko Šotra.
The Football Association of Yugoslavia (FSJ) was the governing body of football in Yugoslavia, based in Belgrade, with a major administrative branch in Zagreb.
The First League of Yugoslavia's 1991/1992 season was the 64th edition of the Yugoslav First League, the premier football club competition of SFR Yugoslavia. It was the last edition in which professional football teams from SR Bosnia and Herzegovina and SR Macedonia participated, as well as the last of the SFR Yugoslavia in general as the First League of FR Yugoslavia was established the following season. Red Star Belgrade won the competition.
The Yugoslavia national rugby union team used to represent Yugoslavia at Rugby union until the 1990s.
Rugby union in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a minor sport. They are currently ranked sixty-eight in the International Rugby Board's world rankings, despite the lack of recognition as an official sport by the government. The governing body for the sport in the country is Rugby Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1992.
Rugby union in Croatia is a minor sport. As of August 2011, they are ranked fiftieth in the World Rugby's world rankings.
Rugby union in Serbia is a minor but growing sport. The game was first played in Belgrade after the first World War and was revived again in the 1950s. Serbia currently has 12 rugby clubs and around 2,000 players.
Rugby union in Slovenia is a minor but growing sport. As of August 2019 they are currently ranked 71st by the World Rugby governing body.
The Yugoslavia women's national basketball team was the women's basketball side that represented the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 until 1992 in international competition, and were controlled by the Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia (KSJ).
The Yugoslavia women's national under-19 basketball team, commonly referred to as the Yugoslavia women's national junior basketball team, was the girls' basketball team, administered by Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia, that represented SFR Yugoslavia in international under-19 women's basketball competitions, consisting mainly of the World Championship for Junior Women.
The Yugoslavia women's national under-18 basketball team was the girls' basketball team, administered by Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia, that represented SFR Yugoslavia in international under-18 women's basketball competitions, consisted mainly of the European Championship for Juniors, nowadays known as the FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship for Women.
The ABA League Supercup, also credited as ABA Super Cup, is an annual men's professional basketball supercup competition between teams from the ABA League. It is run by the ABA League JTD. It is a regional competition, that is contested between teams from six countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.
The Yugoslavia men's national under-19 basketball team, commonly referred to as the Yugoslavia men's national junior basketball team, was the boys' basketball team, administered by Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia, that represented SFR Yugoslavia in international under-19 men's basketball competitions, consisting mainly of the World Championship for Junior Men.
The Yugoslavia women's national under-16 basketball team was the girls' basketball team, administered by Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia, that represented SFR Yugoslavia in international under-16 women's basketball competitions, consisted mainly of the European Championship for Cadettes, nowadays known as the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship for Women.
The Yugoslavia men's university basketball team was the men's basketball team, administered by Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia, that represents Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the Summer Universiade men's basketball tournament.