History of Sport in the Český Krumlov Region

The beginnings of the organised physical education in the Český Krumlov Region go as far as to the 90s of the 19th century. The chequered mosaic documenting the intensity of physical education life in a certain period of time could be composed from the preserved materials, evidences and notes of survivors.

Since the beginning the Czech inhabitants joined together in civil associations as Čtenářská beseda, Matice školská or Národní jednota pošumavská. However particularly young people missed an organisation for the physical education. Mr Pečenka, an accountant of the Český Krumlov Savings Bank Českokrumlovská záložna, as the main organiser of the preparatory work established along with several other enthusiastic people the Gymnastics Club Sokol in Český Krumlov on March 8, 1893. Josef Procházka, a local storekeeper, became the first president. The funds of the Gymnastics Club were really limited. The entire activity of a Club took place in the complex of nowadays Hotel Růže (Rose Hotel). The Sokol was not allowed to perform outside. The first Sokol˘s public presentation in the streets of a town was no earlier than on May 1, 1919.

During the first years of the Republic of Czechoslovakia, the Workers Gymnastics Clubs (DTJ) were established in Český Krumlov and Zlatá Koruna. Side by side of those Clubs, the Czech inhabitants had the membership of the German Association Arbeiter-Turn und Sportverein (ATUS) and of the Proletariats Club for Physical Education (JPT), that were established in the Přísečná village.

The German Gymnastics Club for Workers was founded in 1924. It was active until 1938 and consisted of approximately 300 members. The members played basketball, handball and volleyball, and also organised amateur theatrical performances.

The next sports focused organisation was the Club of Czech Tourists (KČT). In comparison with the inland, the first Section was established relatively late on May 12, 1920. Its individual groups were concentrated on various activities (marking, promotion, ski tourism and hiking, etc.). The Section helped to develop tourism by managing the lodging houses and youth hostels. They organised different social and cultural events for their own members as well as for the public.

In the beginning of 1921 the Club of Czechoslovakian Orel was founded. Jan Jakeš, a councillor, became the first president. The activity of the Orel Club finished in 1938 and was never renewed in the Český Krumlov Region. On top of the gymnastics exercises, the Orel performed other sporting activities (athletics, table tennis) and cultural enlightenment. The members of the Club made the first attempt to establish the Winter First Aid on the Kleť hill and managed theatrical performances on their own stage. The Club was part of the District II of the Jan Valerián Jirsík's South Bohemian Orel domain. That District also contained the Clubs from Křemže, Brloh and Dubný.

In the second half of the twenties volleyball started to be played in the region thanks to the pioneer JUDr. Schwarcinger, namely in Křemže. Gradually, it spread to other places of the region included Český Krumlov. The members of the volleyball group in Český Krumlov were organised in the Sokol Gymnastics Club. The first significant success of players was reached by a local group on September 12, 1937. On that day the traditional September Tournament in Český Krumlov was held with the participation of the best performing teams throughout South Bohemia.

How was the development of sporting activities in the region of Kaplice ?

January 6, 1922 was the beginning of the Czech physical education in Kaplice. On that day the Sokol Gymnastics Club was established. The activity of physical education has already existed before its foundation. However there were particularly German National Organisations in Kaplice, Vyšší Brod, Benešov nad Černou and Horní Dvořiště. The founders of the Sokol Club with their children, soldiers from the local garrison and youth from the nearby Czech villages were the first gymnasts. The own theatrical group helped to gain money for the proper Club's activity. The Gymnastics Club purchased pieces of land from the Blansko land register and built there a summer exercise place. They used to do exercise on apparatuses as well as without it and athletics. The organised volleyball was played as well. In 1937 the Sokol Club Kaplice advanced to the Regional Championship. The foundations of the Tennis Association and the German Football Club go as far as to the pre-war period. The soldiers of the Jan Hus' First Walking Regiment laid the foundations of tennis in Kaplice. The nearby Netřebice became the centre of physical education as well.

In July 1945 the Sokol Gymnastics Club and the Sport Club Kaplice restarted their activities. The Sport Club performed football, athletics, table tennis, ice-hockey and cycling.

After the year 1953 other voluntary sport organisations were established. They merged in 1956 to the Slavoj Gymnastics Club, later renamed to Spartak Kaplice.

There is no reliable evidence about the pre-war physical education in Loučovice and its surroundings.

However in 1945 in course of border areas populating, the sports life started to wake up there as well. The Sport Club Loučovice focused on football was established in 1946. The basic physical education was performed in the TJ Sokol Club Loučovice. The next field was established with help of the employees from the paper mill called Vltavský Mill Loučovice. They were mostly interested in table tennis and volleyball. During 1953 - 1957 the new sporting complex (football pitch with cabin rooms and showers, athletic tracks, 2 volleyball courts) grew up there. Two lines for playing skittles were completed in 1963. The sports lovers of the TJ Vltavan Club Loučovice reached also the highest sports successes in that field.

The beginning of physical education was slightly complicated in Malonty during the post-war period. It took few years to stabilise the atmosphere after the re-population of that area. Young members from the Border Section of the National Security Corps became the pioneers of sport. They established the Football Club. The Club disappeared when they moved out. The real organised physical education's foundation is obvious no earlier than in December in 1960, when the Hraničář Physical Educational Club was established with its Football Club for men and pupils. Several years of activity were filled by the Table Tennis Club. The Volleyball Club started the activity in 1967. The Equestrian Club was alive in Bělá for a short while. The Basketball Club was founded in 1969. Many organisers of sport came out from the rank of the local elementary school's teachers (for example: Mr Havelec, Mr Majer, Mrs Románková).

The physical education in the Křemže area remains a relatively long-standing tradition. The establishing plenary session of the Sokol Gymnastics Club Křemže was held on January 12, 1913. During the period between both World Wars, the sporting activity was considerably limited. However in the mean time on September 12, 1927, the new gymnasium of the Sokol Club Křemže was festively opened. After World War II the sporting activity renewed just fully. It consisted of the elementary physical preparation, athletics, cycling, swimming, relaxing in nature and volleyball. The days of the Sokol Club and the Sport Academy, organised regularly since 1951, contributed considerably to promotion of the local physical education. In 1952 the Gymnastics Club in Křemže and Holubov jointed together for two years under the name of the Podkleťan Works Sokol Club Holubov-Křemže. After their split-off new fields of sport are established in Křemže, as for example: tourism, tennis, ice-hockey, volleyball, orienteering and the Mountain Service.

The Badminton Club was established in the same time as in Český Krumlov. The performance of that sport with the pioneers in its head: Jiří Frendl, MUDr. Václav Koudelka and others, inspired the establishment of similar Clubs in Vyšší Brod, Zlatá Koruna, Besednice, Kaplice, Chvalšiny and Loučovice. This kind of sport is considered as one of the most successfully performed in the region.

The beginnings of the physical education in Velešín should not be omitted. It is related to the foundation of the Sokol Gymnastics Club in 1909. After the proclamation of the independent Czechoslovakia, the activity of the Sokol Club was renewed with the considerable loss of members, due to the fact that the Club of Czechoslovakian Orel and the Workers Gymnastics Association were founded as well. The Football Club was established under the name of JIKOV Velešín on July 25, 1940. The Spartak Voluntary Physical Educational Organisation was founded in 1948. During 1950-1959 the sport stadium and many other facilities for physical education were built. The conditions for building of further sporting facilities as a base for physical education, tourism, tennis, volleyball, basketball, judo and chess were created that way. The change of the name to the TJ Jihostroj Velešín was performed as well.

There are not too many remarks about the organised physical education of the pre-war period in Větřní. After the year 1945 there was a meeting, where the Committee of the Sokol Gymnastics Club elected the TJ Sokol Club Český Krumlov as a branch. The members did exercises in the gymnasium as well as organised tourism, water sports and skiing. The Sport Club of the South Bohemian Paper Mill consisted mostly of persons interested in football. The Club started the activities besides the Sokol Club. After the merger in 1948 under the name of Tatran Větřní, it was possible to perform sports in the Clubs for the following kinds of sport: ice-hockey, volleyball, tennis, table tennis and tourism. The construction of the sport complex was completed in 1959.

Now it is just the right moment to mention the roots of some kinds of sports with a long-standing tradition in the Český Krumlov Region.

FOOTBALL

The first Football Club was established by young enthusiastic people in Domoradice. Only few materials from those beginnings were preserved. The Czech SK Český Krumlov Club was founded in Český Krumlov probably in 1932 as well. They used to play their own matches on the former German football pitch in Rozsyp. In 1935 their own football pitch was built on a location opposite to the railway station. In course of the post-war period there was a stimulation of football in 1948, however various organisational troubles went along with it. After the establishment of the ČSTV Organisation in 1957, the situation calmed down and the conditions for further football development were created. The efficiency went up and football in the Český Krumlov region reached its greatest success in the 80's of the 20th century.

BASKETBALL

Jaroslav Šiktanc was a basketball pioneer in the town. He established the Dynamo Club in 1954. Later, it became part of the TJ Slavoj Club. The founders-members, women and men, originally played volleyball. They rented the spacious hall of the winter riding hall. After the ending of women˘s team activity, the Club devoted its time to men and youths. The men reached the top of performance in 1976 when they entered Division II.

BOBSLEDS

The sport of sledging spread in South Bohemia, however there are bad weather conditions. The second bobsled slide in the region was built on the slope of the Mountain of the Cross. It had lighting on the side, funicular and built in brick dressing rooms. Side by side with the slide˘s construction, the Club of Sledging was established in Český Krumlov. One of the first bobsledders and judges was Mirka Turková, an employee of the District Committee of the ČSTV Organisation. The most activities of sportsmen racing bobsleds were performed in the sixties. However the number of bobsledders and enthusiastic organisers dwindled down. Nowadays the bobsled slide and the Club do not exist anymore.

YACHTING

Water sports retain their position in the sporting tradition of the region, which could not be replaced. After the completion of the Lipno artificial lake, the convenient conditions for yachting development were created. The Championships and Cup Competitions of various classes were held on the lake around the year 1963. The organisers apart from the region took turns and the most frequent ones became the Clubs from České Budějovice, Praha and Neratovice. The Regional Yachting Association took pains to create a back-up organisation at Lipno. Due to that purpose the TJ Černá v Pošumaví Yachting Club was founded in 1971.

Mr Karel Smetana put together twelve organisers of the new Club. Just two of those were local. The boathouse˘s construction started in 1973. It was already under the roof in August. In that time regional and state competitions in yachting were held in Černá v Pošumaví. And August 1973 became a real festivity. The European Championship took place in Černá v Pošumaví for the first time. In 1974 the team of pupils was formed. They used to achieve excellent sport results. More and more national and international competitions held in Lipno created the "international water", where competitors from Poland, Hungary, Sweden, France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium, etc. rotated. It is worthy to mention that the Club members ranked among the first windsurfing popularises. The main task of nowadays consists of the financial funds assurance to support the entire reconstruction and completion of the Clubs boathouse using the top parameters for organising the international top competitions in yachting.

WATER SLALOM

How else to complete this brief survey to the history of sports in the Český Krumlov region, than by the respectful memory to the most famous sportswoman of all ages in the region. It is the well-deserved sport master Ludmila Polesná, member of the TJ Lipno Club. She won almost hundreds of medals, out of them 36 gold, in the Local Championships. As a Czech representative, she participated in the World Championships eight times. There, she carried off 6 gold, 9 silver and 4 bronze medals. The Xth Championship in Lipno is considered by her as the most beautiful sport experience. The journalists crowned her "the Queen of the Devil Streams".

That above described digest about the beginnings of sports in the Český Krumlov Region does not contain obviously all performed events. The reasons are simple, sometimes there were no preserved written materials and no memories of pioneers of founders to our disposal.

However it should be assured that the sports in the region have tradition and sporting successes as well. From the beginnings until nowadays it has been constantly developing. New sorts of sports grow up. On the other hand other sporting activities in the region are ending. It depends on the conditions and interests. The organised physical education in course of its existence met a lot of name changes to TJ or SK, as well as the organisational structure changed to the nowadays form. It may not be the final version anyway.

Further information :
History of Tourism in the Český Krumlov Region

(jbr)