Orel – the Catholic physical education association : foreign relations up to 1929

Tomáš Tlustý

doi:10.16926/sit.2021.04.01

Abstract

This paper looks at the history of Orel, the Catholic physical education association, and its foreign relations up to 1929. The origins of the Orel movement in the Czech region of Austria-Hungary go back to the turn of the 20th century when the first local Orel associations were established. These associations were strongly connected with Czech political Catholicism. Shortly after being formed, their functionaries began to establish their first contacts with existing foreign organizations. Most of these organizations were from the area of contemporary Slovenia. Their number rose significantly after the First World War when the newly independent Czechoslovakian Orel became a member of the Catholic physical education union – UIOCEP. The members of this organization were all around the world. The number of foreign contacts it had established was also on the increase. The first international physical educational festival, which helped Czechoslovak Orel with its development, was organized in Brno in 1922. But the Czechoslovakian Orel had planned a second big festival of physical education for 1929, hoping to further extend its number of foreign friends. The second physical educational festival was also successful. It helped Czechoslovak Orel to increase its influence in UIOCEP where it became the second-largest organization.

Highlights

The origins of Orel, which is primarily an association uniting people of the Catholic faith, can be found at the turn of the 20th century when the first physical education divisions were formed within existing Catholic associations
This paper looks at the history of Orel, the Catholic physical education association, and its foreign relations up to 1929
After being formed, their functionaries began to establish their first contacts with existing foreign organizations. Most of these organizations were from the area of contemporary Slovenia. Their number rose significantly after the First World War when the newly independent Czechoslovakian Orel became a member of the Catholic physical education union – UIOCEP

Summary

Introduction

The origins of Orel, which is primarily an association uniting people of the Catholic faith, can be found at the turn of the 20th century when the first physical education divisions were formed within existing Catholic associations. At its annual meeting on 15th January 1922, this organization, claiming in early 1922 to unite Catholic physical education and sports unions from Italy, France, Belgium, Alsace, Holland, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Luxembourg and Yugoslavia, proposed to have its championships held in Brno to mark the First Festival of Czechoslovak Orel Associations. At the UIOCEP general meeting in Paris on 8th March 1925, it was agreed that each state could send a team of eight with four substitutes to the Rome international tournament and that it would be composed of the following events: floor exercises with routines as per organizing union, floor exercises as per each team’s union’s individual routines (proposed by the Czechoslovak Orel), the horizontal bar, the rings, the parallel bars and the vaulting horse (each with one compulsory and one voluntary exercise) and the long jump.. It seemed to be time for the Czechoslovak Orel to establish closer relations with other countries, overseas ones. The scheduled 1929 Prague Saint Wenceslas Festival of Orel Associations was to prove to be instrumental in this

Conclusion

Literature