Small corner of polo history

[palmyra]

Hi,

something that first began on a youth water polo club's blog and now attempted as a standalone homepage... a history of the water polo in Tirgu Mures or Marosvasarhely, Transylvania, Romania.

The town has produced for decades long series of talents, who were in the national team and also at Olympic Games... but then in the 1980s the sport declined, almost vanished completely after the 1989 changes and was resurrected few years ago.

So far, with the invaluable help of legends like John Bordy and Gabor "Poco" Nagy (both continued their water polo and professional career in the US after 1956), Bertalan Fodor (who also spent 30 years in NY, recently moving back to his hometown on river Maros...) and others, managed to put some biographies and descriptions together, but still lot of work to be done and mainly blocked by gathering information.

Therefore... my hometown's water polo history mini-project is at: http://levente-zone.co.uk/TirguMures_WaterPoloHistory/index_main.htm
So while it's in construction, I hope it gives a decent overview and in case you have information to complete a still very incomplete picture, it will be very very gratefully received!

I hope you enjoy the little project and thanks in advance for any comments or info. Best contact is aquasport.tgm@gmail.com

[oldtimer]

First, let me say that this is great stuff. Interestingly (or perhaps not), I was just searching for information on how long water polo clubs have been in operation in various countries. It seems that in Hungary, Yugoslavia (now Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro), Italy, Romania, Greece and probably several other countries have quite a long history of club water polo - back to the 1920s in many cases (I found one in Hungary what was formed in 1911 !).

I've been trying to find out about clubs in the U.S., but there isn't much out there. When I was a lad in the '60s and '70s, there was a club called Covina Aquatics, which several of my fellow high school teammates had been members of and learned the game. I can't tell if it is still in existence or not (there is an aquatics club in Covina but I can't tell if it is the same one). The impression I have gotten is that the 'club scene' for water polo really began in the U.S. in the 1980s or 1990s. Perhaps some of the historians around here can fill me in on what the oldest operating club in the US might be... .

[Doru Roll]

1. Boston Athletic Association, Boston, MA., 1888 (defunct)
2. Sydenham Swimmers Club, Providence, RI., 1890 (defunct)
3. New York Athletic Club (NYAC), NY City, 1890 (still at it)

[WP$$Survivor]

Olympic Club 1896 (Still Active)

[palmyra]

Indeed! and thanks, by the way, very small world... John Bordy, one of the contributors to the polo history page and one of the players who began in Tirgu Mures, was member in the Olympic Club, recently inducted in its Hall of Fame. Small world indeed :)

[oldtimer]

Thanks Doru and WP$$Survivor - those two clubs have quite a history! I am under the impression that most of the European water polo clubs are strictly water polo, and not general athletics like the Olympic club and NY club - is that true? (apologies palmyra for hijacking the thread!). It seems that in the U.S., athletes have been primarily developed through the high school and college sports programs, whereas in Europe they have been developed through clubs that are focused on specific sports... is my impression correct? Do schools in Europe offer sports programs?

[palmyra]

Hi
not sure in general in Europe, but in the case of the town in question, there is for example a sports high-school, and although water polo is not done "inside" their system, they have swimming section and water polo players go via a club, however all their activities are taken into account.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but in other cities where water polo has more continuous history, there are specialised sections in such high-schools.

[Doru Roll]

palmyra, most of European water polo is club based. Although there are both elementary (1-8) and highs schools (9-12) with specialized sports programs in Eastern Europe, these are very few. It didn't really matter how long and where the game was played; the Ministry of Education would (sometimes arbitrarily) decree where to establish what program. That's why these programs were few and far between, and kids often had to move or go into the school's "internat" (boarding) program to be able to attend.

In the US, particularly California, the situation is completely opposite: the high school programs are dominant.

[palmyra]

Unfortunately, the polo history of that town is still a bit marked by local and personal interests being put higher than even the mere representation of the city at national level... http://aquasporttargumures.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/politics-and-childrens-water-polo.html
Apart from a fragmentation, that has caused water polo splintering among 5-6 junior clubs (without a strong team to represent the city), there are local rivalries and power games in the Federation that managed to affect (and this must be an absolute low point) the children's national championship, too... by one club president trying, as part of his political games, to eliminate a qualified other club's team from the same city...
I hope one doesn't have to add much more of such things to the history webpage... The Federation is now reduced to only 4 people in the leadership team, there used to be 9... and they are trying to defer elections as much as possible, whilst such games and intrigues are going on even affecting the youngest junior age groups' tournaments...
Quite deplorable, but let's hope the resurgence of polo through these kids continues despite all this... some, like Razvan Paltineanu who resurrected water polo in this former key town of this sport, are trying to organise an association whereby various clubs from the city would give players to an A and B team, to represent the city properly... and eliminate local and other power games at least at this level...

[dolphin]

Go Razvan Paltineanu !!

[palmyra]

Hi,

in the process of re-homing the history page, something that hopefully looks much better than the old one - and also some new info:

http://leventeth.wix.com/tgmwaterpolohistory

Still many profiles missing and still trying to collect data, but it's slowly progressing;

[ramman]

Awesome! Thank you for posting!! Looking at the pictures I noticed how few were posing for each picture. Did the early sport only have a roster of 7-11 men?

[palmyra]

thanks - and a good point, it does seem quite "economical" compared to later pictures, some references made by Nasca (who still lives in Sovata, near Tirgu Mures) along the lines of "8 out of 13 in national team were [in the 1950s] from Tg. Mures" kind-of suggested the roster was maybe at most 2 sets of players (?).