History
Rugby union was a moderately popular sport in Czechoslovakia
Josef Rössler-Ořovský, who introduced a number of sports in the then Czechoslovakia, among others skiing and tennis, was originally credited with starting rugby as well back in 1895. He went to England and brought back a rugby ball with him. Efforts were made to play the game at the Czech Yacht Club, but a public struggle ensued, and rugby subsequently never really caught on.
Rugby union was only properly introduced to the country by the writer Ondřej Sekora, when he returned from living in France in 1926, with a rugby ball and set of rules. Brno, the Moravian capital is considered the cradle of rugby in Czechoslovakia, and is where the first match took place, between SK Moravská Slávie, based in Brno-Pisárky, and AFK Zizka, based in Brno. Both of these teams were trained by Sekora, who also coined Czech language rugby terminology.
Rugby in Czechoslovakia started out in 1926, with renowned writer and illustrator Ondřej Sekora a major force in promoting the game. Sekora learned the game while in France and played himself. The first rugby match in the country was played on 9 May 1926 when SK Moravská Slavia took on AFK Žižka Brno in Brno, with the former winning 31-17.
- "Much to everyone's surprise, Eastern Bloc countries are among the game's vigorous participants, seemingly oblivious to rugby's capitalist class-ridden origins... Rumania, Poland and Czechoslovakia are members of the Federation Internationale de Rugby Amateur, the governing body for those countries not in the IB."
Read more about this topic: Rugby Union In Czechoslovakia
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