Sport şi Societate (Oct 2016)
THE FOURTH EDITION OF THE EUROPEAN VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP, BUCHAREST 1955 – AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH
Abstract
From 15 to 26 June 1955, the Romanian capital hosted the fourth edition of the European Volleyball Championship, both women and men. This edition, scheduled four years after the previous one, also registered a record of participation for those times: 14 teams entered the men’s competition and 6 attended the women’s. In the end, the Romanian men representative occupied an honourable second position in the charts, while the women were only fourth. The European titles went to Czechoslovakia, which clearly dominated the competition. The tournament was programmed to take place in Floreasca Hall and Dinamo Sports Park in Bucharest. The main aim of our present study is that of providing a detailed analysis of this sports event, which belongs to a period when the European volleyball championships did not have a regular scheduling, and the number of competing teams was not officially pre-established. Our second goal is that of framing this competition into the larger political context which deeply influenced its development. The sports event happening in Bucharest proved to be a success, both from the perspective of the quality of the featured competitions, and from the organizational point of view, thus placing the country among the select few volleyball promoters worldwide
