The little European Czech country is known far beyond the borders of Europe thanks to the hockey team.
Hockey is the most popular sport in the Czech Republic
The Little European Czech country is known far beyond the borders of Europe thanks to the popular balneological resorts, the famous Czech beer and, of course, a hockey team that has long held the world palm of the championship. The titled Czech hockey team became the world champion in this sport six times.
The story of Czech hockey
In the Czech Republic, hockey is a national sport, it was played at the end of the 19th century, that game was called “gangs” and it was significantly different from the habitual Canadian hockey today. At the beginning of the 20th century, this type of hockey completely squeezed its predecessor and gained immense popularity among the population. To understand the scale of this phenomenon, it is enough to say that the Czech Hockey Association appeared in 1908 – at that time there was no country with the same name, and the association was already there.
The entire 20th century continued the victorious procession of the Czech team in large international competitions. Czechs won their first match back in 1901 in the national championship. In 2009, they first reached the international level and attracted the attention of journalists. The first major success came in 1911 – the Czech team won the European Hockey Championship. At the first international competition at the Olympics in Anti -Concrene in 1920, the Czech Republic took 3rd place.
The heyday of the national triumph
The flowering of Czech hockey fell in the post -war years, the team won the first gold in 1947, the second in 1948. Despite the ambiguous assessment of that historical period, it is impossible to deny the facts – the spirit of national identity and the huge folk support of hockey allowed the Czechs and Slovaks to achieve unprecedented successes when Czechoslovakia took part in the world championships from 1968 to 1971, in 1972 she knew how to return gold in 1972 World Cup.
The political component played a large role in this – well -known hockey players in those difficult times could not freely go to play foreign hockey clubs, they put all their potential in the game for their team, who disagree with the political regime were forced to leave the country forever. In the 80s, Czechoslovakia left many talented hockey players, but at the same time the national hockey continued to remain at a high level.
Independent Czech Republic
After the political shocks of the late 80s and early 90s, Czechoslovakia was divided into two independent states, the players were able to choose which team to play for, which significantly weakened the positions of Czech hockey at the international level. But even in such conditions, the Czech Republic preserved traditions, managed to educate a new generation of strong hockey players and successfully performs at various championships, winning in 2010 its sixth hockey world.
Here, all the boys dream of becoming famous hockey players, every yard has its own hockey boxes, in every city there are sports schools in which talented guys are selected to the national hockey team. If the game of the national team is shown on TV or the match of the local hockey team is held, it immediately becomes quiet and hard on the streets – everyone is in a hurry to stadiums or to televisions to provide moral support to their favorites and cheer up for their victory.
