Sports club

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A sports club, athletics club or sports association is an eclectic institution oriented to multiple sports, which fields many teams and in several sports, working under the same umbrella organization. In a larger sense, it may also refer to any sports institution, even those that have only one sports team or a single sports department. In order to differentiate a single-sport institution from a multi-sport one, the term multi-sport club is used. The term athletics club is usually unambiguous.

Examples abound of sports clubs that are in effect one sports team. Each team from the NBA (basketball), NFL (American football) or MLS (soccer) North American sports leagues, can be called sports clubs, but in practice, they focus solely on a single sport. On the other hand, North American varsity teams are generally organized into a structure forming a true multi-sport club belonging to an educational institution.

Football provides an interesting contrast between nations. There are many clubs named "FC"/"CF" (English: Football Club/Portuguese:Clube de Futebol/Spanish:Club de Fútbol). Generally, British football clubs field only soccer teams; examples include Manchester United, Newcastle United F.C, Rangers FC and Celtic FC (although its full name was until 1994 The Celtic Football and Athletic Company Ltd.). Their counterparts in Latin countries tend to be full multisports clubs; examples in the Iberian Peninsula include the FC Porto, Boavista FC, and CF Belenenses in Portugal, and Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona in Spain.

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[edit] Organization

Generally, any sports club is characterized by having professional and amateur sports departments in various sports disciplines like football (soccer), basketball, futsal, volleyball, handball, rink hockey, water polo, rugby, athletics (track and field), boxing, baseball, tennis, sport rowing, gymnastics and other. An eclectic collection of competitive, recreational, and instructional athletic programs is available through club sports. The teams and athletes belonging to a sports club compete in several different leagues, championships and tournaments wearing the same club logotype, equipment colors and using the same club name, sharing also the same club fan base, supporters and facilities. Many sports clubs have an associate system where the affiliated supporters pay an annuity fee. In those cases, the supporter becomes eligible to attend the club's home matches and exhibitions across the entire season, and have the right to practice almost every kind of sport at the club's facilities. Registered associate member fees, attendance receipts, sponsoring contracts, team merchandising, TV rights, and athlete/player transfer fees, are usually the primary sources of sports club financing.

[edit] Multi-sport clubs worldwide

In many regions of the world like Europe, North Africa, Middle East, Indian subcontinent or Latin America, sports clubs comprised of several sports departments (multisports clubs) or branches are very popular and have developed into some of the most powerful and representative sports institutions in those places.

Examples of this can be found throughout the world:

In the United Kingdom, almost all major sports organizations are dedicated to a single sport, however, rare examples of notable multisport clubs are found, like Fisher Athletic, Everton F.C., or Catford Wanderers. In addition, like in several other countries, many universities and colleges develop a wide range of student sport activities including at a professional or semi-professional level. Fulham F.C. once ran a professional rugby league team and rowing club, which other football clubs have emulated since. Many football clubs originate from cricket teams.

In the United States of America major institutions like The New York Athletic Club, Los Angeles Athletic Club or many university athletic programs such as the California Golden Bears, Stanford Cardinal and Texas Longhorns are good examples of a sports club (see list of College Athletic Programs by US State).

[edit] Major active sports clubs

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Multi-sport clubs with over a hundred thousand registered associates or at least 4 million supporters or sympathizers audited and verified by independent auditors, and several trophies won in multiple sports include:

[edit] Associazione Sportiva Roma (Italy)

AS Roma (Italian: Associazione Sportiva Roma), or Rome Sports Association, is a sports club based in Rome, Italy and is the most prestigiuos[citation needed] sports association in Italy with lots of Italian championships, European Cup and World Championship in differents disciplines.[citation needed]

[edit] Cardiff Athletic Club (Wales)

Cardiff Athletic Club from Cardiff, Wales. It is the owner of the world famous Cardiff Arms Park rugby ground,[1][2][3] however, it is also a major shareholder of Cardiff Rugby Football Club Plc and a large shareholder in Cardiff Blues.[4][3] Cardiff Athletic Club has five sports sections; the rugby section (Cardiff RFC), the cricket section (Cardiff Cricket Club), the (field) hockey section (Cardiff Hockey Club), bowls section (Cardiff Athletic Bowls Club) and the tennis section. The Athletic Club is one of the few multi-sport clubs in the United Kingdom.

[edit] Futbol Club Barcelona (Spain)

FC Barcelona from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, is one among many well-known examples of a major multi-sport club (club poliesportiu in Catalan). Although best known for its La Liga football team and its reserve football team FC Barcelona B, the club also incorporates other professional sports teams, having expanded into basketball, handball and roller hockey. The teams involved in these sports are subsidized by the football section and wear the same colors. These include AXA FC Barcelona, FC Barcelona-Cifec and FC Barcelona Sorli Discau. The club also includes a number of prominent amateur sports teams that compete in rugby union, women's basketball, women's football and wheelchair basketball. These include FCB Rugby, UB-Barça, and FC Barcelona-Institut Guttman. Other amateur teams represent the club in ice hockey, five-a-side football, athletics, baseball, cycling, field hockey, figure skating and volleyball. With dozens of trophies in several sports and over 150,000 associates[citation needed], FC Barcelona is a powerhouse in world sports with millions of supporters and sympathizers worldwide.

[edit] Futebol Clube do Porto (Portugal)

FC Porto from Porto, Portugal, fields teams in football, basketball, rink hockey, handball, swimming, and athletics. In total, FC Porto is the portuguese club with most international titles. In total, in all these sports including, the 1987 and 2004 Intercontinental Cup, the 1987 and 2004 European Champions Cup, the 1987 European Supercup and the 2003 UEFA Cup in football; rink hockey - European Cup in 1986 and 1990, CERS Cup in 1994 and 1996, Cup Winners Cup in 1982 and 1983, and European Supercup in 1987. In others sports is one of best clubs in the Portugal. With dozens of trophies in several sports and over 110,000[citation needed] associates and is one of the most popular Portuguese Clubs with 3 million ?![citation needed] supporters in Portugal and an estimated 28% ?![citation needed] among the total population. FC Porto is a powerhouse in world sports.

[edit] Olympiacos CFP (Greece)

Olympiacos CFP from Piraeus, Greece, is a large multisport club in Europe and the most popular club in Greece. It develops activities in 17 different competitive departments, including football. The club boasts European and international titles in football, basketball (Olympiacos BC), volleyball (Olympiakos SC), water polo and athletics. Olympiacos have more honors than any other Greek team in men's football, volleyball and water polo. Olympiacos have achieved a Triple Crown (winning three major titles in one year) in two different sports (basketball and waterpolo).

[edit] Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (Greece)

Panathinaikos from Athens, Greece, is a major multisports club with many departments (24 different competitive departments) and a large number of national and international titles won by them. Furthermore, it is also the largest multisport club in Greece and also on an international scale, as measured by the number of different sports departments it maintains. The club is mostly known for its three professional teams football (Panathinaikos FC), basketball (Panathinaikos BC) and volleyball (Panathinaikos VC), where they compete at the highest level in Europe, but has also an enormous number of distinctions from its other amateur departments (Women Volleyball, Women Basketball, Athletics, Swimming, Cycling, Boxing, Diving, Archery, Shooting, Fencing, Table Tennis, Water Polo etc).

[edit] Società Sportiva Lazio (Italy)

S.S. Lazio (Italian: Società Sportiva Lazio), or Lazio Sports Association, is a sports club based in Rome, Italy and is the biggest[citation needed] sports association in Europe with athletes competing in 37 disciplines ranging from cricket to basketball to parachute jumping[5]. Its men's football team however is by far its most important and notorious.

[edit] Sport Lisboa e Benfica (Portugal)

SL Benfica from Lisbon, Portugal, fields teams in football, basketball, rink hockey, futsal, volleyball, handball, rugby, cycling, and athletics, among other sports. In total, Benfica have won many titles in all these sports including the 1961 and 1962 European Champions Cup in football, rink hockey-CERS Cup in 1991, 3 Iberian Cups and 1 Torneio Ibérico in rugby, and 5 in the Athletics European Cup. With dozens of trophies in several sports and the largest number of associates, SL Benfica is a powerhouse in world sports. SL Benfica has the biggest fan base and the largest number of registered associates among Portuguese clubs, having also the largest number of supporters outside of Portugal for a Portuguese club, with a total of 12 million Benfica's supporters worldwide.[6] Almost every municipality of Portugal has its own Casa do Benfica (House of Benfica), which can also be found in many cities and towns of countries worldwide.[7] It is also the biggest club in the world in number of associates (registered paying supporters), with a number of 160,398 (as of November 2006), a fact which was attested by the Guinness Book of Records on 10th November 2006.[8][9][10]

[edit] Jugoslovensko Sportsko Društvo Partizan (Serbia)

Yugoslav Sports society Partizan from Belgrade, Serbia was founded on October 4, 1945 as sport club of Yugoslav People's Army. First clubs that were formed under the name of Partizan were football and athletic clubs. In 1946, basketball, voleyball, chess, tennis, swimming and skiing clubs were formed and in 1947 ice hockey, boxing, table tennis and road bicycle racing clubs.Among the last clubs that were formed under the name of Partizan were judo, wrestling, water polo, handball, sport shooting, rowing, bowling and weightlifting clubs.

In 1950, club became sport society in which civilians were allowed to become members and athletes. In 1960, society adopted its current name.

Today, JSD Partizan, with 25 clubs, is the largest and the most successfull sport society in Serbia.

In season 2003/04 football, basketball, handball and waterpolo clubs of Partizan played in European Champions League in all of these sports.

[edit] Disbanded sports clubs

[edit] Sportvereinigung Dynamo (Germany)

Sportvereinigung Dynamo was an East German sports club created for members of the country's police and security forces. The president SV Dynamo from its inception in 1953 until German reunification and the dissolution of the club in 1990 was Erich Mielke, head of the country's secret police, known as the Stasi. The association offices were located next to the Hohenschönhausen which was the headquarters of the Stasi.

Dynamo-Sportforum Berlin was at one time the largest sports complex in Europe. SV Dynamo enjoyed considerable success in international competition. At its height the association had a membership of ~280,000 which included over 110,000 children.[11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ 40. Cardiff has the world's largest retractable-roof arena. Britannia.com, LLC. Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
  2. ^ Cardiff Sport, Cardiff Rugby Club (Cardiff Blues). K2 Design and Marketing. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
  3. ^ a b Rugby Union: Yachvili's decisive miss adds to sense of reprieve for. CNET Networks, Inc.. Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
  4. ^ Cardiff Athletic Bowls Club - The Club. Cardiff Athletic Bowls Club. Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
  5. ^ Casalazio.it
  6. ^ Frank Dell'Apa, Can Eusebio lead to a Portuguese pipeline?, ESPN
  7. ^ Casas e Filiais, Sport Lisboa e Benfica, accessed December 2006
  8. ^ Guinness World Records - S.L. Benfica
  9. ^ Diário Digital
  10. ^ RTP
  11. ^ Page 18

[edit] See also