The city of Baia Mare has a vast history when we are to talk about all kind of sports and in this project I will present some parts of its history. The main sports to be presented are handball, rugby, volleyball and football. Text is prepared by Dan, during the "Baia Mare is Mine" project, funded by the European Commission through European Solidarity Corps programme, volunteering action.

1. S P O R T S
I N B A I A
M A R E
Dan Silvăsan-Pasca
, ,

2. The city of Baia Mare has a vast
history when we are to talk
about all kind of sports, and in
this project I will present some
parts of its history.

3. First
signs of
interest
in sports
• Articles promoting sports appeared in
the in the Baia Mare media in the second
half of the 19th century. The beneficial
effects of physical exercises on the body
were emphasized.
• Besides, the already existing clubs
(unofficially) often organized walks
through the nature, trips on foot or by
bicycle, during which country celebrations
were held that inevitably included games
and sports competitions.
• A fun fact would be that an Englishman
named George Johnson, an employee at the
Mines Direction, brought in Baia Mare the
first football ball, and after he
established a group of youngsters to play
and so this became very popular here.

4. • The newspaper Nágybanya és Videke (Baia Mare and surroundings) of May 5,
1901 contains in its pages an interesting article in which, among others,
it is said: “...the director of the state gymnasium in Baia Mare has
banned the game of football...” . This "educational" measure had
unexpected consequences on the part of the city community. A protest was
addressed to the Minister of Education (from Budapest) on behalf of “300
honorary citizens of Baia Mare”, against that arbitrary measure.
• It seems that already in the summer of 1903, in Baia Mare there was an
unofficial football club (F.C. Baia Mare). On August 20, 1903, in the
same newspaper previously mentioned, the invitation appeared: “Football
Club Baia Mare, today after dinner, at 5 o'clock at Arena Târgului
organizes a big football competition. In the evening, dance in the local
park of the city”.
As it seems, football was the first big sport to step up, and
it’s the one in which Baia Mare has the biggest achievements.

5. • Also in the same period, as the press of
the time proves to us (with details
regarding the place and the conduct of
the events), along with football, great
attention was paid to other sports such
as: gymnastics (lifting and throwing
weights), high jumps, endurance running,
relay running, etc.
• The winners of these sport competitions
were rewarded with medals, but sometimes
the reward took at least unusual forms
for our days, as can be seen from the
following: “for the high jump, a silver
cup was received that the winner can use
for a year days” or “a valuable gold
ring was awarded for the long jump (for
3 metres)”.
More details about sports
in this period can be
found currently at “Muzeul
Județean de Istorie și
Arheologie Maramureș”

6. • For Baia Mare, the necessity of setting up a sports arena, close to the
city centre, became more and more obvious. In difficult financial
conditions, in 1922, the work began on the new, dedicated sports arena,
primarily for football.
• As usual, when something new is built, there were also unfavourable
reactions from the population who believed that the place where the
arena was built was not good because it “mutilated the picturesque Baia
Mare landscape” (at the foot of Dealul Florilor, where it is also
today).

7. • The locker room was made available by
the Skating Association until the
problem was solved. The arena was
inaugurated on April 9, 1923 with a
football match, and a year later the
first championship match was played here
(C.S.B. with Olimpia Satu Mare).
• The history of the Tricolor sports
field, which was actually the old arena
(1922), at the foot of Dealul Florilor,
is interesting. The enlargement and
development works were started in 1946
(February 2) and completed with its
inauguration on August 9, 1953 under the
name of 23rd August Stadium. Today, this
sports complex is called Viorel Mateianu
Stadium.
The stadium still exists
today and is named after
Viorel Mateianu, a great
Romanian football player.
At some point though it was
named Dealul Florilor
Stadium because its placed
near Dealul Florilor.

8. Viorel Mateianu
Stadium
BEFORE
IN THE PRESENT DAY

9. The sports
activity today
• In the present day Baia Mare has
teams in almost all the big sports
leagues:
• Minaur Baia Mare – handball,
football;
• CSM Știința Baia Mare – rugby;
• Știința Explorări Baia Mare –
volleyball.
• There is a lot of activity in the
city and it’s a rare thing to see a
city succeed in many sports of the
national league.

10. Handball
in
Baia Mare
• HC Minaur Baia Mare, founded on May
14, 1974, is the first Romanian
handball club that is not part of a
multi-sport club.
• In 1978, Minaur won its first
trophy: the Romanian Cup. By winning
the IHF Cup (C3) in 1985, Minaur
became the first Romanian club
outside the capital to win a
European trophy. This Cup will be
won again in 1988.
• Currently the feminine team is also
called Minaur Baia Mare (because
they joined the CS Minaur club)
after being called HCM Baia Mare.

11. Minaur
Handball
rosters for
2022-2023
season

12. Records:
• gold medal (2014)
• silver medal (1979, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2021)
• bronze medal in EHF European League in
2021
• The female Minaur Handball team was
second in the Liga Florilor last
year (the national league) and now
occupies the 8th position but it’s
the middle of the season.
• It has a lot of valuable players
that also play for team Romania like
Ana Maria Tănăsie, Luciana Popescu
or Magda Cazanga, and they won the
bronze medal in the IHF European
League in 2021. The final 4 was held
in Baia Mare and in 2022 they were
4th in the same competition.

13. Records:
• gold medal (1998, 1999, 2015)
• silver medal (1980, 1981, 1985, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2022)
• bronze medal (1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987,
1988, 1989, 1990, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2005, *2020)
• Romanian cup (1978, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1999, 2015)
• EHF European League silver medal in 2022
• The masculine handball team of Minaur was
second in the Liga Zimbrilor national league
last year and this year its still in the
second place hoping to make a surprise to
dethrone the long lasting champions Dinamo
Bucharest.
• At the European level they also played in EHF
European League and they won the silver
medals in 2022
• They also have a lot of valuable players like
Stefan Vujic, Milan Kotrc or Călin Căbuț.

14. Rugby
in
Baia Mare
• 37 years ago, some good-hearted
people took the initiative to
establish in Baia Mare the first
rugby team in the county, which
after one year in the B division
managed to promote to the first
league.
• In the almost four decades of
activity, Baia Mare achieved many
excellent results, all culminating
with the title of national champions
in 1990.
• The first rugby match in Baia Mare
took place at the Dealul Florilor
Stadium, on September 18, 1977,
between Racemin Baia Mare -
Constructorul Arad (score 10 - 0) in
Division B.

15. • In A Division the first match was on August 27, 1978, between the
same Racemin Baia Mare – Steaua (national champion), score 13 – 15.
• The rugby team from Baia Mare was a permanent supplier of players
for the national A, B, youth and junior teams.
• Şugar, Sava, Demian, Csoma, Ciorăscu, Seceleanu, Urdea, Fulina,
Ioniţă and a lot others wore the oak leaf jersey representing the
national team of Romania.

16. Records:
• gold medal (1990, 2009,
2010, 2011, 2014, 2019, 2020,
2021)
• Romanian cup (1980, 1990,
1999, 2010, 2012, 2020)
• Central and Eastern
European
SuperCup (2010,2011)
• The rugby players won the championship in the last
3 years that’s why they dominate the rugby scene
and are on their way to win the fourth this year.
• They have a lot of Romanian players like Pricopie
Andrei or Florian Roșu but also foreigners like Tu-
Te Whakaoho Ahika Grant or Tagiaia Talatoa Ulisese.

17. Volleyball
in
Baia Mare
• The volleyball activity in Baia Mare
began in 1947, when the first city
championship was organized, with the
participation of the following:
Gheorghe Șincai High School,
Chemical School, Mining School,
Progresul Finanțe, Dinamo and an
army team.
• The matches were played home-away,
the winners being the Mining School
team.
• After the re-establishment of the
Romanian Volleyball Federation, in
1958, the B Division for men's teams
is grouped. Dinamo Baia Mare also
participates in the first edition,
which occupying the eighth place in
the 2nd series, gets relegated.

18. • The qualification tournament from Râmnicu Vâlcea, for the accession in the A
Division (1974) brings back Baia mare to the championship of the first
division.
• In 1991, AS Explorări Baia Mare merged with CS Universitatea Baia Mare,
performing within the men's volleyball super league under the name
Universitatea Explorări Baia Mare.

19. Fun fact – me , Adi
and Cristi play for
this team
Records:
• gold medal (1993)
• silver medal (1974, 1980, 1994,
2011)
• bronze medal (1977, 1989, 1995)
• Romanian cup (1979, 1980)
• Balkan Cup (1979, 1980, 1982)
• Currently the team sits in the
7th position after finishing
last year on the 6th position.
• The team is valuable and it’s
based on chemistry, has some
young players too that are
constantly improving.
• A notable person from its
history would be Arbuzov
Adrian, ex player and coach of
the team who is also a
honourous member of the city
of Baia Mare

20. The king sport
in Baia Mare
(football)
• Baia Mare football has a very old
tradition, appearing since the first
years of the last century, during the
time of Austria-Hungary.
• However, the performances will not be
up to tradition. In 1948, a new club
was founded, CSM (later FC) through
the merge of the former first-division
team Phoenix (also formerly FC
Carpați) and Minaur.
• This new club debuted in the elite
only in 1964, but after one season it
returned to B Division.
• It took a long time to return to A
Division, until 1978. It was the
period of Viorel Mateianu, the coach
who built a fantastic team, whose
stars were Koller and Rozsnyai.
• In 1980, FC Baia Mare took 4th place,
after Craiova University, Steaua and
FC Argeș.

21. • The club does not have any trophies
in its record, but played two finals
of the Romanian Cup (each time, from
the divisional position B!!), both
lost to Dinamo.
• The last one, in 1982, also coming
from D2, in... the Winners' Cup,
having 0-0 at home and 2-5 away (when
Koller opened the scoring on Santiago
Bernabeu) with... Real Madrid!!!
• Also in 1982, Mateianu achieved an
incredible victory of 3-1 against
Fiorentina, away, in a friendly
match!

22. • Over the years, many high-value footballers have been given by the
club: Zavoda II, Gergely III, Crișan, L. Bălan, Weiszenbacher.
• In 1963, while being in B Division, Baia Mare gave a player to the
national team, M. Sasu! The same will happen in the period 1991-92,
when Buia will mark two selections.

23. • Last year the team of Minaur returned to the first
Romanian football stages after promoting in the
second league and its currently standing on the 15th
position.
• The team really wants to come back on the top of
Romanian football where it was in the old days.

24. About the
historical game
Against
Real Madrid
More about this game we can find
currently at “Muzeul Județean de
istorie și Arheologie Maramureș”
• On September 15, 1982, in Baia Mare, there was a
great celebration. Witnesses of the great
confrontation said that the stands were beyond
full, the stadium in a volcano
• There were people perched in the willows, and
some swear that a willow gave way during the
match. A gallery in the second stand chanted
famous songs.
• The match was unexpectedly balanced. There was
talk of a shot by Koller hitting the crossbar,
leading some to claim the ball had crossed the
goal line.
• Despite the debates outside the arena, the score
remained 0-0 until the end.

25. • FC Baia Mare also made a superb impression in the return game,
when they led the Santiago Bernabeu.
• There was astonishment in the arena in the Spanish capital when
Koller opened the scoring in the 12th minute.
• However, Real quickly equalized three minutes later through
Juanito. Two more goals came before the break, by Isidro Diaz
and Garcia Hernandez, in the 32nd and 45th minutes.
• In the first minute of the second half, Carlos Santillana also
scored, so that Johnny Metgod made it 5-1 in the 71st minute.
• Baia Mare did not give up, scoring for 5-2, in the 89th minute,
through Buzgău, certifying the final score.
• Although it played against Real, now Baia Mare barely exists on
the map of Romanian football!…