STAMP DAY - POSTMEN’S SPORTS MEETINGS (C)

The Sports Meetings of the Croatian Post employees, also known as “Sports Games”, are the traditional meetings of employees that in the year 2008 have been organized for the ninth time. The meetings are organized by the Croatian Post with the participation of trade union representatives, signatories of the Collective Agreement for the Croatian Post employees. The sports meetings, besides competitions on the sports venues are simultaneously the chance that offers the employees from all the postal centres the opportunity to meet and socialize amongst them. The first Meetings organized by the Croatian Post were held in the year 2000 in Poreč, attended by 500 participants who competed in the following disciplines: football - men, football – women, table tennis, ninepin bowling, chess and race walking. The following year, in Poreč again, the number of participants increased to 600 as well as the number of disciplines: the newly joined competitors were female volleyball players and male and female tennis players. After the Meetings in Umag in 2002, the 2003 meetings in Šibenik introduced a new discipline: boccie lawn bowling. In 2004 the Meetings were again hosted by Šibenik; there the rules were changed for the disciplines of darts and bowling: team and individual competitions were introduced. In 2005 the Meetings moved to Zaton near Zadar. The number of participants remained unchanged and the locality where the Meetings were going to be held has been fixed: as Šibenik was able to offer the best conditions, the Meetings of the years 2006 and 2007 were held there, thus returning to the central Adriatic region. In 2007 another new discipline was added – rope pulling or tug-of-war contests. The discipline of race walking is a veritable postal discipline. Participants in this discipline are competitors, both male and female, who work as postmen or mail carriers. The participants have to appear in their official clothes and footwear which means: shirt, trousers, shoes and post bag. This attractive discipline was held in the very centre of Šibenik which attracted a great number of written and electronic media. The teams of competitors are made up of employees from individual post offices centres, the International Postal Centre and the postal Management Board. The number of participants per individual centre is determined by the Organizational Committee. The ratio between men and women in individual teams is 60:40 to the advantage of men, which is in accordance with the fact that the disciplines are mainly “men’s disciplines”. The introduction of volleyball and darts as women’s disciplines contributed greatly to an increased participation of women at these sports meetings. This also means a re-consideration of the rules for particular sports so that they could offer participation of mixed women-men teams. The Organizational Committee is a body that organizes the implementation of the Sports Meetings; it takes care of the organization of sports and the entertainment programme. Each of the sports disciplines has its leader who is in charge of the competition. The Press-centre looks after the accessing of information for all the participants of the Meetings, issues two bulletins and reports daily on the results of the competitions. The Organizational Committee keeps continuously alert to the wishes of the participants. The increase of the number of disciplines is the result of the proposals of the competitors themselves – those who want to try their hand at a new discipline. Though on account of shortage of funds the number of participants has not been increased, the Committee undertakes all possible means to get more and more people interested in this type of socializing and to enable them to participate in the Sports Meetings. The peak of each of the Sports Meetings is the ceremony of awarding medals. Included in the ceremony there are always the President and members of the Management Board who in this final ceremony hand the cups and medals to the best competitors. The cups are intended for teams while medals are handed over to competitors in individual disciplines. The awards go to the three first-placed teams and individual competitors. A special cup, called the “Fair-play Cup” is handed over to the Post Centre that shows greatest enthusiasm in socializing, cheering and sportsmanlike behaviour. The Sports Meetings do not finish on the sports venues – “the post-men and post-women” afterwards gather outside the venues, dance, sing and socialize. All the members of the great “postal family” have a similar work experience. They wish to share this experience with their colleagues from other milieus and the Sports Meetings are the ideal occasion for achieving this purpose.