6TH
to 9TH November 2002 in Gothenburg/Sweden
As a
delegate of IFF to the above mentioned World Championships I can declare these
as being a success. Unfortunately only 8 teams were present.
Congratulation
to Stephan Berg and his crew for an excellent job they have fulfilled.
The teams,
the referees and all other officials were accredited without any problems. Some
of the team members of Georgia did not fulfil the required criteria’s and could
therefore not take part in the matches.
The
time-schedule was to optimistic (not enough time provided for the matches!)
Fortunately
the matches could start with no later than 15’ after scheduled time!
The
difference of the quality of the games were huge. Some results were not in
favour of floorball! Why did Norway, Denmark, Czech Republic etc. not take
part?
After a
fantastic final v. Sweden, Finland won the championship. Switzerland finished 3rd
winning the match for this place v. Hungary with 22 : 2!
Eventually
it will again have to be stressed out, that floorball has nothing to do with
ice-hockey!!
Although no
great mistakes were experienced there is still a lot of work to be done.
Disciplinary must be held “high”. A pair came on Wednesday left on Friday,
another pair came on Saturday just for one match and a pair who had no match on
the last day just left early that day…..
The
cooperation between the technical Delegate, the organiser and IFF was just
excellent. Many meetings took place and so was a guarantee for the smooth
running of the tournament.
With the
exception of Georgia, all other teams were of no problems. On the contrary, the
gathering together was just great.
The
cooperation with the head of the championship, Fritz Holzer, Vice-President of
the World University Sports Federation, was of high quality. He was a good
“operator” with a sound knowledge of University sport.
The
Championship was a full success.
There are
of course two views:
The one
from the World university sport who was satisfied that a new sport is now
affiliated and has fulfilled the expectations and the one from IFF which cannot
be satisfied due to the lack of participation of bigger nations and the level
seen in Gothenburg.
For
Floroball, for promotion, for attracting the game, the sponsors and the public
the University World Championship is a must. It can and will help to spread
floorball all around in particular in schools!
I’m
convinced, that this tournament will soon be a firm part of our
sports-calendar!
Thanks to
all participants for a successful four days.
Renato
Orlando
IFF