Competition from the 1930's

[ta0]

Cuper forwarded a link to an article about a competition in the Bilbao, Spain, in the 1930's!

Aquellas trompas de campeonato en Bilbao

The contest was organized by a sports newspaper Excelsius from Bilbao (Basque country) and took place for several years in the 1930's. The competitors were between 7 and 14 years old. There were two competitions. The qualifier was a contest consisting in pushing with the top a copper coin or flattened bottle cap in a race, called "caminata" (walk). The best six went to the finals, that consisted in removing coins from a circle, called "a corro".

Many details of what happened in one competition are given in the article, including the name of the winner, second place and the first qualifier, plus cheating attempts, etc.





Apparently, somebody is planning to organize a similar contest in November, restarting it after more than 90 years.

I've just found out that the Excelsius (1931-1937) is available digitally.

PS: The name used in the 1930's newspaper was Trompa (the newspaper was in Spanish not in Basque language). I wish Trompos Cometa had used the name Trompo instead of Peonza during it's campaigns in Spain.

[ta0]

The qualifier of the 1931 contest took place November 22 (postponed 1 week for rain) and the finals the next Sunday.



These were the prizes:



Some of the 79 participants:



The title of the following Tuesday (the paper wasn't published on Mondays) says that "it was a success without precedence in the annals of kids sport"

The winner of the qualifier:





First place and second place of the finals:



I don't think that any spintop contest before this one was so well documented

[ta0]

Drumming up the 2nd tournament:


These are the winners of the 1932 tournament (November 6th) with the mayor of the city:



I found this paragraph dissing the yo-yos :

La trompa, con sus flexiones, con su ejercicio lleno de movimiento, de estirones y contorsiones, es un juego recomendable para hacer gimnasia sin notarlo, en formidable contraste con otros nuevos juegos infantiles que, como el “yo-yo”, hacen a los niños indolentes, inactivos, 'perezosos... y hasta, si se quiere, mal estudiantes; porque esa pereza física trasciende y el muchacho acaba por no estudiar.

"The top, with its flexes, its movement-filled exercises of stretching and twisting, is a recommended game for practicing gymnastics without realizing it, in formidable contrast to other new children's games that, like the yo-yo, make children indolent, inactive, lazy... and even, if you will, poor students; because this physical laziness transcends, and the child ends up not studying."

[ta0]

The third tournament took place December 5th, 1933, after 1 month of postponements due to rains:

[ta0]

The IV edition was announced for Sunday October 28, 1934 (after having been postponed 1 week for "reasons known to everybody"). As previously the paper gave it quite a lot of promotion in the previous weeks. On October 2 they wrote:

The number of children planning to participate in the 4th Spintop Championship exceeds expectations and reaches astronomical numbers.

The day before it was on the first page:



You can clearly see the shape of the top. The boy is about to throw it from the hand to try to hit the coin.

However, Sunday there was a notice that the government had canceled the competition:



You can see in the newspaper during that month lots of articles about armed conflict of what I guess became in 1936 the Spanish Civil war (while before the paper only had articles about sports). There is even one article which says that it had been difficult for the children to practice because of the danger of the war. I don't yet know if the IV edition ever took place.

[jim in paris]

Hi all
that's a fantastic find ! a great piece of History

about the awards it's fun to see that they would give "ceinturons" like in boxing

about the photos , hardly anybody smiles ....
I had noticed that while looking at old group photos in family albums

there must be some trompo tradition in Basque Country.it remains to be investigated


good day
jim


.

[ta0]

The IV tournament finally took place on December 23, 1934:



The winner:



Apparently for the October date there were 285 registered but at the new date, outside the top season, only 20 participated. There was still plenty of spectators and the participants tended to be the best players.

The contest had an official hymn: glosses in Spanish

[ta0]

there must be some trompo tradition in Basque Country.it remains to be investigated

We discussed before this adult competition in 1961 in the city of Guernica: Spintop Competition in the Basque Country, 1961

[ta0]

On the 13th of October, 1935, took place the V contest:



The winner:



Prizes were given to 61 participants. There was only one competition, the race (caminada), with the best time winning.

This was probably the last contest. An article from October 22 of 1936 says that all the events organized the newspaper were canceled due to the Spanish Civil War that started in July. The last issue of the newspaper was February 28, 1937.

[Ketzaltlipoka]

wwwwoooowww!
Excellent research!
According with History, the "modern" top with string was brought to american continent by the spanish invaders. (not to call them not any more, never, "conquerors"; invaders is a more correct word). Although here were known previously kinds of tops by indigenous and native people. According with the description in the photos, this tournament was celebrated in Vasque Country (ask to the Vasque if they like some call them spanish).

This is a real proof that before Cometa campaigns there Iberic Peninsula, there was people trying to spread the art of top there, around 70 or 80 years before.

Also, I like a lot the description of "sport" in one of the photos.

Besides, as far as I know, Vasque People were the inventors of that marvelous sport of Vasque Ball, (with differents modalities) that I used to practice every now and then many years ago.

right now i'm into a hurry. I must leave. I will try to write more later about this topic.

Whence did you get this information? How it was you know about it?

[ta0]

Whence did you get this information? How it was you know about it?

Cuper shared a link to the new article above. I searched for the original newspaper and found it online: Excelsius 1931-1937

Also, I like a lot the description of "sport" in one of the photos.

Ha! There is a lot you would like on the articles about the contest in the newspaper. I didn't have time to fully read the ones I found, and there should be many more. For example: clip