Please don't blame soccer, why is hockey falling off the map in Czech and Slovakia?

[slovakiasnextone]

Communist Czechoslovakia was one heck of a sporting country. There is no going back. I don't think Czech or Slovak hockey (and other sports) will ever be as good as it was under communism.

Yeah, well, "bread and games"....already the Romans knew that.....so it was nothing innovative from our communists.....just as it isn´t with fro example China and sports today......

As some people have mentioned the communist made a very strong effort to support sport and subsidized it, still it didn´t stop them from imprisoning half the Czechoslovak national team in the 1950´s despite the fact that it lead to a significant drop-off in the leve of the national team until a new generation of players developed.

 

[monsterswede]

The 2004 Czech team was absolutely heart breaking to watch. Brilliant in the group stages against Holland, and they controlled the play in the semi-final against Greece. Nedved was the engine behind that team, and he injured his leg midway through the game. Had he finished that game, the Czechs certainly would have won it, given how well Baros and Koller were playing at that point.

Pavel Nedved, my most favourite athlete of all-time, had a brilliant career, but had such moments of sadness. Champions League in 2003 and that European Championships in 2004 are noteworthy.

Very well spoken
Didn't expeced such knowledge about fotball from a Canadian

 

[aqsw]

Pretty sure the Czechs just won the World Championship... how is hockey falling off the map there?

Junior hockey has no impact on the regular hockey world. Everyone knows only Canada cares about junior hockey. And the U.S. is good because they have such a large population and a ton of money.

And Canada doesn'y care about the World Championships! SO??

 

[Rogalo]

Yeah, well, "bread and games"....already the Romans knew that.....so it was nothing innovative from our communists.....just as it isn´t with fro example China and sports today......

As some people have mentioned the communist made a very strong effort to support sport and subsidized it, still it didn´t stop them from imprisoning half the Czechoslovak national team in the 1950´s despite the fact that it lead to a significant drop-off in the leve of the national team until a new generation of players developed.

Thank you for this post slovakiasnextone! It is truly amazing how some people tend to forget what communism was all about. And the horrific tactics the regime was capable of using in order to solidify its position and strike fear into the hearts and minds of people. Eleven players (8 of whom were world champions) were sentenced to (in total) nearly 75 years of imprisonment. They luckily were not forced to fully serve the sentences but their careers were ruined. Yeah...golden communist times indeed