Blog post
50 years of rugby in Girona
Watch a documentary celebrating a half-century of sport
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GEiEG is a sporting organisation in the city of Girona, founded in 1919. The 'Grup Excursionista i Esportiu Gironí' initially aimed to promote hiking and other cultural and recreational activities. Soon, however, they began to organise sports activities for amateurs, initially linked to athletics and then to all kinds of sports. Over the last hundred years, many people have been part of the organisation at some point.
In 1971, a rugby section was created, with thousands of players being involved since then. In 2021, as part of the Europeana Sport project, a documentary commemorating 50 years of rugby in Girona was created.
The documentary covers the half-century history of the rugby section of GEiEG while also aiming to highlight the culture of the sport by showing its intrinsic values and sharing the personal experiences of players and participants. The documentary features interviews alongside archive photographs and films. It is in Catalan, with English subtitles.
The documentary has been produced by the CRDI, the Centre for Image Research and Diffusion in Girona City Council, which holds an extensive image archive and wealth of materials reflecting different aspects of daily life in Girona and its rich cultural heritage. In 2017, GEiEG donated its collection to the Municipal Archive, with the aim of preserving it and making it accessible to the public.
The film was a collaborative process, made by CIFOG (Training Cycles of Girona). Scriptwriting, documentation and collection of photographs and videos was undertaken by members of the rugby section, in particular Jordi Mis, Xavier Mis and Ernesto Pérez. Donations made by Ramon Panosa, Agustí Esteva, Xavier Ibarzábal, Quim Planas and Jordi Mis . As a result of these donations, CRDI digitised and gathered more than 2,800 photographs and 38 videos related to rugby in Girona.
The film was first screened in October 2021 at Cinema Truffaut in Girona, as part of the Europeana Sport project, representing the culmination of a collaborative process with CRDI linking people with their cultural heritage.
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This blog is part of the Europeana Sport project which showcases cultural treasures relating to sporting heritage in Europe.