Oină () is a Romanian traditional sport, similar in many ways to baseball.
History
The name "oină" was originally "hoina", and is derived from the Cuman word oyn "game" (a cognate of Turkish oyun).
The oldest direct mention comes from a diet manual of 1782 by medic István Mátyus, who talks about the health benefits of oina. However, it may have been attested as early as in 1364.
In 1899, Spiru Haret, the minister of education decided that oină was to be played in schools in physical education classes. He organized the first annual oină competitions.
The Romanian Oină Federation ("Federaţia Română de Oină") was founded in 1932, and was reactivated at the beginning of the 1950s, after a brief period when it was dissolved.
Today, there are two oină federations: one in Bucharest, Romania and another one in Chișinău, Moldova.
In recent years the Romanian oină Federation has launched a wide campaign to revive this kind of sport. Most of the traditional centres have been restored, and new areas have also been incorporated, so oină is practised in more than 40 regions at the moment.
In addition to spreading oină in the regions of Romania, the Romanian oină Federation actively popularizes this game outside the country organizing demonstration tournaments in different countries (Serbia, Japan, Indonesia, England, Poland, Germany, India, Pakistan, Croatia, Ukraine). For internationalization, the Federation establishes partnerships with institutions outside the country (as it was in Ukraine, India, Pakistan, England) or with people who want to help popularize this kind of sport. In cooperation with these people and institutions, the FRO creates study guides and handbooks on oină in various foreign languages.
Pitch
The pitch is a rectangle, long by wide divided into:
the in game ("în joc") area, which is
the batting zone ("zona de bătaie") – long – delimited from the in game area by the batting line the back zone ("zona de fund") – a long safe zone during a run – delimited from the in game area by the back line
The attacking side player that has commenced a run will have to cross the following four lines in order:
the start line (the left side of the batting line) the arrival line (the left side of the back line) the return line (the right side of the back line) the escape line (the right side of the batting line)
The in game area is further split into the advance and return triangles and squares. At the intersection of the lines inside the game area and the pitch limits or other lines within the game area, there are circles which determine the positions of the midfielders ("mijlocași") and side players ("mărginași"). The 1m and 3m semicircles are used for batting and serving. A waiting line is drawn for attacking players to wait their turn to bat.
Players
There are two teams of 11 players, one attacking side or "at bat" ("la bătaie") and one defending side or "at catch" ("la prindere"). The roles switch at half time.
The defending players are placed in the following positions:
3 midfielders ("mijlocași") 3 advance side players ("mărginași de ducere") 3 return side players ("mărginași de întoarcere") 1 back player ("fundaș") that is free to move within the back zone 1 forward player ("fruntaș") that is free to move within the batting zone
The attacking players change roles as the game progresses. The roles are chronologically ordered this way:
waiting one's turn
serving the ball
batting
waiting to enter the game (make a run) running the advance corridor staying in the back zone running the return corridor
Each team has a captain ("căpitan" or "baci""). The midfielder 2 is usually used as captain because he can throw the ball at an attacking player in any game position. For this reason, the midfielder 2 is also known as a baci.
Each team has a maximum of 5 substitutes available.
Scope of the game
The teams have very different roles depending on whether they are at bat or at catch. At bat players are tasked to open a play and run the lanes until they cross the escape line. At catch players are tasked to hit the players running the lanes with the ball. There can be a maximum of two players running each lane at the same time. A player can be hit in both lanes once.