Oină

For the brachiopod genus, see Oina (brachiopod).

Oină

Oină pitch animation
Highest governing body	Romanian Oină Federation
First played	1370 (first documented) 1899 (modern rules)
Characteristics
Contact	Yes, players are hit with the ball, but no body contact
Team members	11 per side
Categorization	Outdoor
Equipment	Oină ball
Venue	Oină pitch
Olympic	No

Oină (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈoj.nə]) is a Romanian traditional sport, similar in many ways to baseball.

History

Oină was first mentioned during the rule of Vlaicu Vodă in 1364, when it spread all across Wallachia. Its origins are disputed, theories ranging from a shepherd game to a war game.

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 Chişinău, Moldova.

Pitch

The pitch is a rectangle, 70m long by 32m wide divided into:

• the in game ("în joc") area, which is 60x32m
• the batting zone ("zona de bătaie") - 5m long
• the back zone ("zona de fund") - a 5m long safe zone during a run

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 ("mijlocaşi") and side players ("mărginaşi"). The 1m and 3m semicircles are used for both batting and the defense side's forward player.

A waiting line is drawn for attacking players to wait their turn to bat.

Players

The defending players are placed in the following positions:

• 3 midfielders ("mijlocaşi")
• 3 advance side players ("mărginaşi de ducere")
• 3 return side players ("mărginaşi de întoarcere")
• 1 back player ("fundaş") that is free to move within the back zone
• 1 forward player ("fruntaş") that assumes his position immediately after the attacking player has batted.

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 in game position. For this reason, the midfielder 2 is also known as a baci.

Each team has a maximum of 5 substitutes available.

Rules

There are two teams of 11 players, one that is at bat ("la bătaie") and one that is at catch ("la prindere") in each half.

The team at bat is selected by a ritual where the players have to grab the bat, thrown by the referee, and the last one to be able to place at least 4 fingers on the bat wins. The game begins with the team at bat, with one of the players throwing the ball while another player of the same team has to hit it with a wooden bat ("bâtă") and send it as far as he can towards the adversary field. After that, if the ball is caught by the adversaries, the player can run (if he wises, or if he is forced to run by the referee) the advance and return corridors/lanes ("culoarele de ducere şi întoarcere"), without being hit by the defenders. If he stops the ball with his palm, or if the ball is thrown out of the pitch by the defenders, while attempting to hit him, he gets a free pass to the back zone, if he is advancing, or the batting zone if he is returning.

Ball

A spherical ball made of leather, filled with horse, pig, or bovine hair is used in oină. The ball is around 8cm in diameter and 140 grams in senior games and around 7cm in diameter and 100 grams in U-18 games.

Bat

The bat is made of hardwood. It's 90-100cm long, it has a diameter of 5cm at the outer end and 3.5cm at the grabbing end (for U-18 games, the dimensions are 75-80cm, 4cm, and 2.5cm respectively). The bat can be capped at the grabbing end, and the cap is counted as part of the bat's length. Its cross section is circular, and at the grabbing end, about 20cm of the bat has grooves 2mm deep and thick, spaced at about 2cm from each other, to increase grip.

Comparison with baseball

• Similar weight of the ball: around 140 grams for both
• Longer and slimmer bat for oină
• A game takes only 30 minutes for oină
• Oină teams have 11 players; Baseball teams have 9 players
• In oină, the defense can score by hitting the attacking players that are in game (running the lanes)

See also

• Sport in Romania
• Baseball

External links

Romanian

• The Romanian Oină Federation website
• The Oină Association website, created in collaboration with the Romanian Oină Federation within the purpose of promoting oină as a Romanian national sport