so willingly; but this adherence would oblige its clubs to open all their regattas unconditionally to all oarsmen whose clubs were affiliated to FISA, and that they re fused to do. The ARA had also clearly pointed out that it would not oppose the admission of the NARA, on condi tion that the amateurs who competed against the latter’s members should not do so in England. Now, the affilia tion of the NARA to FISA implied the obligation to or ganize the European championships in that country. The difficulties which this entailed were pointed out. Certain federations refused to contemplate not being allowed to take part in ARA competitions, and especially being un able to compete at Henley, inter aha. Under the auspices of a French delegate, M. Ternisien, the NARA’s request for affiliation was withdrawn because of the failure of the ARA, as the principle association of the country in volved, to present the necessary authorisation. Such authorisation was, indeed, demanded in article 2 of the FISA statutes, which stipulated: “When there are several associations in a country, the only one which may apply for FISA membership is the one to which the majority of rowing clubs belong, and which has no objection in prin ciple to" the others’ joining; unless, of course, it already authorizes it to do so.” The list of events on the rowing programme for the forth coming Olympic Games had to be officially approved by FISA: single sculls, double sculls, coxswainless pairs, coxswainless fours, coxed pairs, coxed fours and eights. A report would be presented by the organising federa tion at the next congress, to enable FISA to make a deci sion. From a very interesting discussion it emerged that, in order to take part in Olympic regattas, every rowing federation which was not affiliated to FISA would have to submit in advance a request to FISA, now the only governing body for the sport of rowing to be recognized officially by the International Olympic Committee and the National Olympic Committees. In order for the rowers’ nationality to be more easily recognisable during European championships, each na tional federation had been assigned a colour: 1. BEL, black. 2. FRA, dark blue. 3. ITA, pale blue. 4. SUI, white. 5. NED, orange. 6. ESP, yellow. 7. TCH, red. 8. HUN, green. September 8th 1922 — Barcelona 25th FISA congress The congress was opened in a room of the Catalan Government building. The president of the Spanish fed eration, Juan Ventos a Calvell, was appointed chairman. Unable to attend the next day, he was replaced by M. Mar gar it, a man of great experience. Present: 21 delegates from 8 federations Count Vialardi di Verrone, FISA’s secretary-treasurer since 1901, would have liked to be able to be present to tender his resignation in person, and to take leave of his colleagues. However, a funeral had prevented him from travelling to the Catalan capital. His colleague, Mario Alberto Rossi, had been asked to stand in for him. He would be elected to replace him for 1923. The Portuguese federation was unanimously admitted. It included ten clubs, of which three were in Lisbon and three in Oporto. In the event of an oar’s breaking within the first 20 se conds of a race, the race should be restarted. As the plan for new Statutes, which had been drawn up by Carlo Montu and Mario Alberto Rossi, had reached the delegates too late and appeared to depart too far from the current Statutes, the member federations were asked to submit their proposed amendments before January 1st 1923, so that they might be distributed for examination before being presented to an extraordinary congress to be held at Easter, 1923, in Como. Mario Rossi (ITA), FISA secretary-treasurer between 1922 and 1923. As secretary of the “Reggio Rowing-Club Italiano”, he worked in close collaboration with FISA’s secretary-treasurer in order to help him meet the growing needs of the International federation, before succeeding him for a short period. He then took part for many years in congresses and European championships as an umpire, inter aha. He was to continue to attend such gatherings on several occa sions right up to the early AO’s, and died in 1954. September 9th—10th 1922 — Barcelona 24th men’s European championships Spain, in its turn, was host for the first time to FISA’s best European oarsmen. The course had been laid out in the port of Barcelona. It was familiar to many, as the Spanish championships, along with other competitions, had been held there for many years. In order to provide the neces sary 2,000 metres, it ran obliquely between the outer harbour and the port itself. This rectangle, 2,000 metres long by 100 metres wide, contained no recognisable landmarks. Very carefully placed fines of buoys served as sole guide. It was only possible for four crews to row abreast. Eliminating heats for 4+ and 8+ had to be held on the day before the finals. Preliminary heats Although there was an east wind blowing, the harbour wall offered sufficient protection for the water to remain relatively calm. 4 +: 5 entered FI: 1. SUI (7’33“) 2. FRA (7’33”2/5) - both crews qualified. Eli: 1. BEL (7’50”) 2. NED (7’57”) 3. ESP 8 +: 7 entered El: 1. ITA (6’51”) 2. NED (7’02”) 3. ESP (a long dis tance behind) Eli: 1. FRA (6’48”) 2. HUN (6’48”2/5) 3. SUI (6’48”4/5) 4. BEL, three lengths behind. Part 2 53
