B.A. Mikhaylov, professor
S.Sh. Namozova, associate professor
St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg

Keywords: history, physical education, university sport.

Introduction. The first record of cricket competition between the British universities of Oxford and Cambridge is dated to 1827. In 1829, rowing competitions, which later became a tradition, took place there. And since 1900, competitions between the students of these universities have been held already in 16 sports. In Switzerland, the first students' sports club was founded at the University of Bern in 1816.

It is well known that the onset of development of organized university sport dates back to the first decade of the XX century, usually, since 1905. This is due to the fact that on August 25^th 1905 the Russian government introduced in universities so-called "firm rules" establishing the autonomy of universities. This decision contributed to the introduction in 1907 of the "Rules of the students" into the regulations of the institutes and universities of Russia, which governed the establishment of student organizations including sports ones. According to the Office of the General V. N. Voeykov, 40 of 91 universities in Russia had their sports circles in 1915. For example, just over 10 such societies were operating in St. Petersburg: the All-Russian League of University Sport; the Gymnastic and Sports Society of Students-electricians; the Polytechnic Institute Athletes’ Society; the Society of Physical Development of Imperial Forest Institute; the University Student Society of Nature and Hunting Lovers; the St. Petersburg Student Yacht Club; the Polytechnic Water Sports Society; the Sports Society of Students of Institute of Technology (Emperor Nicholas ӀӀ); the Society of Physical Development under Petrograd Agricultural Courses; the Sports and Athletic Society under St. Petersburg University; the Gymnastic Sports Society of Students under Mining Institute of Empress Catherine ӀӀ; the University Sports Society under Institute of Civil Engineers (Emperor Nicholas I).

In Moscow, there were only six sports societies including those under University, under Institute of Agriculture, under Imperial Katkov Lyceum, under Institute of Commerce and under Women’s University. In Kiev, sports gymnastic societies were under Polytechnic Institute, under University and under the Kiev Student Hunting Society. Nevertheless, the question of the date of the establishment of university sport is still open. According to prominent sports historian A.B. Sunik: "The first university sports societies were established in 1908 in St. Petersburg under Electrotechnical and Polytechnic Institutes and under St. Petersburg University. In 1910 the St. Petersburg Sports League was created. During these years, the sports societies were established under universities in Moscow, Kiev, Kharkov, Voronezh, Kazan, Tomsk, Odessa and Orel" [10]. The same point of view is found in the other sources including textbooks on the history of sport [3, 5, 7].

In this regard, it is necessary to clarify what was the starting point in the development of organized university sports movement.

The purpose of the study. The analysis of historical data on the initial stage of development of university sport in the Russian empire and in particular in its capital, St. Petersburg.

Results and discussion. We took as a basis various historical data on student competitions that were dated. So, one of the first official competitions among St. Petersburg students was held on October 12^th (Julian calendar) 1891 at the Moika river, building 40 (near the Police Bridge, where the chess society was situated). There were two teams, 6 people in each, one from University and another - from Institute of Technology. The University team won with a score of 7.5 versus 4.5 (two games were played on every chessboard, the results - 5 wins, 2 losses and 5 draws out of 12 games). The first two chessboards: Grebenshchikov and Bryanskiy - from the University team, and Yudenko and Dembovskiy - from Institute of Technology [1].

Note that at this time compulsory gymnastics classes were already actively introduced in schools and secondary educational institutions, because its graduates had to serve in the army. The students weren't supposed to serve in the army, and therefore the administration of the universities and the Ministry of Education didn't consider physical culture and sport important.

 It is known that in the late XӀX century some students and graduates in the capital began to play a significant role in the development of Russian sport. For example, in 1897, the students and graduates of St. Petersburg University including already well-known athletes and organizers A.P. Lebedev, G.A. Duperron, M.M. Repinskiy, N.A. Panin-Kolomenkin and others conducted a meeting of the representatives of various St. Petersburg sports societies related to the discussion of the participation of Russian athletes in the Olympic Games in Paris in 1900 [8]. Quite numerous representatives of the students were involved in sports societies, which were developing rapidly in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and participated in various competitions. "Amateur Athletics Society of Dr. V.F. Kraevskiy" was especially popular in this regard, and in 1897 gymnasium student Ivan Lebedev became one of its members. A few months later Lebedev became one of the favorite pupils of the "father of Russian athletics", in 1898 he was already a coach in this society and became a student of St. Petersburg University. Note that he was studying for a long time. The first year he was studying at the faculty of history and philology, the second year - at the faculty of oriental studies, and then he transferred to the faculty of law.

It is while being a student of the law faculty of St. Petersburg University in June 1901, at the age of 22, when Ivan Lebedev gave to the rector A.Kh. Golmsten the report on the establishment of the room of physical development at the University. Apparently I. Lebedev took advantage of the fact that in 1901 the "Provisional rules of the organization of student establishments in higher education institutions" were issued by the Ministry of National Education which enabled students to organize singing, dancing groups and practice various kinds of exercises.

The project was submitted to Minister of Education N.S. Vannovskiy who quickly examined it and on November 14^th (November 1^st Julian calendar) 1901 the courses entitled "Swedish gymnastics and athletics" were opened. The page from the official annual report on the activities of St. Petersburg University for 1901 is shown in the photo: [6]

Ivan Vladimirovich Lebedev became the head of the courses. At first, the courses took place in the premises of the university checkroom, and when the weather was warm - in the university botanical garden. In November 1903 the courses venue were changed to another, more comfortable place (next to the apartment of notable astronomer S. Glazenap) with two rooms, one of which was soon equipped with a cold shower. The free magazine "Sport" was provided for the courses by the rector’s office. In 1903 the total number of the students was 2300 for 117 days of classes. The periodic measurements of breast volume of the students (with hands up, full inhalation) were given in the reports too. In spring, when it was warmer and the classes were held outdoors in the University Botanical Garden, the usual exercises were supplemented with the gorodki game.

As a result, during the four years the program of the courses has been expanded significantly. The students were coming from other institutions of higher education; the courses were attended by student of Polytechnic Institute Ludwig Chaplinskiy - who later became a Chairman of the All-Russian Weightlifting Association. The program developed by I.V. Lebedev included light weight exercises and athletics, Swedish gymnastics, later - fencing with the use of rapiers and cutting-swords, taught by F.S. Nikitenko. In 1904 boxing was added to the program of the courses and Vasily Pavlovich Krest’yanson, who was an appraiser at a pawn shop and a first-class all-purpose athlete at the same time, became the first boxing trainer. He also conducted classes in horizontal bar, parallel bar and ground gymnastics, as he was also a gymnast and won the Russian gymnastics championships in 1898 and 1900. Athletics and voluntary movements were taught by I.V. Lebedev himself.

Thus, the teaching staff of the courses of "Swedish gymnastics and athletics" was formed. It consisted of three teachers although only the head of the courses - I.V. Lebedev was getting paid. Since he received his salary (50 rubles monthly) not on the 20^th day, as all the employees, but on the 1^st, as professors, he became known as a "professor of athletics", as a university lecturer [2]. While being a member of the University I.V. Lebedev became also a member of the School Subcommittee of Physical Development in secondary educational institutions in Russia.

Weightlifting competitions were a part of the courses. The best athletes of the University were awarded with medals and diplomas, in case of records, and with badges and medals in case of outstanding results. The competitions were held publicly both within the walls of the University and in St. Petersburg Athletic Association (the riding school of the Count G.I. Ribeaupierre, Stremyannaya street 13) [4, 8].

I.V. Lebedev was a brilliant many-sided personality. He helped to organize the societies under Polytechnic and Forestry Institutes and under Military Medical Academy. In 1905, Lebedev began publishing the "Illustrated Magazine of Athletics and Sport" (6 issues were published). It was Russia's first magazine dedicated to athletic work. His motto was: "All Russian athletes to join the All-Russian Sports Union".

Eventually, in the spring of 1905, amid the growing revolutionary activity of the students, I.V. Lebedev left the University without passing final exams. This ended the glorious history of the first student courses of physical education in St. Petersburg and Russia. Later in June 1905 Lebedev opened his own school of athletics and at the same time began working as an arbiter at the championships in French wrestling in the circus, and became popular "Uncle Vanya". Moscow students called him so. Later "Uncle Vanya" became known throughout Russia.           

It is only fair to say that at about the same time but two years later in 1903 the "Student Gymnastic Society" was established under the Imperial Moscow University. The first steps of university sport in Moscow are related to the activities of this organization [10]. Students were practicing in three areas: gymnastics (voluntary movements, exercise machines and so on) - teacher Maresh ("Czech falcon"); fencing - teacher Lugar; wrestling and athletics - taught by student Chemodanov. In 1910-1913, the "Student Gymnastic Society" had the following courses: athletics, lawn tennis and football, in winter season - gymnastics, weightlifting, wrestling, fencing, cross-country skiing and skating.

But students started to be truly active in sports in 1910, when the St. Petersburg University Sports League was organized. The League declared among its objectives the promotion of sports in higher education institutions through the "organization of traditional student competitions, the registration of student records and the protection of amateurism in university sports". The history of establishment of the League was described in the journal "Russian sport" in 1910. By the time of founding the League initiators examined the state of university sport in the capital. The survey showed the following results: "... The situation, with a few exceptions, was bad. The lack of proper rooms; only the technological and polytechnical students had gymnasiums, while others had to train in the rooms designed for completely different purposes. Almost no one had the showers, so needed after all kinds physical exercises. The reason was the lack of funds. No money - no showers, no tennis courts, no good equipment for gymnastics. No football fields. Only one society of the lovers of physical development under Neuropsychiatric Institute had its own land for games, the rest were forced to play where possible... The best situation was in Forest Institute - 80 students out of 500 (16%).  The two polytechnic societies involved only 300 students out of 5000 (6%). Initially there were only two League championships - in athletics and wrestling. The organizers of wrestling competition, held in the "Sanitas" society, in agreement with the University Sports League decided not to award the title of official student champion this year, although University student P. Sokolov won the first prize in the middleweight championship". The Student Championship in Athletics of 1911 ended with the sweeping victory of the team of the sports society of Polytechnic Institute. Only one  University student E. Petrov was the second prize winner in the 1500 meters run with a result of 5 minutes and 9.6 seconds (in 1912, Evgeny Petrov took part in the Olympic Games in Stockholm) [4, 8].

In the period from 1908 to 1910, sports societies began to emerge or being restored in higher education institutions of St. Petersburg. The largest and most active were the societies under Polytechnic, Electrotechnical, Technology, Forestry and Mining Institutes, as well as under University.

It is noteworthy that in 1908, when the University sports society resumed its work, it was the time of the IV Olympic Games in London, the first games with the participation of Russian athletes. Among them  (there were 8 of them)  - two University students; one – law student, who transferred later to the Physics and Mathematics Faculty, Georgiy Demin (wrestling, lightweight); the other - graduate of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty N.A. Panin-Kolomenkin (figure skating, special figures), who became the first Russian Olympic Champion [9].

Conclusions. The courses "Swedish gymnastics and athletics", launched in 1901 at St. Petersburg University, should be considered the beginning of the organized university sports activities. The celebration at St. Petersburg University and the All-Russia Scientific Conference "The 100^th Anniversary of Physical Culture and Sport at St. Petersburg State University" in 2001 was devoted to this event. Nevertheless, many researchers of the history of sport (perhaps, except for V.N. Smirnov) did not pay attention to the role of these courses in the development of university sport in Russia, considering them by name more related to education, rather than sport. The analysis of these courses suggests that it was a prototype of a student' sports club, since several sports were presented there (athletics, boxing, fencing, gymnastics), as opposed to a variety of sports societies existing in those years. Since classes and training sessions were not mandatory but voluntary - for everyone there, it is the first sign of a sports, but not an educational institution. In his diaries stored together with his other documents in the Central State Archive of Literature and Arts of St. Petersburg, he asks: "It is interesting to know if anyone will speak well of me...". The year of 2014 will be the 135^th anniversary of the founder of university sport - Ivan Vladimirovich Lebedev (Uncle Vanya).

References

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2. Lebedeva, A. His name was Uncle Vanya / A. Lebedeva // Newspaper "Leningradsky universitet", 1979. - № 20 (2745). (In Russian)
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8. Smirnov, V.N. From the history of the development of sport in St. Petersburg University. / V.N. Smirnov // Voprosy fizicheskogo vospitaniya studentov. - St. Petersburg, 1992. - Iss. 23. - P.130-135. (In Russian)
9. Smirnov, V.N. St. Petersburg - the cradle of Russian sport / V.N. Smirnov // Voprosy fizicheskogo vospitaniya studentov. Ed. by A.I. Zorin. - 2003. - Iss. 28. - P. 140-151. (In Russian)
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Corresponding author: mb43@mail.ru