Veslački klub Danubius 1885 () is a Serbian rowing club from Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia. The club was founded in 1885 and is the oldest rowing club in former Yugoslavia.
Location
Since its inception, the club has be located on the Danube. For over 50 years it has been located at Sunčani kej 4, next to the city beach Štrand, kayak canoe club Vojvodina, restaurant Cesla and the Novi Sad quay.
History
The idea of rowing as a sport was first brought to Novi Sad by the poet Laza Kostić, with the unofficial beginnings of Danubius starting with the founding of Prva udruga vatrogasna,veslačka i jahačka (First Firefighting, Rowing, and Riding Association) in 1872. From this association, several groups and clubs would emerge in the following decades, including the Novosadsko vatrogasno društvo that exists to this day. The idea of the first independent rowing club started with merchant Viktor Menrat. The idea was supported by the citizens of Novi Sad, and as a result of their support a Statute and Regulations of the rowing club Danubius were adopted on March 28, 1885, with Viktor Menrat being the club's first president.
The first test run was recorded in the first book of outings, and it reports that on May 10, 1885, Vitoršek, Savin, Menrat, Melhuk, Bala and Frank, with the helmsman Karl Mayer, went out on the water in a rowing boat for six called Stefania. In addition to the names of the crew and the date, the helmsman also wrote the following:
When talking about the results of Danubius, the first type of competitions can be found within the club itself from training and the number of kilometers traveled. Summarized reports from the outing books at the end of each year show progress. In 1904 Dr Korenj Vilmoš rowed 815 kilometers, in 1907 Tišler Aladar was the first with 1430 kilometers, with Aladar improving his own record in 1911 when he rowed 2098 kilometers.
The club was inclusive from the very beginning, allowing anyone from Novi Sad and Petrovaradin to join, regardless of their nationality and ethnicity. However, members had to provide the props themselves, and the clothes that the rower had to wear were also prescribed. A blue and white cap, a blue and white shirt with yellow drawstring and blue embroidered club name, short blue čakšire with dark blue belt, a blue coat and white canvas shoes lined with yellow leather. Due to all these conditions, the club initially had only 11 members, but after two years of existence the number of members grew to 21. By the beginning of the First World War, the club would become a large organization with over 200 members.
Even though there were significant successes even before the First World War, the club rose to heights when Dr Ignjat Pavlas became the president in 1921, who, in addition to his responsibilities in the club, also known as the builder of the Falconry club in Novi Sad, mountaineer, lawyer, humanist, and patriot. In 1922, a victory was recorded at the regional regatta in Vukovar, and in 1924 Danubius became the national team champion.
While the club is credited for being the oldest rowing club in former Yugoslavia, it was also the pioneer in other activities. Around 1935, the club was among the first in Yugoslavia to adopt the sleek boats and the Fernburn style, improving their results.
Rowers played an important role in the Second World War by carrying mail for the Partizans to Srem. In this war, the club was left without its president Dr Ignjat Pavlas, who was at the head of the club until 1938, until the encroachment of fascism. Due to the emergence of this ideology, he was killed in the Novi Sad raid at the end of January 1942. Without most of the boats and without 16 of its members who tragically ended their lives on various battlefields, the club started almost from the beginning.
The club was the first in Yugoslavia to introduce rowing for women. In this period, gold medals began to slowly return, with Knebl and Ladišić being Serbian champions in 1950 in the duo without a coxswain for the first class.