25 YEARS OF THE RED HALL VELENJE

Due to a constantly increasing number of inhabitants and increasing needs of the rapidly developing economy in the Šaleška dolina valley, the planning of the construction of a multipurpose hall in Velenje lasted for several years. To the initiative of the then mayor of the municipality Velenje, Nestl Žgank, the ideas were brought to reality in August 1974, when the construction works for the new hall began between the Bus Station Velenje and the Celjska Street. According to the designs of the architectural office Projektivni biro Velenje and the architect Andrej Šmid (it is a repetition project of the so-called Russian Pavilion situated at the Zagreb Fair), the workers of the construction company Gradis from Celje and workers of the company Monter from Slovenj Gradec started the construction of a hall for economic, sporting and cultural events in the Šaleška dolina valley. The president of the construction committee for the construction of the hall was the then manager of Gorenje, Ivan Atelšek. The new hall was supposed to be predominantly intended for economic events, for the presentation of the economy of Velenje at consumer fairs, exhibitions and other events; and one of the largest Slovenian economic organisations, Gorenje, was supposed to have a permanent exhibition room in the new hall. Sporting events were only the second most important, although it is interesting that soon after the opening of the hall, the then federal captain of the Yugoslav handball team Ivan Snoj said that nowhere in the world had he seen such good and appropriate floor for sporting events as it was in the hall in Velenje. The funds for the construction of the multipurpose hall, envisaged in the medium-term plan of municipality Velenje, were, according to a social agreement, provided by the then Basic Organisations of Associated Labour who were paying their contributions to the Non-economic Investments Fund of Municipality Velenje, and considerable funds for the construction of the facility were acquired through referendums. The Fund's Management Committee decided that in the first half of August 1974, the construction works for the multipurpose hall and the central parking lot next to it could commence. Participants in the financing of the construction of the hall that was planned to have an area of 4000 m2 and the capacity of 3000 spectators, and cost approximately 30 million dinars (as a comparison: the tickets for the first event in the hall cost 30 dinars), were the following: the Non-economic Investments Fund of Municipality Velenje, the Urban Parcels Management Fund and municipal work organisations that were supposed to finance the construction of external municipal connections.

Despite the difficulties (the ground was moist, so the piles had to be driven rather deep), the construction of the hall progressed quickly, and in one year's time, the hall was ready for the reception of the first guests. The hall, first named merely the Multipurpose Hall, is built on so-called piles, with a metal structure, and its outer walls are covered with red plastic panels, because of which the hall was soon named the Red Hall. The hall with 4000 seats had its unofficial opening on Saturday, 11th October 1975, with the commemoration of the municipal festival of the then Municipality Velenje. The official opening of the Hall took place on Wednesday, 26th November 1975, when the fashion company Modni salon Velenje, along with the Stop magazine, organised a fashion show in the new hall, along with the performance of the Avsenik Ensemble, and the awards were presented upon the conclusion of the Workers' Sports Games in Municipality Velenje in 1975. It was obvious that Velenje really needed a new hall, as the first event was visited by 6000 spectators, although, the official capacity of the hall was only 4000 people.

The investors for the construction of the new hall in Velenje, the Velenje Municipal Assembly and the Non-economic Investments Fund of Municipality Velenje, were at the same time the founders of a new working organisation that was named "The Multipurpose Hall Velenje (in process of founding)" and registered in the court register of the organisations of associated labour at the District Economic Court in Celje on 16th December 1975. The Instrument of Constitution of the Working Organisation "The Multipurpose Hall, in process of founding" was adopted on 2nd December 1975, with the provision No 023-24/75-1 by the Velenje Municipal Assembly, and the provision by the Non-economic Investments Fund of Municipality Velenje issued on 2nd December 1975. Edvard Blažek was appointed acting Director of the new hall. While registering the new organisation of associated labour, the following was entered as the subject of its operations: "... organisation and execution of fairs and exhibitions, organisation and execution of sporting events, organisation and execution of cultural, socially-political and social events."

The constitution process of the new working organisation was concluded on 14th April 1976, when a request could be issued for a repeated registration in the court register of the organisations of associated labour. On 6th September 1976, a uniform working organisation without basic organisations of associated labour, Red Hall Velenje, Velenje, Šaleška cesta, was registered at the District Economic Court in Celje. Edvard Blažek remained acting director and on 26th July 1977, he was appointed director of the organisation of associated labour Red Hall Velenje which employed 12 workers. During the renewed registration, the scope of operations was expanded to "performance of advertising, propaganda, informative and tourist activities for the best possible utilisation of the facility for the clients' needs and the organisation's own needs, as well as the performance of maintenance works for the organisation's own needs and for other clients." On 13th December 1977, the workers decided, through a referendum, for a modification and amendment of Article 8 of the Working Organisation's Statute, i.e. for an additional expansion of their activities which now also included "the services of a tourist agency, the services of a tourist office, road traffic transport and hospitality services." By the referendum from 4th August 1978 and the decision of the District Economic Court in Celje issued on 13th September, the scope of operations was expanded once again, and this time it was "selling and booking all types of tickets in the public passenger transport, provision of passports and visas, foreign currency exchange, cash deposition, selling of souvenirs, postcards, post stamps, various tourist informative materials, tobacco products, daily and periodic publications, as well as translation services." Expanding of operations of course meant the increase in number of employees; in August 1978, there were already 21 of them. At this time, serious considerations were being given to a construction of another smaller, prefabricated hall that would be set up next to the Red Hall and it would house premises for permanent and periodic exhibitions, storage rooms, the management's offices and a restaurant. The construction of a hall that was supposed to have an area of about 2000 m2 was never realised.

On 9th November 1978, the representatives of Izletnik Celje, that had by then managed the Recreation-Tourist Centre Golte, and the representatives of the Red Hall Velenje signed a contract in Mozirje, according to which the Red Hall took over from Izletnik the management of Golte; by signing the contract, the Red Hall also took over all operating assets and all financial liabilities in the amount of over 20 million dinars. The maintenance works began immediately and the ski slopes were reopened on 26th November, i.e. before the beginning of winter season. The renovation of the ski centre did not go entirely smoothly, and the problems even increased after the accident that happened in the evening of 14th January 1979 when the carrier cable at Golte snapped and a cable car with three passengers fell to the ground. Luckily, the accident had no casualties. In the autumn of 1980, the cable railway Žekovec was in operation again, maintenance works were done on all other ski lifts, and a new road from Šmihel to Planinske ravne was built, where a parking lot for about 500 cars was made.

In the beginning of the year 1980, the conditions for an establishment of two basic organisations of associated labour were satisfied at the working organisation Red Hall Velenje: 'Economic Propaganda' and 'Recreation and Tourism', and a working community of joint services was formed as well. Based on the social agreement on the basis of the plan of Municipality Velenje for the period 1981-85 and on the resolution about the policy of execution of the social plan of Municipality Velenje in the year 1981, the employees in the working organisations Hospitality Services Velenje (Gostinstvo Velenje) and Red Hall Velenje had a referendum on 10th March 1981 and voted for uniting into a new working organisation that started its operation on 1st April 1981. Since then, its name was Working Organisation for Tourism, Hospitality Services and Propaganda Paka, with the following basic organisations of associated labour: BOAL Hospitality Services, BOAL Tourism and Recreation and BOAL Economic Propaganda, as well the Working Community of Joint Services. On 31st May 1982, BOAL Tourism and Recreation and BOAL Economic propaganda united into BOAL for Organisation of Sporting, Cultural and Entertainment Events - Red Hall. On 10th March 1982, a decision on formation of BOAL Recreation-Tourist Centre Golte was adopted.

In the beginning of the year 1984, preparations for another reorganisation of the working organisation began, and on 6th March 1985 they received a decision of the Court prescribing the existing BOALs to register as uniform working organisations: WO Hospitality Services Paka, WO Red Hall and WO RTC Golte. On 25th May 1992, the Government of Velenje ratified, according to the Institutes Act, the draft decree on the foundation of the Public Sports and Recreation Institute Red Hall Velenje (the Red Hall had actually operated as an institute since 1st April 1991). The Institute's primary activity was supposed to be the management and maintenance of sports facilities, i.e. the Red Hall, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, sports grounds by the swimming pools and the sports park by the lake. The public institute was thus supposed to provide conditions for performers of the municipal sports and recreation programme. Beside that, the public institute was also registered for some secondary activities (services in the area of sports and cultural activities and social life, hospitality services, giving for rent of business premises and services in the area of marketing).

In the middle of 1980s, problems in operation of the Red Hall started to occur, as its financing was not properly arranged, and the maintenance costs kept increasing (among other things, the roof started to leak). In 1989, some larger renovation works were done in the Hall; the southern spectator gallery was removed, by which much more playing space was gained in the ground floor, and on the gallery above the removed spectator gallery, a tennis court was made. In August 1994, major maintenance works were again carried out, including the renovation of 4365 m2 of the roof, the sealing of light cupolas and ventilating fans on the roof, the renovation of the floor, spectator galleries, sanitary facilities, dressing rooms etc. In 1998, the floor in the Hall was replaced. The floor was covered by so-called floating parquet, thus providing top-level conditions for all the major sporting events. In the anniversary year 2000, the roof and the sanitation facilities were repaired, and some other things were done as well, in order for the Red Hall to peacefully and boldly step into another 25-year period.
So since the beginning of the 1990s, the working organisation Red Hall has continued its work as a public institute under the name Red Hall - Sports and Recreation Institute, Velenje, Šaleška 3. Thirteen employees of the public institute manage the Red Hall, swimming pools and the city stadium by the lake, which are all the property of Municipality Velenje.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EVENTS IN THE RED HALL

In the 25-year history of the Hall, an enormous number of cultural, economic, fair, sporting, entertainment and other events were organised, so therefore we naturally cannot list them all; let us mention only a few of them. From 6th to 20th December 1975, the 1st New Year's Consumer Fair was organised in the new hall in Velenje, with 19 companies and 14 private exhibitors. The president of the preparatory committee for the organisation of the Fair was Ivan Lahovnik, and the Fair was opened by the then Mayor of Municipality Velenje Nestl Žgank. In fourteen days' time, the Fair was visited by 36200 people buying the merchandise of the total value of 4.7 billion dinars (among other things, 483 cars were sold, most of them were Zastava 101, and 700 TV sets). The next major event in the multipurpose hall in Velenje was organised already on 26th December of the same year, when they commemorated the 30th anniversary of freedom and bodily culture in Slovenia. At the event in the Red Hall, where Mitja Ribičič, the President of the Republic Conference of the Socialist Alliance of the Working People, was the official speaker, over 4000 spectators greeted over 2000 artists on stage and the majority of the most successful Slovenian sports athletes from 1945 to 1975. And over 2500 people awaited the New Year of 1976 in the new hall in Velenje. Soon after the successfully organised New Year's Eve party, on 16th January 1976, the first rock concert in the Šaleška dolina valley was organised in the Red Hall, with Yu grupa from Belgrade, Parni valjak from Zagreb, Foundation from England, the local music group Ave, and with around 2000 spectators from near and far. Noticeable and very well visited events in the new hall in Velenje followed one after another. In the spring of 1976, a new fair was set up in the Red Hall: the 1st Velenje Spring Fair, with around 50 companies participating, took place from 9th to 18th April. On 18th June, the Hall hosted the Show of Musical Ensembles and Homely Melodies, which had been organised a year before in Šalek, as a celebration of the 900th anniversary of the village. Beside sixteen ensembles and two accordion soloists, Fran Milčinski Ježek participated in the show.

In the first half of the year 1976, the company Gorenje, while adopting the middle-term development plan, prepared an presentation in the Hall to present its production programme to the broader public for the first time, and on 8th October of the same year, they opened an exhibition of products manufactured in the member factories of the Composite Organisation of Associated Labour Gorenje, to promote the 1977 production programme of Gorenje to both domestic and foreign customers. The household appliance factory Gorenje Velenje organised in the Red Hall its so-called house fairs i.e. exhibitions of achievements and plans of the Gorenje Business System. So, for example, in 1988 (when the last such fair was organised in the Red Hall), the fair took place from 18th to 29th October and was visited by over 4000 business partners of Gorenje (more than 1000 of which were from abroad) and numerous distinguished guests from business and political sphere of the then country. The workers of the Red Hall helped in setting up the booths for Gorenje in various fairs and trade shows home and abroad.
At the end of the year 1976 (from 15th to 26th December) a New Year's Fairagain took place in the Red Hall (the exhibition rooms were decorated with the paintings by Jože Horvat – Jaki, and the exhibition of birds prepared by the Velenje Association for Breeding and Care of Birds) and the year was concluded with a large New Year's Eve party. The New Year's Consumer Fairs were still often organised in this Hall during the 1980s.
On 8th March 1977, over 7000 women gathered in the Red Hall to commemorate the International Women's Day. The meeting was organised by the Municipal Conference of the Socialist Alliance of the Working People and the Municipal Council of the Trade Union Association of Velenje. The cultural programme included Slovenian Octet, Women's Octet from Obir, Polde Bibič, the Šalek Folklore Group, Janez Hočevar – Rifle and Mito Trefalt, and it was hosted by Borut Mencinger.
On 20th May 1978, Dance Club Velenje organised an event called "The Dance of the Youth" where 110 young dancers showed their skills in front of numerous visitors. Following the large carnival in February 1980, the competition "Our Towns Among Themselves" took place in the Hall in 1980, with participating teams from Velenje and Trbovlje. On 20th December of the same year, the closing event with the presentation of the award for the Disco Dancer of 1980 in the area of municipality Velenje was organised, with the singer Tomaž Domicelj as the guest of the evening.

In December 1981, the Drivers and Mechanics Association Velenje prepared the second exhibition with a title "Prevention, Sports and Safety in the Road Traffic", lasting from 17th to 20th December.
On 16th May 1987, the final show of the Slovenian Disco Club Charts was organised in the Red Hall, together with the Miss Slovenian Disco Club contest. The spectators could enjoy some good music too, as a famous group Silent Circle from the then Federal Republic of Germany had a concert in the Red Hall, promoting their new record. On 4th October 1987, and exhibition of innovations "Harvest of Innovations of the Savinja and Šalek economy" was opened, where 50 achievements in the area of research and innovation activity of municipalities Velenje and Mozirje were presented, along with the presentation of 9 organisations of associated labour and 9 other exhibitors.

From 13th to 17th November 1994, the 1st fair with a topic "Gas in the House"took place, organised by the Executive Council of the Assembly of Municipality Velenje and by the Secretariat for Public Economic Affairs, together with the group Graffit; 14 manufacturers of gas devices and equipment participated on the fair that was opened by the President of the Executive Council of the Assembly of Municipality Velenje, Srečko Meh. In the years 1999 and 2000, the Red Hall hosted an exhibition of the regional economy meeting of the Šaleška dolina valley and the Upper Savinja valley.

Let us enumerate some more noticeable events in this central event facility of the Šaleška dolina valley: numerous concerts of pop and ethno-pop music (Bijelo dugme, Sedam mladih, Plavi orkestar, Neda Ukraden, Tereza Kesovija, Mišo Kovač, Bajaga i instruktori, Sar e Roma, Slovenski muzikantje, Alfi Nipič, Agropop, Vice Vukov), appearance of the Dance Orchestra of RTV Ljubljana, meetings of working people in the commemoration of the 1st May (e.g. in the years 1985 and 1986), New Year's celebrations for children and adults, New Year's Balls, costume parties for children, various charity concerts, the 1st Slovenian Pop Music Festival (14th December 1990); the annual prom dances of the School Centre Velenje have been organised for several years now, concerts of numerous singers and musical groups, etc. concerts , and the Pippi Longstocking Festival, the largest children's festival in Slovenia that is visited by tens of thousands of children from all over the country every year, has also found its place in the Hall.

SPORTING EVENTS IN THE RED HALL

In the first years of operation of the Red Hall, some sporting events were organised in it as well (e.g. matches of Yugoslav basketball team, Handball Club Šoštanj and Women's Handball Club Velenje), even though the sports were given less importance in the organisation of events in the Hall. While building the Hall, the administration of the then Municipality Velenje predominantly thought of organisation of fairs, as they wanted Velenje to become a city of fairs as well. But in 1976, the Hall's management and the representatives of the Primary Council for Physical Culture finally came to a mutual agreement that the Hall was available for sportsmen's trainings and matches every day between 15:00 and 20:00 hours, and the costs of the use of the Hall were covered by the Primary Council for Physical Culture.

On Saturday, 5th March 1977, there was a professional boxing show in the Hall, where more then 5000 spectators saw fights of eight famous European and South American boxers, and the central show was the match between the European professional champion, Mate Parlov, and French boxer Christian Poncelet. Among other events in 1977, II. Yugoslav Students' Sports Games took place in the Hall (in Velenje, handball was played), as well as III. sporting meeting of the Triglav insurance company and a friendly game between female volleyball players of China and Yugoslavia. In January 1980, the anniversary of Slovenian handball was commemorated in the Red Hall, with a ceremony, an exhibition about the development of Slovenian handball and a match between Slovenian and Yugoslav team.

The thirteenth "quadrathlon of the nations", a traditional meeting of handball teams from Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of Germany, Denmark and the Czech Republic, took place in October 1981 in the then Titovo Velenje, Ajdovščina and Ljubljana. On the very first day of the competition, on 16th October, when the opening ceremony took place, the spectators in the Red Hall could see the matches Federal Republic of Germany : the Czech Republic and Yugoslavia : Denmark. The members of the Ski School Golte, which was active within the Red Hall, organised a "ski week" between 16th and 21st November. On 16th November, they organised a sporting event where the national ski team appeared on stage as well. This event was one of the Hall's records, as 5500 tickets were sold, and eventually, the people who couldn't buy tickets were also let in, so there were over 6000 people in the Hall. During the "ski week", a ski equipment fair was organised, which was usually a one-day event, but this time it lasted for three days (from 17th to 19th November).

The permanent guests of the Hall were also the female handball players from Velenje who played there numerous matches in various Slovenian and Yugoslav leagues and in the cup contests; and they, just like the male players, almost considered the Hall their home. In the 1981/1982 season, they first played with the team Podravka from Koprivnica and won with the result 20:19 in front of 1500 spectators. On 19th May 1982, they played in the semi-finals of the Yugoslav Cup contest, against the Yugoslav federal champion Radnički from Belgrade. 3000 spectators saw a top-class handball match and excellent playing of the home team, but eventually, due to nervousness and bad luck with injuries, the players from Velenje had to admit the superiority of the stronger adversaries. Despite the defeat (24:29), the players of the home team did not disappoint, achieving surely the most important success of the Velenje female handball by then.

On 24th August 1984, and interesting basketball match took place in the Red Hall, between the team Olimpija from Ljubljana and the team of American East Coast universities, Big East. In December 1984, a New Year's Futsal Tournament was organised in the Red Hall for the first time, with numerous first-league teams from the then Yugoslavia and guests from many European countries. In the following ten years, the tournament gradually became one of the most important futsal tournaments in Slovenia.

On 22nd May 1985, the Karate Club Velenje organised the 13th tournament for the Velenje Cup, with 25 masters of karate from all Slovenian clubs gathering in the Red Hall. On 4th December 1986, a major dancing and sporting event, 'Europe is Dancing', took place in the Hall, presenting dancers from numerous European countries.
On 18th January 1986, the Red Hall hosted a dancing tournament "Slovenia is Dancing", and on 31st May, a weight-lifting competition for the "Alpe-Adria Cup" was organised. On 14th June, another dancing event was prepared, this time it was the federal dance combination championship, and on 5th October, a boxing competition "Darko Krivec Memorial" took place in the Hall. At the 1986 New Year's Futsal Tournament (organised in two parts: on 29th December 1986 and in the beginning of January 1987), there were 78 participating teams, including the following: Partizan from Belgrade, Dinamo from Zagreb, Hajduk from Split, GAK from Graz, etc.

On 27th April 1987, Dance Club Velenje organised a federal championship in Latin dances for different age groups. In celebration of the 35th anniversary of handball in the Šaleška dolina valley, three handball generations (playing in the periods 1952-1962, 1962-1972, 1972-1982) gathered in the Red Hall on 4th July of the same year, and celebrated the anniversary with a handball tournament.

In January 1988, an International Futsal Show took place in the Red Hall. The tournament was, as the most of these tournaments, organised by the Futsal Club Sport klub Velenje in co-operation with the Red Hall. In the first international event under the FIFA patronage and in agreement with the Yugoslav Football Association, eight teams took part; four domestic and four foreign teams. A special organisational committee at the Football Club Rudar determined two groups, Group A for foreign teams and Group B for domestic teams. In the first team, the first place was easily achieved by Belgians, and in the second group, the team Talci from Maribor won, who were then better in the final match and won the tournament (they had already won two New Year's tournaments in Velenje in the previous years). This tournament was of great interest to the spectators as well as domestic and foreign reporters.

On 18th March 1989, Dance Club Velenje organised a federal championship in Latin dances, which again took place in the Red Hall and presented 84 dancing couples from twelve dance clubs. At the end of March, the 20th anniversary of the Women's Handball Club was celebrated - they organised a tournament with the following participants: the home team and the teams Sardinia H.C. from Italy, ERA from Šmartno and Arena from Pula (their match with the Velenje players was at the same time a championship match of the 20th round in the second league - North). The best in the tournament were the Italian players (the then best Yugoslav player Svetlana Kitič also played in their team), who beat the Velenje players in the final match.

The male Handball Club Gorenje Velenje has been organising the Jarnovič Memorial for several years now, to celebrate the memory of the beginner of handball playing in Šoštanj. On 15th September 1990, the 6th tournament hosted the home team and the teams Celje, KAC Klagenfurt and Slovenj Gradec. On 2nd November, the members of the karate section of TVD Partizan Šoštanj prepared the Slovenian Karate League finals with six best Slovenian clubs participating in the matches in the Red Hall.

On Sunday, 24th March 1991, the karateists from Šoštanj organised in the Red Hall the 1st International Karate Tournament for the Šoštanj Cup. Teams from Germany, Italy, Austria and Slovenia took part in the tournament, and the cadets of the Police School of Tacen pri Ljubljani demonstrated their skills as well. From 9th to 13th December 1992, the Red Hall hosted a European Tennis Qualification Championship (the president of the Honorary Committee was dr. Janez Drnovšek), with participating national teams of Israel, Estonia, Ukraine, Croatia and Slovenia. The tournament was won by the Slovenian team.

On Sunday, 24th October 1993, in the third game of qualifications for the European Championship, the Slovenian team played in the Red Hall with the strong Norwegian team. In front of almost 2000 spectators (among them were also the President of the Slovenian Parliament mag. Herman Rigelnik and the President of the Assembly of Municipality Velenje Pankrac Semečnik) and in a great atmosphere, the Slovenian team won the game with the result 24:19 (the last goal of the match was scored by the player from Velenje, Borut Plaskan).

In the 1994/95 season, the handball players of Gorenje Club played in the competition of the European Handball Association Cup. They played three international matches in front of their home audience (with an Icelandic, Slovak and Russian team) and reached the semi-finals where they were defeated by the Russian team Polyot from Čeljabinsk.

Among other sports, table tennis has also found its place in the Hall. Beside trainings, several table tennis competitions were organised here. On 24th February 1994, the members of the Table Tennis Club ERA-Tempo Velenje organised the final match of the 2nd European Senior League between Slovenia and Slovakia (the Slovaks were more successful).

On 24th 1995, to celebrate the National Day and the 120th anniversary of the Velenje Lignite Mine, the Heavy Athletic Club Rudar Velenje organised in the Red Hall and interesting weightlifting tournament with the participants from Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Austria and Italy. On 4th November, the Slovenian male handball team played a qualification match for the European Championship in Spain - they defeated the Austrian team with the result 27:19. From 25th November to 2nd December, the Red Hall hosted a tennis ATP tournament Nika Crystal Cup, with some famous names from the tennis world (e.g. Andrej Čerkasov who was in the 13th place in the ATP chart in 1991). Among individuals, the tournament was won by the Rumanian player with German citizenship, Alex Radulescu. And on 9th December, the state competition in standard dances was organised in the Hall.

In September 1996, an international women's handball tournament was organised in the Red Hall, which was won by the team Mlinotest from Ajdovščina, the following teams being Vegrad, the team in the second place of the second German league, Quelle, and the winners of the Italian Cup, Rimini. The players of Vegrad had their first international match on 12th October when they played, in front of only 200 spectators, with a French team Stade Bethunois in the City Cup contest, and despite their great desire to win, they lost with 20:24 (13:12).
The male handball team of Gorenje also had successful seasons 1996/97 and 1997/98; they participated very successfully in the European Cup competition and played some inspiring matches with renowned European clubs in the Red Hall.

For several years now, the Red Hall has been organising the Velenje Open Table Tennis Championship for Recreational Players, table tennis championships of schools' sports associations, open and state championships for different categories, and on 6th and 7th March 1998, the Table Tennis Club ERA – Tempo, together with the Red Hall Velenje, organised the State Table Tennis Championship for Seniors. On 11th September 1999, the Karate Club Velenje and the Slovenian Karate Association organised the International Karate Tournament for the Velenje Cup.
The Red Hall organised the Velenje International Open Table Tennis Championship twice (in the years 1998 and 1999), and in 2000, it was changed into the 1st Slovenian International Open Table Tennis Championship, with around 70 competitors from ten countries from all over the world. In the recent years, the competition in the Red Hall has been the largest and the most important table tennis competition in Slovenia.

In the Hall, there are permanent or periodic trainings of handball, judo, table tennis, tennis, karate, free climbing (on an artificial climbing wall), football, basketball, fencing, badminton, squash etc.). In the Red Hall and in Velenje, preparatory trainings for numerous foreign national teams and for various sports have often been organised, especially for handball (e.g. the teams of Japan and South Korea), basketball, table tennis, etc. The recreational sportsmen are also constant guests of the Hall, as numerous recreative leagues in various sports are organised here, and beside that, the recreational sportsmen can do numerous sports here (table tennis, badminton, squash, tennis, football, etc.). Open championships for recreational sportsmen have been organised every year, in football (since 1996), volleyball (since 1992) and table tennis (since 1994). Since 1996, the Red Hall has been offering various sporting activities for children during school holidays. In February 1997, the semi-final and final match for the champion of the schools' sports associations in the Šaleška dolina valley for older boys took place in the Hall (won convincingly by the pupils of the primary school OŠ Livada Velenje), and an indoor football tournament for older boys with the following participating teams: Football Team Krško, Football Team Brežice, Football Team Era Šmartno, Football Team Usnjar and Football Teams Rudar I and II. In June 1997, a handball league for the Red Hall Transitional Cup was organised for third and fourth graders of municipality Velenje, etc. In August 1999, the Red Hall participated in the organisation of the 30th International Youth Sports Games, and every year, they participate in the organisation of the action "Wind in the Hair - Sports Against Drugs", etc.

Today, the Red Hall is with no doubt the central sports facility in the Šaleška dolina valley, where both top sports athletes and recreational sportsmen have found their place. Except in summer months, when it is holiday time and time for maintenance works, the Red Hall is occupied from the morning hours until latein the evening, all days in a week, which only confirms the fact that this kind of sports facility is very much necessary in Velenje. Recreation and top sporting events walk hand in hand in the Red Hall. The head office of the Velenje Sport Association is also situated in the Hall, so over the years, the Hall has become a genuine sports centre of the valley, a place for everyday meetings of active sportsmen, recreational sportsmen, sports technicians and all sports enthusiasts from the Šaleška dolina valley and elsewhere.

 

Collected and edited by
Damijan Kljajič		 Photos
Stane Hafner, Damijan Kljajič, Peter Marinšek, Aleš Ojsteršek, Alojz Ojsteršek, archives of the Red Hall, archives of Museum Velenje
Sources and literature

  • various notes from the archive of the Red Hall Velenje - Sports and Recreation Institute ;
  • Naš čas newspaper, years 1975 to 1990;
  • Damijan Kljajič, 45 years of Naš čas, typescript by the archives of Museum Velenje;
  • Večer, various years;
  • Celjski tednik (Novi tednik), various years;
  • Delo, various years;
  • Sportske novosti, various years;
  • statement of Nestl Žgank, archives of Museum Velenje;
  • statement of Ivan Atelšek, archives of Museum Velenje;
  • statement of Marjan Klepec, archives of Museum Velenje;
  • Damijan Kljajič, 30 years of women's handball in Velenje, Velenje 2000;
  • Damijan Kljajič, 25 years of Table Tennis Club ERA Tempo Velenje, Velenje 2000.