Badminton Europe would like to wish the Faroese Badminton Association a happy 40th anniversary. Find out about the nation with a little over 50,000 people in the middle of the Atlantic who is determined to grow badminton into one of their biggest sports.
The exact birthday for the Faroe Islands is Valentine’s Day, 14 February 1981. To celebrate, they served a layered cake at a team competition for U7 to U17. They followed up this month with some postponed celebrations alongside a Grand Prix tournament in the main badminton hall of the capital Tórshavn, with over 40 enlarged photos covering the past 40 years.
President of the Faroese Badminton Association, Johnny í Grotinum, sums up how far they have come in these years.
- It would be misleading if I stood up and claimed that badminton in the Faroe Islands today, 40 years after the founding of the badminton association, is bigger than ever before. But what has characterised the development in recent years is an increased focus on introducing badminton in public schools, and we believe that in this way we can recreate badminton as one of the most important alternatives to football and handball in this country. In recent years, we have also brought an increasing number of young players to competitions abroad. This is due both to the generally declining travel costs - we are quite isolated in the middle of the Atlantic - and also the great effort Badminton Europe makes by communicating competitions, training and education offers.
A historic moment in 2020
The Faroe Islands made a historic debut appearance at the 2020 European Junior Team Championships in Finland, taking their young talents onto the court and proudly flying their flag.
What better opponent to initiate them into the tournament then European powerhouse and eventual team champions, Denmark. The Faroe Islands are part of the Kingdom of Denmark and the nation comprising of 18 volcanic islands between Iceland and Norway gave it their all against their Viking cousins. For Hans Elttør, it was a moment to savour.
-The feeling is crazy; I cannot really describe it. You can’t help but be a little bit nervous and have butterflies in your belly, but it is really cool to be here.
Celebrating milestones like this, and this year’s birthday, provides a chance to reflect and build towards a brighter future. Secretary General of the Faroese Badminton Association, Peter Chr. Gram, shares words of optimism.
-For a country as small as the Faroe Islands, it is not a natural thing for us to be able to afford professional help in the day-to-day administration. But now it is a reality, and we have now come to the point that we are looking forward to increased collaboration with various external stakeholders, especially Badminton Europe and BWF. We have a special focus on reaching out to all parts of the country and not least to all schools.
For more information about the Faroese Badminton Association, click here.