Qazim Dervishi (10 June 1908 – 19 January 1994) was the first

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

international

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

and a talented athlete and

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. He was born in 1908 in the city of

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra; historically known as Scodra or Scutari) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, fifth-most-populous city of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. Shkodër has been List of o ...

in a noble family of the time. In his honour the sports arena of Shkodër is now called

Qazim Dervishi Sports Palace Qazim Dërvishi Sports Palace is a multi-use sports arena in Shkodër, Albania. It is the owned and operated by the Municipality of Shkodër and it is the home of the multidisciplinary KS Vllaznia. It is named after Qazim Dervishi, who was a sp ...

Life

Dervishi was born in Shkodër, on June 10, 1908. Since his childhood he had a passion for all kinds of sports and he practiced football and basketball during his teenage years. In 1924 he entered the "Harry Fultz" Technical School in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

. The motto of the school at that time was "If we rest we rust" (). After finishing school he started teaching

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and he started training a team in Shkodër. He is known as the "man who brought basketball from Technical School" because of the popularity he gave the sport in his native city. In 1930 he was named headmaster of the "Malet Tona" campus in Shkodër. In 1939 he was transferred to the city of

Pogradec Pogradec (,) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, eleventh most populous city in Albania and the capital of the eponymous municipality. It is located on a List of settlements on the Lake Ohrid coastline, narrow plain between two mountain ch ...

to work as a teacher but came back to Shkodër in 1942. Just three years after, he was named president of the sportive society

KS Vllaznia KS and variants may refer to: Businesses and organizations * , a German postwar commando frogman force * , a Norwegian type of company * Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities * Keenspot, a webcomics/webtoons portal founded in Marc ...

. In the years 1946-1947 he transferred to

Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in Southern Albania, southern Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë moun ...

where he taught the local youths the sport of

for the first time. During 1947 he worked in the

Peqin Peqin (, sq-definite, Peqini) is a town and municipality in Elbasan County, central Albania. The municipality was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Gjoçaj, Karinë, Pajovë, Peqin, Përparim, Pe ...

- Kavaje railway as an instructor on physical education. That is where he was arrested by the communist government because of his sympathy to ex-King of Albanians

Ahmet Zogu Zog I (born Ahmed Muhtar Zogolli; 8 October 18959 April 1961) was the leader of Albania from 1922 to 1939. At age 27, he first served as Albania's youngest ever Prime Minister (1922–1924), then as president (1925–1928), and finally as King ...

. This was influenced from the fact that he had studied in the "Harry Fultz" Technical School where most of the dissidents of the communist regime had studied. A 22-month investigation was made from the "Sigurimi" that "found enough proofs" to declare him guilty of propaganda against the communist regime. He was punished with a sentence of 18 years but he served only until 1954 because of very bad health conditions. He was paralyzed and he managed to get a paralysis financial assistance. In 1993, he was given the title "The Nation's Teacher" for his contribution in sports. In 2009 the Council of the Municipality of Shkoder accorded to him the title "Honorary Citizen". He died in January 1994 in the age of 86 years, honored from the

Albanian people The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

Sporting activities

As soon as Dervishi went for studies in Tirana, he started taking part in the sportive activities that were held in the school and often was named among the excellent students in sports. He practised and contributed in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, etc. It should be mentioned that in an interview of Master Irfan Tershana, it is stated that Qazim was also one of the best

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

players of the

Technical School A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocationa ...

Athletics

His

career started when he entered the

in Tirana. From 1924 to 1928 he took some first and second prizes in the annual Olympic Games that were held in Tirana. He had his best results in

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

where he became national champion. In 1929 he was invited to join his hometown club,

Bashkimi Shkodran Bashkimi (Albanian for "unity") may refer to: Name * Bashkim, male personal name Newspapers * ''Bashkimi'' (Democratic Front newspaper), founded 1943 * ''Bashkimi'' (PPSHR newspaper), organ of the Reorganised Party of Labour of Albania (PPSHR) ...

for the first athletics championship in Albania. The team from Shkodër (the photo on the right) became national champions, having even Qazim's help. In the National Athletics Championship taken place in Tirana at 1930 he secured the first place in

with a result of 12.22 meters. He improved his result to 12.41 meters in the

, which secured him another first place in the National Athletics Championship of 1933.

Football

Even though Dervishi was a multiple champion in

, he had great success as a footballer. In fact, the school's vice-director Williams B. Juillirat chose him as a permanent advisor in football along with Spiro Kristo in

and Vangjel Qirio in

. Dervishi had success in

in the right wing as a right wing attacker. In 1929 he was called from SK Durrës football club to play in an international friendly match versus US Bari, of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, in that time a

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

team. For the next ten years, until 1939, he would play with

(the photo on the right) and would become a key member of the team. He is also the scorer of the first goal ever in the Kategoria e Pare e Topkembes, scored against

SK Tirana Sport Klub Tirana is an Albanian sports club based in the country's capital Tirana, most notable for its association football department. The club also consists of various other departments including basketball, volleyball, futsal Futsal is a v ...

. After ending his career he started training youths in Shkodër and learning them to play

. To finalise his work with the youths of Shkodër he organized for the first time in Shkodër the local youths championship with kids coming from the city's schools. In this championship were discovered football talents that would later give Vllaznia the title. Some of the players discovered were

Muhamet Dibra Muhamet Dibra (31 October 1923 – 1 January 1998) was an Albanian football player. The road the Loro Boriçi Stadium is on in Shkodër is named after him and he received a number of notable awards for his services to sport in Albania. Club car ...

Pal Mirashi Pal Mirashi (13 December 1925 — 13 October 2001) was an Albanian football striker. He is known for being part of the 1946 Albania vs Yugoslavia football match, which was Albania's first official match. He earned 8 caps (plus one unofficial) wi ...

Bahri Kavaja Bahri Ahmet Kavaja (23 August 1924 – 19 August 1987) was an Albanian football player who played for Vllaznia Shkodër and Dinamo Tirana as well as the Albania national team. International career He made his debut for Albania in an October 1 ...

Hamdi Bakalli Hamdi Bakalli (1 January 1923 – 1 January 1991) was an Albanian footballer who played for Vllaznia Shkodër, Ylli I Kuq Shkodër, Partizani Tirana and Dinamo Tirana. He was born on 1 January 1923 in Shkodër and died on the same date of 1991, ...

, and

Xhevdet Shaqiri Xhevdet Shaqiri (5 January 1923 – 11 September 1997) was an Albanian football player and coach. Playing career Club He played as a defender for Vllaznia Shkodër, Partizani Tirana and Dinamo Tirana during his playing career and won 9 league ...

Basketball

The first ever official

match in Albania was played on March 2, 1928, between the

and the "Malet Tona" campus. For the Technical School captain was Qazim Dervishi. The match was won from the boys of the

with the result of 32–14. In 1929 he is named headmaster in the "Malet Tona" campus in Shkodër. Even here along with the headmaster duties, Dervishi gave a primary importance to the sports practising. After a year of training, on June 27, 1930, was held the first basketball match in the city of Shkodër between the local team of the "Malet Tona" campus and the "Naim Frasheri" club from Tirana. The match was played in a regular size field and for the first time in Shkodër were put the baskets. Dervishi was the referee for this game, which ended in a tie. In the years 1933–1934, in the Perash elementary school where he was working (the only mixed school at that time) he started the women's basketball which became also popular.

Career as a referee

After 1939, Dervishi took another direction, that of a referee and of the director of the physical education. In this year he finishes a 3-months training to classify himself as a referee. On February 22, 1946, he presided the first ever international match between Albania and

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

. He also was the only Albanian

in the 1946

Balkan Games The Balkan Athletics Championships or Balkan Games () is a regional athletics competition held between nations from the Balkans and organized by Association of the Balkan Athletics Federations. The first games were held in Athens in 1929, and th ...

where the

Albania national football team The Albania national football team () represents Albania in men's international Association football, football. It is governed by the Albanian Football Federation (FSHF), the governing body for football in Albania. It is a member of UEFA in Eur ...

won the championship. He presided a match as the main referee (

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, 2–1) and another one as a linesman (Albania-

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, 1–0).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dervishi, Qazim 1908 births 1994 deaths Footballers from Shkodër Albanian men's footballers Men's association football wingers Albanian male athletes Basketball players from Shkodër Albanian men's basketball players Albanian football referees 20th-century Albanian sportsmen