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The idea of night sport for young people first appeared in the
United States, in Maryland, about 20 years ago. A group of
experts studying the deviant behaviour of young people under the
leadership of G. Van Standifier
(1986) established that the occurrence of juvenile crime is
more typical at night, after dark. This recognition gave rise to
the idea that with the help of the city council the building of
street basketball grounds should be initiated, completed with
various other facilities and be operated as open sport clubs at
night. They organized night basketball championships, which
became a widely known movement under the name of Midnight
Basketball League. The result was beyond all
expectations. In just one year the magnitude of juvenile crime
dropped significantly in the district. As a result of this in
two years numerous other midnight basketball clubs were
operating in various states of the U.S. Midnight sport became a
movement, and this movement soon spread to Europe too. We have
most information about the formation and activities of the
Hungarian Association of Midnight Championships.
Dr Sándor Faragó, paediatrician and child psychologist decided
to try something similar in Hungary too, but unlike the American
example instead of basketball he invited children to play table
tennis. This first happened in 1990. After the initial
difficulties the movement “spread like the flu” and several
night table tennis clubs sprung up. To coordinate and assist the
activity of the clubs already forming a network in Hungary, the
Hungarian Association of Midnight Championships (MÉSE) was
established in 1999 –
www.holdsugar.hu, – which by then included more than thirty
clubs. The first president of the Associations was Sándor
Faragó Dr, and from 2005 Péter Jakab, the sports
delegate of the local government of Szentendre took his place.
The
origin of the idea
 Dr
Ferenc Kovács, a dentist born in Subotica and now living in
Szentendre, who is an ardent supporter of the midnight table
tennis club in Szentendre, “brought” the idea to Subotica, and
told about it with great enthusiasm to his ex-classmates and
form teacher, Dezső Kiss, retired secondary school
teacher at a class reunion in 2005. At the reunion he found out
that there were no similar clubs operating around here. He asked
his classmates and form teacher to try to introduce midnight
sport for young people in his home-town, Subotica too. As he
said, this would mean a lot to him, since the movement would
create a continuous virtual relationship with his home-town. To
encourage his  form
teacher to take steps he gave him the business card of a friend
of his, Andrija Romić, the Councillor of Sport and Youth
Affairs of the Local Government of Subotica. The form teacher
and the former class promised to implement the idea. Back then
not even they knew what a large influence the originator of the
idea would have on them and that within a few months his wish
would come true. Several members of the former class later
became voluntary helpers or supporters of the Moonlight
Programme in Subotica.
Dezső Kiss about the start-up
 Enthusiastic about the foreign experiences of night
sport, I told about this opportunity at the board meeting of the
non-profit organization “Club
21 – Association for Positive Communication”. The board
proposed to work out a similar programme. After
drawing up a plan for the local form of the Moonlight Club,
which was approved by the non-profit organization, on 22
June, 2005 we set up the Youth
Night Sport Section of the organization. The board entrusted
me with the coordination of the activities. The local government
of Subotica also found the initiative worthy of supporting. The
realization of leisure sporting activities at night for the
youth was espoused and given assistance by Ildikó
Lovas,
Councilor of Cultural Affairs, and Andrija
Romić, Councilor
of Sport and Youth Affairs.
Accommodation
for the first Moonlight Cl ub was provided by the head-teacher of
my former workplace, the Technical School of Subotica, Erzsébet Ivanović and her enthusiastic team. With the
investment of considerable costs and work, but striving for a
noble cause, and lead by the
concept of “open school”, the head-teacher put an entrance
hall, a recreation room and two other rooms in the basement at
our disposal, where we could put two ping-pong tables. A part of
the equipment and furniture were provided by the school, while
another part was borrowed.
 In
the meantime a professional council was formed with the
participation of renowned specialists to provide professional
assistance for the Youth Night Sport Section of the organization. The president of the council is Andrija
Romić, Councilor
of Sport and Youth Affairs of the Local Government of Subotica, Dezső
Kiss, Master of Educational Studies and retired
secondary school teacher, Mihajlo
Pece, the
Secretary of local branch of Red Cross, Dr Zoltán Sági, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, and Josip
©ebeąćen, trainer of table tennis club “Spartak” in Subotica. The
Technical School appointed the president of the Club, Radmila
Kią, physical education teacher, who drew up the list of
teachers from the school on duty on Friday evenings, while the
local branch of Red Cross assigned an enlisted soldier
performing public service for night duty. Coaching activities
and the professional sports care of the youngsters were taken on
by Josip ©ebeąćen.
Attila Szalai, the caricaturist of weekly magazine “Hét nap”,
drew the poster of the Moonlight Club, which at the same time
became the basis of the club's logo. With this everything was
ready for the opening of the first Moonlight Club in
Subotica.
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