Thibaean Sports Channel
National provider of every sport in the Republic since 400 AL
Sports in Thibaea have an massive audience, with the industry and supporting sub-industries alone estimated to make hundreds of millions of dollars each year, and continue to make substantial contributions to the Republic's economy, with the impact growing each year ever since the boom five years ago.
Sports have long been present within the Republic, but the current popular selection and the craze behind them did not begin until approximately the 370s, when during a period of political upheaval, the players and owners of the various teams across a number of sports looked to unite the citizenry through their love of the game, no matter the sport. Since then, the popularity and audience have grown tremendously, though recent economic hardships have seen some setbacks in the current century. The Thibaean Sports Channel is one of the few television and radio broadcasting progammes that can be found Republic wide and presents every sport that is currently under some form of organization in the Republic.
Currently, all sports are public-run endeavors with no oversight or interference from the government at any level; attempts have been made to change this but they all were rendered moot; the most popular sport in the Republic is ice hockey, which has been often referred to as the national sport, a mark of this is a number of legendary Thibaean players in the past now currently serving in politics. Other sports with major audiences include association football, auto racing and many others.
Thibaean Ligue de Hockey de République (TLHR)
The TLHR is the only major professional ice hockey league in the Republic, and is officially recognized as it's only per legislation passed in the middle of the 3rd century. The League itself is overseen by a board of six commissioners and one President, who make decisions regarding the future and administration of the League, as well as managing day to day operations of the League itself. The Board is elected by appointee's suggested by the ownership.
The Ligue currently consists of four even-strength divisions with six teams each; the teams play 80 matches a season currently, although this may fluctuate, as since the beginning of the 4th century and continuing into it's second decade the Ligue has been undergoing a period of rapid expansion, growing from an original 12 team organization to 24 as of 414. At the end of the regular season, the divisional champions and their runner-ups will qualify, in addition to a 'wild card' of the two best remaining teams in the Ligue that aren't already in the playoffs; the winner of the playoffs is crowned the Ligue champion. Under current Ligue rules, the Ligue champion and the remaining three best teams in terms of point seeding are qualified for the Hockey Champion's League.
President of the Board: Kepa Bonnaire
Commissioners: Hector Beauchêne, Corentin Giroux, Colombe Montagne, Kylian Rozenn, Antonin Morel, Fernande Lachance
Inaugural season: 365 AL
Prior Champions:
First Division:
Chemy Braves
Biefvillers Cardinals
Banmel CHP
Eteaux Striders
Thalsoix
Villamblain Iceblazes
Second Division:
Aigleville Volcanoes
Javerdat AH
Molien Scouts
Nimes CDH
Siguret Traders
Sorcin Hawks
Third Division:
Araux Fighters
Beauyonne
Carenerre
Goifieux Chevaliers
Terdeghem L'Orage
Villefavard Titans
Fourth Division:
Argelliers Lemurs
Delésee
Manmesnil
Peignat Defenders
Saint-Everbourg
Thiescourt Giants
Société Nationale de 7ball (SN7)
The Société Nationale de 7ball is the official governing body over any and all sporting activities related to the 7ball sport within the Republic. It is the most junior of the sport leagues available to the citizens of Thibaea, having only been founded in 401 after the Republic decided to send a national team to the 4th International Cup of 7ball. The Thibaean 7s performed less then stellar, failing to advance out of the short group stage due to a atrocious loss in their debutante match, and fans back at home were demanding for something to be done to foster youth development and better players for the sport so that national team performances could improve. A group of investors was formed by business conglomerate Dominic Noyer, who is the founder and CEO of Miroir Industries a leading computer hard/software developer in Thibaea, and they managed to raise a significant amount of capital to be able to form teams for an official body. He was joined by a large collection of fans, calling themselves the Hôte de 700, they joined Noyer and together the two groups formed the SN7. Noyer was set as the first Presidenty of the SN7, while Léontine Séraphin from the Hôte was set as his Deputy. The Society would be officially led by the President who would be joined by a Board of Officers who would help with scheduling, inter-team relations and other such duties. The first thing the SN7 did was examine the internationally accepted rules of 7ball and determine if they would adopt them, or develop their own. In the end, it was decided that domestic rules would be developed to better suit the kind of environment that the SN7 wished to encourage, and while most of the international rules would remain, there would be some differences, such as:
- Teams were required to wear uniforms, which are roughly comparable to those of handball or football, and the internationally required jockstraps and helmets are now optional.
- The bucket on top of the goal post, and the goal post itself has been modified. Instead of a beach bucket appearance, it is now a solid bucket with instead of a tube at the back, a hole on the bottom that will drop it onto the field below or potentially the cross bar. Additionally, the interior of the bucket has been designed with details to ensure the ball will drop down through the hole.
- Courts, the official term for the playing field, will retain internationally accepted dimensions, however they will all be either hardwood or artificial turf. This decision will be due to the fact that for the first few seasons, matches will have to be played in ice hockey or football stadia converted for 7ball.
- Teams will be permitted to use whatever implementations they wish, however they must submit a list for approval by the referee's before the beginning of each match.
- Positions will face some re-naming. The Captain 7 position will now be known as the center, the Goalie 7 will now be known as the keeper, and the Boring 7 will now be known as the Guard. Additionally, the pole-dancing requirement for the Poleman 7 has now been removed.
- Teams will be allowed unlimited substitutions, but may only do so during the break in between sets.
Following the acceptance and creation of the SN7's domestic rules, Noyer and the SN7 also finalized the structure of the league. Initial setup for the first season would be 14 teams, divided into two divisions of 7, respectfully Division Nord and Division Ouest. The investment group assembled by Noyer will become the owners of 8 of the teams, while the fan-organized Hôte will make up a further four, and the remaining two are coming from outside, separate financiers. The initial rules will each team will be allowed an roster of 21, with 14 on the active (game eligible) roster, and 7 being on the reserve roster. Teams may make movements between the active and reserve roster freely, and are only able to play individuals who are on the active roster. For simplification, this will behave much like dressed or scratches in ice hockey. Furthermore, there will be an Injury Reserve, which will be similar to how baseball association's treat Disabled Lists. Teams are able to "list" a player on the IR for any amount of time as long as it is a multiple of 7, with a ceiling cap of 70. Anything beyond that and they must list him for the full season.
In terms of season length, for the initial season all teams will play a total of 28 games in the regular season, with the top four teams from both divisions moving forward to the first round of playoffs. All stages of the playoffs will be to a best-of-7 game series with the teams bouncing back and forth on home and away.
President of the Board: Dominic Noyer
Board Members: Léontine Séraphin, Marguerite Gardinier, Serge Blanchet, Geneviève Géroux, Livie Deniel, Évariste Chaput, Léopold Faucher
Inaugural Season: 402 AL
Division Nord
Scillé 7s
Serley 7s
Vadencourt 7s
Coussat 7s
Waldwiese 7s
Biscarosse 7s
Bazuel 7s
Division Ouest
Levasville 7s
Hergugney 7s
Marlais 7s
Montrollet 7s
Berthenonville 7s
Ballande 7s
Arengosse 7s
