Sport Centre 03-04-2007

’Matyi’, the sporty Hungarian grey cattle

In July ’Matyi’, the loveable Hungarian grey cattle as the host will welcome people arriving at the European Athletics U23 Championships. Mascot of the continent championship is the ‘child’ of a Mathematics-Physics teacher, Mrs. Tamás Türk. The creator realized her special talent some years ago while she was making a reproduction of a bear, which was a present. Since then more than 500 patterns and nearly the same amount of soft figures reflect her creativeness.

“I came into connection with sports through an owl – said the creator of ‘Matyi’. – I made it for my school as a mascot and we gave it as a present to Mr. Mihály Orendi, director of the Sport Centre, for participating in the sport days. He liked it so much that he asked me to plan the mascot of the European Championships.”

The ‘robot picture’ of ‘Matyi’ flied out of Mrs. Tamás Türk’s head after more than one-week-long thinking. The planner did not have an easy task as the criteria determined that the prospective mascot had to be a Hungaricum and needed to be attached to Debrecen and the Great Plain. From the preliminary ideas ‘puli’ dog (Hungarian sheep dog) and ‘vizsla’ (Hungarian pointer), which are usual, fell out quickly and after a short thinking, idea of the Debrecen sausage also disappeared from the scene. But the Hungarian grey cattle, which is considered to be a compulsory spectacle for people arriving in Debrecen and Hortobágy, obstinately stayed and his doggedness made him win.

According to Mrs. Tamás Türk, ‘Matyi’ is a sporty animal and the clod-hopping elegance variations of the animal that will be prepared later, will surely give convincing arguments. However there is no doubt that he, as a favourite figure, has already been a world class.