Fußball-Club Bayern München e.V.

In  February 1900 the football section of the multi-sport club München Turn Verein 1879 were keen to join the Süddeutschen Fußball-Verband, but the club denied them permission to do so. This led to a breakaway club being formed under the leadership of photographer Franz John. 
The 86 clubs that had been present for the founding of the Deutscher Fußball-Bund the previous month had included 3 Munich teams-  1. Münchner FC 1896, FC Nordstern 1896 München and FC Bavaria 1899 München.
The new Bayern club soon eclipsed all their local rivals. Their first fixture was a 5-2 win over 
1. Münchner FC 1896.
On 21st  September 1902 the first Münchner Stadtderby saw Bayern Munich beating TSV 1860 3-0.

The Bayern team that faced TSV 1890  in 1902.The club colours were white until 1906.

Karl Pekarna

In the summer of 1904 the Austro- Hungarian Empire received a healthy dose of Scottish Football. Celtic and Rangers had finished  4th and 3rd  respectively in the league, and Celtic had beaten Rangers 3-2 in the Scottish Cup Final.
In May of that year both Glasgow sides traveled to Vienna and Prague on tour. Wiener AC had invited Celtic, whereas Rangers had been invited by the Austrian Football association to mark the 10th anniversary of First Vienna.The forward thinking Hugo Meisl was instrumental in arranging contact with British clubs as a means of developing the game in Austria.
Boldklubben af 1893 (Copenhagen) were also invited to participate in First Vienna's celebrations.

22.05.04	First Vienna	2	7	Glasgow Rangers	Vienna
23.05.04	Boldklub 1893	0	9	Glasgow Rangers
26.05.04	Boldklub 1893	3	5	Glasgow Rangers
29.05.04	Wiener AC	0	8	Glasgow Rangers
03.06.04	Prague XI	1	6	Glasgow Rangers	Prague
05.06.04	Slavia Prague	0	5	Glasgow Rangers

As you can see, Rangers' trip was pretty much par for the course for Edwardian continental tours- undefeated and averaging 7 goals a game. A by-product of the journey (other than tales of postcards written by the Rangers goalie during the Wiener AC match whilst his teammates kept the ball for over 5 minutes with an exhibition of passing) was the signing of an Austrian goalkeeper.
Karl Pekarna, a postman, began his career with a Vienna club confusingly called FC Sevilla. He joined First Vienna as an 18 year old and developed a good reputation- he was an exponent of what was known in Austria as the Robinsonade - the diving save, and showed good acrobatic and handling skills. The first game between Rangers and Boldklub 1893 was affected by torrential rain, and as the matches were intended to be exhibitions, the Danes suggested that they should replay in more favourable conditions.
Rangers borrowed Pekarna for the rematch, and he impressed to the extent that they offered him a contract. John Watson's position as Ranger's keeper was not assured, although he received positive reviews in the press following the Cup Final, he would play only 25 games for the club, and Rangers had signed Allan from Falkirk at the beginning of May.
In October 1904 Pekarna played for Vienna v Budapest in a city select match that was later granted the status of a full international. He would  represent Austria on one  more occasion, in 1908.
Later that year Pekarna moved to Glasgow, thus becoming Rangers' first overseas signing and Austria's first professional.

 

 Pekarna featured regularly for the reserves, but played only one first team game,a friendly against Queen's Park at Hampden (08.05.05). He was offered an extension of his £3 10s a week contract, but opted to return to Vienna.

 

Pekarna (Bayern) beaten by Fuchs (Karlsruher FV)

One problem that Pekarna had on his return to Vienna was the fact that he had been a professional in Scotland. Austrian football was still amateur. First Vienna re signed him, but were threatened with expulsion by the city's Association. The matter was resolved in the September of 1905.
Pekarna joined FC Wacker München in 1908, but again his status as a former professional caused uncertainty. Eventually he joined FC Bayern in 1910.
 He returned to Vienna after the war, playing for Slovan.

German National Champions 1920-33

1920 1. FC Nuremberg 
The regional leagues produced 7 qualifiers, joined by defending champions SpVgg Furth, to contest the national championship. The final was a local derby in which 1. FC Nuremberg defeated Furth 2-0 at Frankfurt. Acrowd of 35,.000 saw Luitpold  Popp put Nuremberg ahead in the 12th minute. Hungarian international  Péter Szabó added a second in the 73rd minute. 

1921 1. FC Nuremberg 
Nuremberg defended their title, defeating Berliner FC Vorwärts 1890 in the final at Dusseldorf.  Luitpold  Popp scored 3 and fellow German international Heiner Träg got 2 in a 5-0 victory. The legendary Hungarian Dori Kürschner was now in charge of Nuremberg.

1922  Hamburger SV*
 Nuremberg's attempt to secure a third successive championship was thwarted in what was one of the most remarkable encounters in football history. 
1. FC Nuremberg met Hamburger SV in the final at Berlin's Deutsches Stadion on 18th June 1922. The scores were level at 2-2 on 90 minutes. Following a conventional period of extra time an attempt was made to play to a result, but  referee Dr. Peco Bauwens was forced to abandon the game after 180 minutes due to darkness.
The 2 sides met again in Liepzig on August 6th. Nuremberg were reduced to 10 men when Dr. Bauwens sent off Willy Böß in the 18th minute. Nuremberg were further weakened when Anton Kugler was forced to retire with an injury with 15 minutes remaining.  Hamburg were unable to capitalize, and with the scores level at 1-1 the game again, ominously , moved into extra time. Heiner Träg was ordered off in the 100th minute and 5 minutes later Luitpold Popp, incapacitated by asthma, left the field.  With Nuremberg reduced to 7 players the referee ended the game, mistakenly believing the laws of the game demanded it. 
There was some controversy over the award of the championship. The DFB awarded the title to Hamburg by default, but they declined to accept it. 

1923 Hamburger SV
Hamburg returned and secured the title in a more conventional manner, beating SC Union Oberschöneweide at Deutsches Stadion watched by 64,000.

1924 1. FC Nuremberg .
Nuremburg and Hamburg resumed their rivalry in the 1924 final. Georg Hochgesang and Wolfgang Strobel scored in Nuremberg's 2-0 victory at Deutsches Stadion.

1925 1. FC Nuremberg 
The national championship had now expanded to include 16 teams. 
Ludwig Wieder scored an extra time winner as FSV Frankfurt were beaten 1-0 in the brand new Waldstadion (Frankfurt ).

1926 SpVgg Fürth
The Waldstadion was again the venue as SpVgg Fürth beat Hertha BSC 4-1.  Former Blackburn Rovers star William Townley was manger of Fürth.

1927 1. FC Nuremberg  
A  fifth title for Nuremberg, 50,000 were at Deutsches Stadion to see them beat Hertha BSC 2-0.  Fred Spiksley was back as manager, having previously been at the club at the outbreak of the 1914-18 war. Trag was dismissed in the 75th minute for Nuremberg.

1928 Hamburger SV
It was not a case of third time lucky for Hertha BSC. They lost their third final in a row, beaten 5-2 by Hamburg at Altona. The finals were played in high summer, having been delayed by the absence of top players at the Amsterdam Olympics
.

1929 SpVgg Fürth
Another late end to the season, this time because fixtures had been disrupted by the very harsh winter.  Misery again for Hertha  They beat Nuremberg in a replayed semi final (the first game had gone to 150 minutes without a goal being scored) - the final was played at Nuremberg's ground, and Hertha received a very hostile reception from local fans as they lost their fourth consecutive final. Hertha were reduced to 10 men by an injury to  Gerhard Schulz with the score at 1-1.Karl Rupprecht won it for Fürth (3-2) five minutes from time. 

1930  Hertha BSC
Hertha supporters and players must have been fearing the worst when , appearing in their 5th successive final, they were 2-0 down to Holstein Kiel after just 8 minutes. The game see sawed but  
Hans Ruch gave the Berlin side their long awaited victory with an 87th minute strike to round off the 5-4 thriller. Holstein had levelled at 4-4 despite being down to 10 following a sending off in the 80th minute.

1931  Hertha BSC
Hertha had developed a new habit-scoring late winners.  SV 1860 München were beaten 3-2 in the final thanks to Willi Kirsei's 89th minute goal. 

1932 Bayern Munich
The National final of 1932 was a repeat of that season's South German final . Eintracht Frankfurt won that game, with Bayern joining them in the National championship as runners up. Bayern got revenge in front of a 55,000 crowd at Nuremberg, beating Eintracht 2-0.  It was Bayern Munich's first title. 

Billy Townley

Blackburn Rovers 1890 : Townley-Middle row, right.

William (Billy) Townley was born in Blackburn in 1866. He played football for Blackburn Swifts and Blackburn Olympic before joining Blackburn Rovers at the beginning of the 1888-89 season.
 Townley won his first international cap in 1889. The following year he scored two goals in England's 9-1 victory over Ireland .
 Townley was a two-time FA Cup winner with Blackburn Rovers.
 In 1890 he became the first player to score a hat-trick in an FA Cup final as Rovers beat The Wednesday 6-1.
In 1891 he scored in the final as Notts County were beaten 1-0.
Townley was a schoolteacher by profession, but when his playing career was ended by a serious head injury whilst with Manchester City, he decided to pursue a career in coaching. Opportunities being limited in Britain, he moved to the continent.

Starting with DFC Prag (a team from Bohemia who were part of the German Football Association) , Townley managed (or coached) numerous clubs in Germany and Switzerland, including Karlsruher FV (who he guided to the National Championship in 1910), FC St Gallen, 3 spells at Bayern Munich and 4 spells at  SpVgg Fürth (winning 2 National Championships).

Townley also coached the Netherlands to the semi finals of the 1924 Olympic tournament.