Der Verband der Prager Deutschen Fußball-Vereine

The history of German domestic football is made very complex by the large number of regional competitions that fed into the National Championships. Another level of complexity emerges when we consider that there were actually clubs competing in the German National Championships that were from outside the borders of Germany itself. Prague was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy- being in Bohemia,a province of the Austrian Empire. There were a number of football clubs in Prague that were associated with the German speaking community (which was in fact diminishing rapidly during this era- at the turn of the century about 10% of the population of the city were Germans).
In 1900 Der Verband der Prager Deutschen Fußball-Vereine was founded- an association of German football clubs in Prague (which in German is Prag).
When the Deutscher Fußball Bund was established in 1900 there were 2 Prague based clubs among the founder members- the very similarly named Deutscher FC Prag and Deutscher FC Germania Prag.

The first championship was held in the 1901-02 season. The following teams took part:
Deutscher FC Germania Prag
FC Austria Prag
FC Favorit Prag
FC Hellas 1900 Prag
Fußball Sektion der Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten Prag
FuAC Sport Prag
FC Sturm Prag
Deutscher FC Prag

 Deutscher FC Germania Prag emerged as champions.

The club had been founded as Unitas Prag in 1898 by Heinrich Nonner, who had previously played for Regatta Prag and DFC Prag. For a short while the club was renamed Urania before becoming  Germania. It was  Nonner who represented the club at the first ever meeting of the Deutscher Fußball Bund.

1n 1902-03 only 3 clubs participated in the championship. It would appear that DFC Prag were selected to compete in the German national championships in rather a random manner as the Prague tournament was not conclusively decided.

In March 1903  DFC Germania Prag went out of existence.They faced financial problems and had lost their home ground, on which a church was to be built. The club relocated to Graslitz (which is now the Czech city of Kraslice).

This signalled the demise of  Der Verband der Prager Deutschen Fußball-Vereine , as only 2 active clubs remained. 

 Germany joined FIFA  in 1904, and consequently teams from outside the country were no longer allowed to play in the DFB competitions. 

Nonner

Tottenham Hotspur and Woolwich Arsenal on Tour, 1912

Spurs at Leipzig

When the 1911-12 season ended on April 29th Woolwich Arsenal were in 10th place in Division 1 and Tottenham Hotspur in 12th. The famous North London rivalry had yet to come into being, as Arsenal were still based in Plumstead (South East London). In May 1912 both clubs embarked on tours of central Europe (Germany, Austria-Hungary) and played each other in an exhibition match at Vienna arranged by Hugo Meisl. 

Tottenham Hotspur
12.05.12	Hull City	2	0	Tottenham Hotspur	Brussels
	The Belgian Charity Cup- Beddeker Cup Hull City retaining the trophy.
16.05.12	VfB Leipzig	1	3	Tottenham Hotspur	Leipzig
	The hosts were Mittel-Deutschland champions and had made the semi-finals of the national championships.
20.05.12	Wiener Sport Club	2	5	Tottenham Hotspur	Vienna
24.05.12	Woolwich Arsenal	4	0	Tottenham Hotspur	Vienna
	An exhibition match for a solid silver cup and medals.
27.05.12	Ferencváros	1	4	Tottenham Hotspur	Budapest
	Fradi were the champions of the Budapest league, winning 14 out of 18 games and having a goal difference of 57.
28.05.12	Hungary	2	2	Tottenham Hotspur	Budapest
	The Hungary and Austria teams were preparing for the Olympic Tournament at Stockholm.
30.05.12	Hungary	3	4	Tottenham Hotspur	Budapest
02.06.12	Austria	3	0	Tottenham Hotspur	Vienna
	Both Austria and Hungary featured in the second round of that summer's Olympic tournament- Hungary had a bye in the first round and lost 7-0 to Great Britain in the second. Austria beat Germany 5-1 before losing 3-1 to the Netherlands. They went on to meet in the final of the consolation tournament, Hungary winning 3-0.
Woolwich Arsenal
11.05.12	Hertha BSC Berlin	0	5	Woolwich Arsenal	Berlin
12.05.12	Viktoria 89 Berlin	2	2	Woolwich Arsenal	Berlin
	1911’s German National Champions.  Former Tottenham player Jack Brearley took up the coaching position at Viktoria at about this time.
16.05.12	Deutscher FC Prag	1	4	Woolwich Arsenal	Prague
19.05.12	Ferencváros	1	2	Woolwich Arsenal	Budapest
22.05.12	Grazer AK	0	6	Woolwich Arsenal	Graz
24.05.12	Woolwich Arsenal	4	0	Tottenham Hotspur	Vienna
26.05.12	SK Rapid Wien	2	8	Woolwich Arsenal	Vienna
	Rapid were the Austrian League champions…
27.05.12	Wiener Sport Club	0	5	Woolwich Arsenal	Vienna
	…and WSC had finished the season just one point behind Rapid.
29.05.12	Sp Vgg Fürth	0	6	Woolwich Arsenal	Fürth
	Fürth were managed by Billy Townley , the former Blackburn Rovers player.

It was Arsenal's second visit. They had toured Belgium, Netherlands, Germany  and Austria -Hungary in 1907.  Tottenham were of course old hands at the touring lark. Having visited Austria -Hungary  in 1905 they had since played in Belgium, South America and Germany.

The Budapest Cup 1914

The Budapest Cup was won by Celtic at Burnley's Turf Moor on September 1st 1914. 
Burnley is 1600 km from Budapest, so some explanation is required.

Central Europe was a popular tour destination for English and Scottish clubs, and in the summer of 1914 both Celtic (Scottish Double winners) and Burnley ( then in the First Division of the Football league and 1914 FA Cup winners) undertook tours of Hungary, Austria and Germany. 
The Hungarian authorities arranged a match between the two. A silver trophy shaped like a lighthouse would be the prize, and the profits made from the fixture would be donated to charity. 
Apparently Celtic were unaware of the fixture until they arrived in Budapest.
However, 4 days after Celtic had begun their tour with a 2-2 draw against Ferencváros they faced Burnley (at Ferencváros' stadium). 

Celtic

May 21st was a hot day in Budapest and the two sides met on a dry and bumpy pitch before a crowd of around 10,000. The match was a hard and ill tempered contest. Jimmy McMennemy put Celtic in front through a  20th minute penalty. Burnley equalised from the penalty mark in the second half when Sunny Jim Young handled. Contemporary reports suggest that Celtic declined to play extra time. They agreed to travel to Burnley at a later date for a replay. The Hungarians would forward the trophy.

Burnley

Celtic continued on their tour with healthy wins over Wiener (6-2) and Hertha Berlin (6-0). VfB Leipzig beat the Scots 1-0 but BFC Preussen were dispatched 5-0.
The dates of Burnley's tour matches are not recorded clearly. However following the match with Celtic they lost 3-1 to Ferencváros before beating a Hungary Select XI. During the course of their travels thy also beat Viktoria Berlin and Rapid Vienna. The result of the match with DFC Prag is unknown.


The replay was held at Burnley's Turf Moor on September 1st 1914.
At half time with the score at 0-0 Celtic were reduced to 10 men by injury. However they took a 2-0 lead by the 70th minute through Jimmy McColl and Patsy Gallagher. Burnley got a late consolation from the penalty spot. 

 Of course, in between the 2 games, war had broken out. The intriguing trophy never reached Britain, but in 1988 Ferencváros presented Celtic with a vase to commemorate their victory.
Interestingly the clubs donated a share of the gate money from the repaly (the attendance was 10,000)  to the Budapest charities that the original match had been arranged to support (even though Britain and Hungary were now at war). 

Oxford University - Tour of Austria 1899

Football was introduced to  Austria in the mid-1890's by the English community in Vienna.
The Austrian Football Association, (Comité zur Veranstaltung von Fußballwettspielen), was founded in 1898 by Mark Nicholson, a former West Bromwich Albion professional.
In 1899  the Vienna Cricket & Football Club invited Oxford University AFC to play in Austria.

The tour began in Prague on March 28th. Oxford played Slavia Prague on the day of their arrival.  Slavia were considered the strongest team on the continent; Oxford beat them 3-0. The next day they beat DFC Prague 9-0.

On 1st April  the team arrived in Vienna.

The Vienna Cricket & Football Club honoured them with a banquet, with Mark Twain amongst the guests.

On 2nd April  Oxford University AFC beat a select team of Vienna-born players 15-0 at the WAC-Platz.

The following day, at the same ground, they beat a combined Viennese and  English team 13-0.

Deutsche Meisterschaft 1902/1903

VfB Leipzig

The 1903 German football championship was the first tournament sanctioned by the German Football Association (DFB) to crown a national champion. The DFB was made up of 30  local associations, and the winners of these associations were eligible to enter the championship. There were also associations from outside Germany (in Austria- Hungary) that were affiliated to the DFB, such as  Prague.
Of the thirty eligible teams, only six entered the inaugural championship.
The final was played at Exerzierplatz, Hamburg on May 31st 1903.

VfB Leipzig was one of the original eighty-six teams that came together in the city in 1900 to form the Deutscher Fußball Bund (DFB).

DFC Prag was founded by German Jewish students at a University in Prague in 1896. The DFB actively sought out members among ethnically German clubs from outside of the country, so  DFC Prag was one of the  founding members of the DFB and provided it with its first  president, Dr. Ferdinand Hueppe.


The routes to the final were makedly different- VfB Leipzig beat Britannia Berlin 3-1 away and then Altonaer FC von 1893 (of Hamburg) 6-3 at home.
 Prag, on the other hand,  reached  the final without playing a single playoff game.
They were due to play Karlsruher FV in Munich, but Prag protested, requesting that the match was played in Prague. Karlsruher then protested against Prague as a venue. The match was never played, and both teams entered the semifinal stage, where again they were scheduled to play each other at Leipzig.  Karlsruher  received a telegram which was supposedly from DFB, saying the game was off. So Karlsruher , failing to turn up, were disqualified.

Prag arrived in  Hamburg for the fianal as favourites ,a position they compromised somewhat by going out on a drinking session the night before the game. Kick off was delayed half an hour as officials sought a football that was in good enough condition to play the match. 
Prag took an 11th minute lead, the first half ended 1-1, but Leipzig dominated the second period and a   7-2 win saw them become the first winners of the Viktoria Meisterschaftstrophaee.

DFC Prag