Austria vs Hungary, 1902

Hungary had fielded a national selection 3 times in 1901. Their opponents had been the English sides  Richmond and Surrey Wanderers (twice) over the course of 3 days in April (11th, 12th and 13th). The  tourists  had proved too strong for the Hungarians, winning 4-0, 5-1 and 6-1. The Hungarian XI for the first match featured an English player (Windett).
Whereas the Hungarian governing body, Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség, had been founded in 1901, football in Austria at this time was organised on a city by city basis. 
A national governing body (Österreichischer Fußball-Bund) was not established  until 1904. 
On October 12th 1902 a match was played at WAC Platz, Vienna between teams representing Vienna and Budapest: 

Vienna Selection			Budapest Selection
Philipp Nauß	Wiener A.C	GK		Bádonyi Gyula	Budapesti T.C
'Eipel'-Wilhelm Eipeldauer	First Vienna	FB		Berán József	Ferencváros
‘Omlady’- Emil Wachuda	Wiener A.C	FB		Gabrovitz Emil	Postások
Felix Hüttl	Vienna Cricket and F.C.	HB		Koltai József	Ferencváros
Rudolf Blässy	S.C. Graphia	HB		Pozsonyi Imre	M.Ú.E.
‘Quick’- Raimund Mössmer	D.J. Währing	HB		Bayer Jenő	M.A.C.
Julius Wiesner	Wiener A.C	F		Buda István	Budapesti T.C
Gustav Huber	Wiener A.C	F		Steiner Bertalan	33 F.C.
Engelbert Schrammel	Wiener A.C	F		Pokorny József	Ferencváros
Jan Studnicka	Wiener A.C	F		Hajós Alfréd	Budapesti T.C
Josef Taurer	Wiener A.C	F		Oláh Károly	Budapesti S.C.

The Viennese controlled the game, placing the Hungarian goal under relentless pressure.  Josef Taurer put the hosts in front in the 5th minute and Studnicka got a second after 10. Gustav Huber made it 3 before half time and in the second half Studnicka completed his hat trick for a 5-0 win to Vienna. 
It was agreed during the course of  the after match celebrations to hold this fixture on an annual basis.
Hajós Alfréd* wrote in Sport Világ magazine that the Austrian advantage had been to have the core of the team made from the players of one club (WAC), whereas the Budapest players were relatively unfamiliar with each others' play

In 1907 Austria,Hungary  and Czechoslovakia (Bohemia) were all admitted separately to FIFA.

In 1908 the Austrian  and Hungarian Associations agreed to retrospectively designate the 1902 match  an official international. 

*The Hungary captain was a fascinating man. Hajós, the Hungarian for sailor, was a psuedonym- he was originally called Guttmann Arnold. Hajós was a double gold medal winner in swimming at the Athens Olympics in 1896. He was also a top class runner and discuss thrower. It wasn't all about sport though, he was also an architect of considerable renown. He was responsible for designing part of the Millenáris Sporttelep stadium in which Hungary played their matches. This must have given him considerable satisfaction when he was later coach of the national team.

Sport-Magazin - August 1935

 Ferencváros lost  to Sparta in the Mitropa Cup final the month after this magazine appeared. They were runners up in the Hungarian league in the 1934-35 season, and won the Magyar Kupa.
This was the team, consisting of  11 Hungary internationals, that lined up in the semi final of the Mitropa Cup against Austria Vienna. 
Kronenberger was also known as Lajos Korányi. 
I really like József Háda's goalkeeper's jersey.

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.

Platko

Platko was born in Budapest.  The peripatetic nature of his career led to him being known by 3 variants of his name: Ferenc Plattkó, Franz Platko Kopiletz or Francisco Platko. He began his professional career in 1917 with Vasas SC. He briefly joined WAC Vienna in 1920, then had spells with Hajduk Kula (Yugoslavia) and MTK (Budapest). He played 6 internationals for Hungary between 1917 and 1923.In 1922 Platko featured for MTK for in 2 0-0 draws against Barcelona. The Catalans were so impressed with his goalkeeping that they signed him.

Following the legendary Zamora, Platko was Barcelona's first choice goalkeeper from 1923 to 1930.

During this time he acried the following honours:

Spanish Champions-1928-29
 Copa del Rey winners- 1924-25, 1925–26, 1927–28
Campionat de Catalunya-1923-24, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1929–30

Platko's performance in the 1928 Copa del Rey final (a 3-1 victory over Real Sociedad) earned him the rare distinction for a goalkeeper of being  immortalized in verse. Diving at the feet of a srtriker, Platko had sustained a head injury that required sutures. He finished the game swathed in bandages and ended the day in hospital. Poet Rafael Alberti was at the match. Impressed by the courage of Platko, the golden haired Hungarian bear, spilling his Hungarian blood for Barcelona in a performance that could never be forgotten (I'm paraphrasing), Alberti wrote Oda A Platko. The poem appeared in the newspaper La Voz de Cantabria (27.05.28).

Here it is in the original:

http://www.laredcantabra.com/platko.html

There are of course, two sides to every story, and the Sociedad fan Rafael Celaya wrote Contraoda del poeta de la Real Sociedad, which attributed Barcelona's triumph to crooked refereeing.

 Platko  later coached Barca, and continued his career in South America.

Germany v Hungary 1920

It's good to see the British Pathé collection on YouTube- lots of interesting football footage to watch for free.
The above clip shows action from the Germany v Hungary match on 24.10.20.  This was Germany's 3rd game since the end of the 1914-18 war. Interestingly the inter-titles refer to the championship of Europe- a rather mad claim- the previous month Belgium had controversially won Olympic Gold at the expense of Czechoslovakia and both Switzerland and Austria had beaten Germany that summer. Great Britain was seldom thought of as part of Europe in those days, and the title Learning the Game reveals the British attitude towards continental football. This was Germany's 33rd official international. Of the previous 32 they had won 6, drawn 5 and lost 21.
The DFB give the official attendance as 55,000.
Adolf Jäger won the game for the hosts with a 22nd minute penalty.
The referee was Herr Hirrle of Switzerland. 

Germany				Hungary
Theodor Lohrmann		SpVgg.Fürth	G	Károly Zsak	FC Budapest
Georg Schneider		Bayern Münich	B	Károly Fogl	Ujpest
Arthur Mohns	Norden-Nordwest Berlin		B	János Hungler	Ferencvaros
Walter Krause		Victoria Hamburg	H	Vilmos Kertesz	MTK
Karl Tewes		Viktoria 89 Berlin	H	Gyula Zloch	FC Budapest
Carl Riegel		1.FC Nürnberg	H	Zoltán Blum	Ferencvaros
Leo Fiederer		SpVgg.Fürth	F	Jószef Braun	MTK
Tull Harder		Hamburger SV	F	György Molnár	MTK
Adolf Jäger		Altonaer FC 93	F	György Orth	MTK
Luitpold Popp		1.FC Nürnberg	F	Jószef Eisenhoffer	Kispesti
Paul Forell		1.FC Pforzheim	F	Imre Schlosser-Lakatos	MTK
Player coach		Adolf Jäger		Coach	Lajos Tibor