Vladimir Lasch

On 12th July 1914  a crowd of 6,000 were at Gamle Frogner Stadion, Oslo (then known as  Kristiania) to watch Norway play Russia.
Russia took the lead through Aleksandr Krotov in the 5th minute, and Rolf Maartmann equalized on the stroke of half time.
At this point Norway were reduced to 10 men when centre forward (and music hall entertainer) Tokken Trædal was forced to retire through injury.
Russia couldn't capitalise on their advantage.
Then, in the 75th minute football history was made...
The protagonists- Vladimir Lasch and Daniel Eie. A third person, a Norway player was involved, but his name is not recorded.

Lasch, a 19 year old centre half with the Moscow club Union, 'clashed with a Norwegian player'. 

The referee, Mr Daniel Eie, ordered Lasch from the field  There were no cards, of course, in those days. And so Lasch's second and last appearance for Russia ended prematurely.

This was the first time that a player had been sent off in international football.

Mr. Eie 

The referee,  Daniel Eie, was Norwegian. It was not uncommon for the hosts to provide a referee back then. At the age of 25 Mr Eie had already been Vice President of the Football Association of Norway for 4 years, and he went on to have a long and distinguished career as a sports administrator. 

Lasch had many more years in club football and retired as a player in 1930, his last club being CDKA Moscow.

Scotland abroad!

Were the Scottish FA conservative?
There's a strong case for Scotland having been the strongest team in World football for much of the period before 1930. And yet they were slow to take any interest in continental opposition.  When one considers the influence that Scottish football and footballers had on the development of the game on the continent (particularly central Europe) you can't help thinking that people in Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia or Germany would have packed out any ground where the Scots appeared had they gone to Europe.
Scottish clubs, of course, were another matter: There were club tours by
Queen's Park to Denmark in 1898; Celtic and Glasgow Rangers to Vienna and Prague in 1904; Aberdeen to Prague and Poland 1911; Heart of Midlothian to Denmark in 1912; Third Lanark to Portugal in 1914 (Third also toured North and South America in the 1920s)
Select Scottish Juniors played Brann Bergen (Norway) in 1920.


But the national team played 143 internationals without meeting anyone other than England, Wales or Ireland (admittedly Wales and (Northern) Ireland were even slower to take to continental fixtures, but they would never have held the mass appeal that Scottish football enjoyed).

The delayed entry onto a broader stage could be attributed in part to the political climate in the post 1914-19 era, which was not conducive to the 'Home Nations' playing in Europe. This was due to the firm stance that they took on sporting relations with their recent enemies.

Scotland had become affiliated to FIFA in 1910 ( five years after England). In 1919 the four 'home' associations withdrew from FIFA. There is a  modern version of events that this was to do with amateurism, whereas in fact it was in order to sever sporting contacts with teams from the countries that had comprised The Central Powers during the 1914-18 war ( Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia).

The rigor with which the home FAs pursued this policy can be seen in the fact that it extended to not playing against teams who had links with these nations ( see - British Football's Post-War Ostracism of The Defeated Powers in Scoring for Britain: International Football and International Politics, 1900-1939  by Peter J. Beck).

The Home Associations did not renew their affiliations to FIFA until 1946, but in the interim Great Britain had competed in an Olympic tournament (1920- despite the protests of the USA that as England was not a member of FIFA they should not be allowed to enter theOlympic football tournament) and both England and Scotland played full internationals against a number of nations who had been part of the Central Powers. In 1930 England visited Berlin and Vienna , and were in Prague and Budapest 4 years later. Also Belgium and France readily played matches against the non FIFA England during the decade in which FIFA threatened sanctions against teams playing the non FIFA Soviet Union.

But this is a digression. what I originally intended to write about was Scotland abroad. The tour of 1929. 

26.05.1929 Norway 3 Scotland 7  (Bergen)

Imrie was  actually the scorer.
 01.06.1929 Germany 1 Scotland 1      (Berlin)

04.06.1929 Holland 0 Scotland 2   (Amsterdam)

 Scotland selected an inexperienced squad for the tour, including 9 uncapped players in the party of 14.
There were 3 survivors from April's 1-0 win over England. All three of these players (Crapnell, Nibloe and Cheyne) had been debutants in the England game.
Squad: 
Sandy McLaren* (St Johnstone) 
Jimmy Crapnell (Airdrieonians)
Joe Nibloe (Kilmarnock)
 Dougie Gray (Rangers) 
Willie Imrie* (St Johnstone) 
Hugh Morton* (Kilmarnock) 
Allan Craig* (Motherwell)
 Tully Craig [c] (Rangers)
  Jimmy Nisbet* (Ayr United) 
Alex Cheyne (Aberdeen)
 David McCrae* (St Mirren) 
Bobby Rankin* (St Mirren) 
Jimmy Fleming* (Rangers) 
Bobby Howe* (Hamilton Academical) 
 *9 men made their debuts on this trip.

McLaren and Imrie- St Johnstone legends...  

Sandy McLaren remains the youngest goalkeeper to play for Scotland, as he made his debut aged 18 years and 152 days. Willie Imrie remains the only St Johnstone player to score for Scotland. 

All-Americans 1916

Soccer Champs Will Not Tour Sweden

The Bethlehem Steel Company decided today that it would not take the chance of sending its champion soccer team across the ocean to Norway and Sweden in these war time [sic] to play a series of games with elevens in those countries. Therefore, the Sweden Football Association was cabled that its invitation would not be accepted, although that organization had posted $4000 in this country to defray expenses.

Philadelphia Inquirer  11.6.16

Tommy Swords

In 1916 the Swedish Football Association invited the United States Football Association to send a team to play a series of matches in Norway and Sweden. When the owners of the strongest club side of the day, Bethlehem Steel, declined the invitation, the USFA instead  assembled a representative team from the Northeastern states.
The squad, named All-American Soccer Football Club, was managed by Thomas Cahill, secretary of the USFA. Mr Cahill had visited Sweden during the 1912 Olympics to campaign for the USA's inclusion in FIFA . The coach was Harry  Davenport of Newark, New Jersey. All-Americans were  captained by Tommy Swords of the Fall River Rovers, who was elected democratically by the other players on the outward voyage. 
Although at this time the USA was a neutral in the War, transatlantic voyages were a hazardous undertaking due to the actions of German U-boats. 

The Americans opened their tour on August 15th 1916 against Stockholm Tigarna . The 1-1 draw attracted a crowd of 20,000.
On August 17th The All Americans took on Sweden in what is recognized as being the USA's first full international, and the first ever intercontinental international.  Accounts of the attendance at the Olympic Stadium range from 16,000 to 21,000 according to various sources. 
The USA lined up as follows:

Goalkeeper: George Tintle (Brooklyn Celtic) 
Right back: James M. Robertson (Yonkers)
Left back: Dick Spalding (Philadelphia Disston A.A.)
Right half: Thomas Murray (Bethlehem Steel) 
Centre half: Neil A. Clarke  (Bethlehem Steel)
Left half: Clarence Smith (Bayonne Babcock & Wilcox FC)
Outside right: James Ford (Kearny Ryerson Juniors)
Inside right: Charles H. Ellis (Brooklyn Celtic) 
Centre forward: John “Rabbit”  Heminsley (Newark Scottish-Americans)
Inside left: Tommy Swords (Fall River Rovers) 
Outside left: Harry Cooper (New York Continental)

Sweden took the lead in the 7th minute but the USA then took a 3-1 lead with goals by Swords, Ellis and Cooper. They resisted late pressure to hold on for a 3-2 victory.

On August 24th the tourists were defeated 3-0 in Stockholm by a combined team of AIK Stockholm/Djurgårdens IF.  This was followed three days later by a 2-1 win over Örgryte IS in Gothenburg.  Örgryte were expected to avenge the defeat of the national team, and following the All Americans' win there were scenes of disorder, with several USA players being assaulted by local supporters.

The All Americans then  traveled to Oslo (which was then known as Kristiania) for a match against the Norwegian national team. It was Norway's 20th international, and they had yet to register a victory. A crowd of 12,000 were present on September 3rd. The USA were reduced to 10 men before half time (through an injury to Diederichsen), and finished the game with 9 players.  The tourists were able to secure a 1-1 draw thanks to a 75th minute goal by Ellis.
The USA line up was: 

Goalkeeper: George Tintle 
Right back: James M. Robertson 
Left back: Dick Spalding 
Right half: Thomas Murray 
Centre half: Neil A. Clarke  
Left half: Clarence Smith 
Outside right: James Ford 
Inside right: Charles H. Ellis  
Centre forward: John “Rabbit”  Heminsley 
Inside left: Matthew B. Diederichsen (Innisfails FC Saint Louis)
Outside left: Tommy Swords 


The All Americans  returned to Stockholm for a rematch with the AIK Stockholm/Djurgårdens IF combined team . This resulted in a 2-1 win for the tourists.
 Charles Ellis and Harry Davenport stayed on in Sweden to take up coaching positions in Stockholm.

Germany v Norway 1936

Magnar Isaksen, spoiler of Adolf Hitler's only visit to the football.

Never trust a man who doesn't like football...
Adolf Hitler only attended one match in his life. By the 1930's football was immensely popular in Germany, and those in the know fancied them to do well at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Hitler's advisers were sure that the footballers would be successful, and persuaded him to attend the match against Norway.
The Norwegians were lightly regarded, and the Fuhrer attended the game with Goebbels, Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess.
As we know, football never goes to plan. Norway took the lead in the sixth minute through Magnar Isaksen. Isaksen doubled Norway's lead in the 84th minute. It finished 2-0. Germany were out...
Norway went on to win the bronze, and are in fact still remembered as 'the Bronze Team'.

Norway

There is no evidence that Isaksen was Jewish.

line ups:
Germany: Hans Jakob (SSV 1899 Regensburg) - Reinhold Münzenberg (Alemannia Aachen), Heinz Ditgens (Bor.München-Gladbach) - Rui Gramlich (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ludwig Goldbrunner (Bayern München), Robert Bernard (VfR Schweinfurt) – Ernst Lehner (Schwaben Augsburg), Otto Siffling (SV Waldhof Mannheim), August Lenz (Borussia Dortmund), Adolf Urban (FC Schalke 04), Wilhelm Simetsreiter (Bayern München) 

Norway: Henry Johansen (Valerengens IF) - Nils Eriksen (Odds BK), Öivind Holmsen (Lyn Oslo) - Frithjof Ullberg (Lyn Oslo), Jörgen Juve (Lyn Oslo), Rolf Holmberg (Odds BK) - Odd Frantzen (Hardy Bergen), Reidar Kvammen (Viking Stavanger), Alf Martinsen (Lilleström SK), Magnar Isaksen (Lyn Oslo), Arne Brustad (Lyn Oslo)

Jubilæumspokal- Nordic Championship 1924–28

After the conclusion of the war in 1919 Louis Østrup, chairman of the DBU, put forward the notion of a Nordic Championship between Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Nine years elapsed before Denmark lifted the Jubilæumspokal to become the first Nordic champions. The initial plan did not until 1923 when the DBU celebrated its 35th anniversary. They again put forward the notion of a Nordic Championship, providing a trophy, the Jubilæumspokal (Anniversary Trophy). Norway and Sweden signed up to the idea. The tournament that the three FAs then came up with was somewhat protracted. It would be a league system and would run over 5 years.
So, the tournament kicked off in Copenhagen on June 15th 1924 with Sweden beating Denmark 3-2 and concluded there on October 7th 1928 with Denmark winning 3-1. 
In the meantime 3 matches were played each summer/autumn. 
Norway had a thoroughly miserable time as outsiders, as their -26 goal difference suggests. Their best result was a 2-2 draw at home to Denmark in September 1926.

For Sweden the legendary Sven Rydell was in his usual remarkable goal scoring form throughout the tournament, getting 15 goals in 10 matches. He is still Sweden's all time leading scorer with 49 goals in 43 matches (he scored in the first minute of his debut).

Norway's Finn Berstad managed 8 goals for a struggling team.

Denmark's top scorer was Michael Rohde, with 7.

The week before the tournament opener against Denmark, Sweden had won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, playing Netherlands on successive days. 


Final table:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts.
Denmark	10	7	2	1	25	11	16
Sweden	10	6	1	3	31	19	13
Norway	10	0	1	9	17	43	1

РСФСР: Moscow Petrograd vs Sweden, Norway and Estonia -1923

Following the October Revolution of 1917 and the conclusion of hostilities between Russia and Germany in March 1918, the Russian Constitution renamed the country the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. 

During 1923 a series of matches was played by a team from the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. The team was a combined Moscow / Petrograd (St Petersburg) squad. They toured Sweden, Norway, Germany and Estonia, playing 18 matches resulting in 15 wins and 3 draws, with 75 goals scored and 23 conceded.  

The hosts and the media in the RSFSR regarded the team as the successors of the Russian national team of 1914. In the countries visited they were seen to represent either the menace of Bolshevism of the triumph of the proletariat  depending on where the commentator stood on the political compass.

 Estonia count their match with the RSFSR on 21.9.23¹ as a full international. Prior to this the RSFSR played 2 matches that have been considered by some historians of the game to be of the same status as full internationals.

Sweden.

A Swedish newspaper associated with the Communist Party, Folkets Dagblad Politiken, initially invited the RSFSR to play one match in Gothenburg. Folkets Dagblad Politiken sought to stimulate interest in the game by extending an open invitation to other clubs that might be interested in playing the RSFSR. A dozen clubs from across Sweden responded and a tour was organised. 

Following 9 games undefeated on the tour of Sweden, concern was expressed by both the Swedish media and  the Swedish football authorities that the tour had been a pro Soviet pr excercise organized by communist sympathisers.  Nya Dagligt Allehanda newspaper described the tour as Bolshevik propaganda.
The Swedes were keen to emphasize that the teams that the RSFSR had beaten were not top class. In response, Comrade Medvedev , Chairman of the Committee of Physical Culture and leader of the tour party, wrote to the Swedish Football Union stating that the RSFSR team was prepared to play any side that the Swedish Football Union chose to field. 
According to Folkets Dagblad Politiken,Medvedev wrote:  We want to meet with the strongest.

Consequently on 23.08.1923 Moscow / Petrograd played a Team Stockholm. Contemporary posters billed the match as Sweden vs RSFSR. The match was delayed when the 'Soviets' insisted on their red flag being flown, declining to take to the pitch until it was (they made sure they brought at least one with them!). Team Stockholm, although acknowledged by the home press as not being the strongest team available to the selectors, were expected to be too strong for the RSFSR, but the visitors won 2-1. Grigoriev and Butusov were the RSFSR goalscorers.

Team Stockholm:

U. ​​Andersson, J. Andersson, S. Andersson, Hemming, Fredlund, Krantz, Sandberg, Olsson, Palm, Karlberg Johansson. 

 Moscow/Petrograd (RSFSR):
Sokolov  (Yacht Club Raikomvoda, Moscow),Gostiev (Kolomyagi, Petrograd), Ezhov  (Sport, Petrograd),Vonog  (Putilovski Kryzhok Petrograd),Baturiev (Sport, Petrograd), Karniev  (Kolomyagi, Petrograd), Grigoriev (Mercury, Petrograd), Butusov  (Unitas , Petrograd), Isakov  (Krasnaya Presnya, Moscow), Kanunnikov (Krasnaya Presnya, Moscow), Artyomiev   (Krasnaya Presnya, Moscow)

Norway.
Following the game in Stockholm  the RSFSR moved on to Norway, where having beaten a succession of club sides they faced a selection called Team Club Norway on 30.08.1923. This was a hotly contested match that the visitors won 3-2. The RSFSR scorers were Isakov, Kanunnikov and Butusov.

Team Club Norway:
Arnt Simensen (Sarpsborg), Trygve Aasen (Moss), Arne Ludvigsen (Sarpsborg), Reidar Høilund (Ørn), Alf Flinth ( Kvik Halden), Fritz Amundsen (Ørn), Ole Grasto (Sarpsborg), Johnny Helgesen ( Kvik Halden), Wilhelm Nielsen (Kvik Halden), Arne Andersen (Kvik Halden), Arthur Eriksen (Strømsgodset). 

 Moscow/Petrograd (RSFSR):
Sokolov  (Yacht Club Raikomvoda, Moscow),Gostiev (Kolomyagi, Petrograd), Ezhov  (Sport, Petrograd),Vonog  (Putilovski Kryzhok Petrograd),Baturiev (Sport, Petrograd), Karniev  (Kolomyagi, Petrograd), Grigoriev (Mercury, Petrograd), Butusov  (Unitas , Petrograd), Isakov  (Krasnaya Presnya, Moscow), Kanunnikov (Krasnaya Presnya, Moscow), Artyomiev   (Krasnaya Presnya, Moscow)


The RSFSR then traveled on to Germany. Other than the fact that they played  matches in Berlin and Stettin I know nothing of how their exploits there. 

Estonia.
On 21.9.23¹ the RSFSR team played the Estonian national team in Tallinn. The Estonians count this as an official international.  RSFSR won 4-2.  Butusov scored a hattrick and  Isakov scored the other. Kalot got two penalties for Estonia.

Estonia:
 Lass , Pihlak, Silber, Kalot, Rhine (Vine, 51), Kaarman, Vali, Paal, Yurpaus, Joll, Brenner. 

 Moscow/Petrograd (RSFSR):

Polezhaev (Kolomyagi, Petrograd) ,Gostiev (Kolomyagi, Petrograd), Ezhov  (Sport, Petrograd),Vonog  (Putilovski Kryzhok Petrograd), Baturiev (Sport, Petrograd), Karniev  (Kolomyagi, Petrograd), Grigoriev (Mercury, Petrograd), Butusov  (Unitas , Petrograd), Isakov  (Krasnaya Presnya, Moscow), Kanunnikov (Krasnaya Presnya, Moscow), Artyomiev   (Chiornov (Krasnaya Presnya, Moscow),15)

Mikhail  Butusov,  Pavel  Baturiev, Peter Ezhov, Peter Isakov

Peter Sokolov, Valdimir Vonog 

The argument against the games in Sweden and Norway being considered full internationals can be summarized as follows:
1. The RSFSR was never a member of FIFA.
2. The Swedish and Norwegian teams were not billed as 'Sweden' and 'Norway'. 
3. The Swedish and Norwegian teams were not full international strength.

That the games were of an equal status to full internationals could be supported by the following:
1. The teams fielded by Sweden and Norway featured a number of previously capped players.
2.  Given Russia's lowly pre war standing in the football order and the fact that they had not played club teams of 'the first order' during the tour, Sweden and Norway fielded representative sides that should have been equal to the visitors.

3. The RSFSR media and public considered the team sent on tour to be a representative of the RSFSR and the ideals that it represented.

4. Sweden and Norway hesitated to bill their select teams as national sides for fear of FIFA reprisals.

^{1- there has been conjecture over the date of the game and even as to whether one or two Estonia v RSFSR matches were played.}  For confirmation from contemporary sources see http://roonba.20.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=2279  

Norgesmesterskapet 1902

In 1902 plans were made for a team from Norway to play against a team from either Sweden or Denmark at the athletics championship at Kristiania Idrættsforening. The Norwegian representatives were to be chosen via an elimination tournament. When no Swedish or Danish team accepted the challenge, the elimination tournament was held at the athletics meeting instead. On June 15th Grane Nordstrand beat  Spring Kristiania 4-0.
The following day Grane Nordstrand beat Odds BK Skien 2-0 through two goals by Eivind Thune Larsen.

Grane Nordstrand

Odds BK Skien