Meuwsen beker (Amsterdam) 1912-1914

1912
In April 1912 an Easter tournament was played at Amsterdam- the trophy was donated by famous hat-dealer, J. S. Meuwsen.
The following teams participated:

Ajax (Netherlands)

Antwerp  (Belgium)  

FC Lloyd (Germany)
A Bremen club, probably representatives of the Dynamo Lloyd automotive factory.

GVC (Netherlands)
Wageningen based GVC (Go Ahead-Victoria Combination) are one of Netherlands oldest clubs, formed in 1903 as a merger of Go Ahead (founded 1886) and Victoria (founded 1889). In the seasons 1910-1911 and 1911-1912 GVC were runners up to Sparta Rotterdam in the national championships. The games were held in Het Houten Stadion.

07.04.12	Antwerp	5	0	FC Lloyd
07.04.12	Ajax	1	2	GVC
08.04.12	GVC	2	1	Antwerp
08.04.12	Ajax	6	0	FC Lloyd

1913

For the 1913 edition Ajax were joined by:

Werder Bremen (Germany)
Founded in 1899- the Green-Whites were founder members of the DFB (1900).

Cercle S. Brugeois  (Belgium)  

Founded in 1899 as Cercle Sportif Brugeois by former students of the Saint Francis Xavier Institute. Cercle won the Belgian national championship in the 1910–11 season.

West Norwood  (England)   
This tournament teaches us much about the gulf in class between English and continental football at the time. Although London's West Norwood had employed professional players since 1903 they were in the Isthmian League and the season had seen them finish bottom with a record of p 20 w 3 d 3 l 14. They had last played in the FA Cup in 1906- 07, losing 9-1 to Accrington Stanley of the Lancashire Combination. They did however win the London Senior Cup that season. West Norwood were badly affected by the relatively successful Crystal Palace moving into their neighbourhood.
The club had originally been formed as Stanley FC in 1887. They became West Norwood in 1889. Having played in a variety of locations in south London they settled at Herne Hill. In 1915 Crystal Palace of the Southern League took over this stadium and West Norwood slipped into decline.  

11.05.13	Ajax	1	0	Werder Bremen
11.05.13	West Norwood	3	0	Cercle S. Brugeois
12.05.13	Werder Bremen	1	0	Cercle S. Brugeois
12.05.13	West Norwood	1	0	Ajax

1914

West Norwood returned to defend their title, Ajax again hosted. The other participants were:

Stade Français (France) 
Now better known for Rugby Union, Stade had been operating a football section since 1888.

Groningen VC   (Netherlands)  
West Norwood notched up a second successive victory over Ajax. Their showing in the  Isthmian league had also been improved- 10th out of 11 ( p 20 w 4 d 3 l 13).


      

12.04.14	Ajax	2	1	Stade Français
12.04.14	West Norwood	5	1	Groningen VC
13.04.14	Stade Français	6	2	Groningen VC
13.04.14	West Norwood	1	0	Ajax

Special thanks to Mark (www.voetbalkroniek.nl) for help with missing results.

Belgium 1895-96

 The multi-sport governing body Union Belge des Sociétés de Sports Athlétiques came into being on August 4th, 1895. The decision was made to play a national football league championship in the upcoming season.
The following teams took part:
Antwerp FC- the oldest club in Belgium, founded 1880 (matricule #1).*
 FC Liègeois - founded 1892 (matricule #4). 
Sporting Club de Bruxelles - founded 1894  dissolved during the season 1897.
Racing  Club de Bruxelles - founded 1894 (matricule # 6).
Leopold Club de Bruxelles - founded 1893 (matricule # 5). 
FC Brugeois  - founded 1891 (matricule # 3).
Union FC Ixelles  - founded 1892 dissolved 1901. 

 The first ever league match in the Belgian championship was played on November 10th, 1895. Antwerp Football Club (the oldest in Belgium, founded in 1880) played Sporting Club de Bruxelles.
The league was eventually won by FC Liègeois, who benefited from being awarded wins on 3 occasions (out of 12 matches) when opponents didn't show up. They finished with the record of nine wins, one defeat and two draws, 32 goals for and 11 against.
 The influence of British players was strong throughout the league-  Liègeois had five English players.

* Every club in the Belgian league system has a matricule number. This practice dates from 1926, when the Royal Belgian Football Association numbered each club in order of registration.

Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz 1900

In 1900 the Belgian count Van der Straeten Ponthoz offered a cup to the winner of an international tournament. At the time national  leagues existed in Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland , and as the champions of these leagues were all in the tournament, the press dubbed it the continental championship.

RAP (1899)

Belgium: Antwerp FC,Racing(Brussels- entered 2 sides),Léopold FC(Brussels)

Switzerland: Grasshopper Club Zürich  

Netherlands: H.V.V.Den Haag,R.A.P.(Amsterdam) 

First Round
R.A.P.                2-1 Racing
H.V.V.                8-1 Léopold
Racing II             walk over  Antwerp FC
Grasshopper           bye

Semifinals
Grasshopper           2-3 R.A.P.
H.V.V.                3-0 Racing II

Final
R.A.P.                2-1 H.V.V.