Southampton and England

When international football came to Southampton in 1901 the selectors included 3 Saints players in the line up:

Jack Robinson - goalkeeper
Willy Meisl remembered Robinson as being the man who revolutionized goalkeeping in the eyes of Austrian spectators, being the first they had seen to dive to make saves. Robinson played 11 internationals (conceding 11 goals and keeping 5 clean sheets). 

C.B Fry- right back
The legendary all round sportsman joined Southern League Southampton with the express ambition of gaining international honours. He played 25 Southern League and FA Cup matches for The Saints from 1900- 1902. In the old amateur tradition he played when free of other commitments. He was also a member of Corinthian FC and some records overlook his affiliation with Southampton. This was his only international appearance. 

Arthur 'Archie' Turner- outside right 
In this his second and final international appearance Turner went off in the 20th minute with concussion following a heavy challenge from Peter Boyle
He joined Southampton  in  1899, scoring 23 goals in 65 Southern League appearances. he later played for  Derby County , Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.

Fallen Idols

In the early part of the 20th century the footballing public in what was then the Austo-Hungarian Monarchy held British football in reverential regard.
Willy Meisl wrote of the influence of the touring teams of the 1900s , tours which  his visionary brother Hugo was instrumental in arranging.
Any British team would be enthusiastically greeted, and many ex pros from the British Isles secured coaching positions in central Europe.

The events of the summer of 1929 showed to what extent that idealised view had soured.
Newcastle United had finished 10th in Division 1, Huddersfield Town 16th. 
As reported in the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer (03.06.29) Huddersfield Town returned from their tour complaining of bad refereeing and hard grounds. The argument was that it was impossible to play with any style against the kick and rush tactics that the continental teams had employed. A club spokesman complained that having lost the opening game of the tour Town were asked to accept reduced fees for the subsequent games (they refused).

                    Turner (Huddersfield Town) punches in the match with Ferencváros

Whereas Huddersfield Town returned to England with something of a sour taste in their mouths, Newcastle United found themselves embroiled in an international controversy which the Football Association took 4 months to resolve.
In terms of results the tour got off to a positive start- a 1-0 win over Ambrosiana in Milan. It was, however, an inauspicious curtain raiser. Newcastle complained that the ball was much smaller than the standard size and there was some refereeing controversy -Tommy Lang was dismissed after being bitten by an opponent. The players were harassed by a stone throwing crowd as they left the pitch, and these assaults continued on the team bus and even at the airport.
Following a defeat against WAC the Neues Weiner Journal wrote: 10,000 people were deceived of their money. We need no more games with English teams. That is the net result of the game with Newcastle and of most displays given by English teams in Vienna since the war.
In Bratislava Newcastle suffered the indignity of an 8-1 thrashing at the hands of a Slovakian select team, but it was in Budapest that things really got bad. Newcastle faced MTK (reported elsewhere as being a Hungary Select XI). Following the game, which United, reduced to 9 men, were beaten 4-1, the Hungarian press levelled a number of allegations at the tourists. The Newcastle players, they wrote, didn't exert themselves, and adopted rough tactics. It was even claimed that some of the players were drunk during the match. The Hungarian FA withheld Newcastle's share of the gate money (£165) - they sent it to the Football Association, requesting an investigation into the conduct of the Newcastle players The club strenuously denied the allegations. They countered that the refereeing had been extraordinarily bad- at Budapest the referee had operated from the touchline, a fact that did not prevent him from playing a goal-making pass to a Hungarian forward!
Newcastle also put the matter into the hands of the Football Association.  Meanwhile, according to The Yorkshire Evening Post (04.06.29) the Hungarian press were circulating reports calculated to undermine British prestige. These included the opinion that English players on tour:...travel about pompously, earn  high rewards for their play,and behave as if they were missionaries  from the home of football culture who were condescending to honour inferior Colonials with their visit.
The controversy became an issue of discussion by the Hungarian FA and the Football Association. A representative of the Hungarian governing body attended an enquiry held in October 1929.
The FA concluded that the Hungarians had been justified in trying to cancel the contract on the basis of substandard performances by United,  but that the match having being played, they could not withhold the money.The FA were also satisfied that the refereeing had been substandard.

Gallacher

The FA did not comment on the dismissal of Gallacher and Maitland . The referee, Gabriel Boronkay, wrote in his report to the Hungarian FA:

In the 26th minute of the second half-time, I was compelled to send off the field the English (sic) player named Maitland, on account of his having boxed his adversary (Hirzer). In the 28th minute I had to give marching orders to the English (sic) player Gallacher because of his rough foul against Borsanyi. I beg to remark that in this moment I was standing quite close to the player and I am convinced that he was tipsy, and as I heard, he drunk much cognac between the two half-times.

Hugh Gallacher offered this explanation:

It was a boiling hot day so we rinsed our mouths out with a drop of scotch and water.

15.05.29	SC Admira	3	0	Huddersfield Town	Vienna
19.05.29	MTK	4	2	Huddersfield Town	Budapest
20.05.29	Ferencváros	1	1	Huddersfield Town	Budapest
??.05.29	Sparta Prague	3	2	Huddersfield Town	Prague
26.05.29	Leipzig Select	5	3	Huddersfield Town	Leipzig

19.05.29	Ambrosiana	0	1	Newcastle United	Milan
23.05.29	WAC	2	0	Newcastle United	Vienna
26.05.29	Slovakia Select	8	1	Newcastle United	Bratislava
28.05.29	Slavia Prague	1	1	Newcastle United	Prague
30.05.29	MTK*	4	1	Newcastle United	Budapest

* some sources have Hungary XI- but contemporary press reports refer to 'The Hungaria Club' ie. MTK (Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre Budapest Futball Club)

Der Papierene

He was truly symbolical of of Austrian soccer at its peak period: no brawn but any amount of brain.Technique bordering on virtuosity , precision work and an inexhaustible repertoire of tricks and ideas.
Willy Meisl Soccer Revolution

He was endowed with such an unbelievable wealth of  variations and ideas that one could never really be sure which manner of play was to be expected. He had no system , to say nothing of a set pattern. He just had...genius.  
Friedrich Torberg Die Erben der Tante Jolesch

I'm going to step outside our 1863-1937 time zone for a moment, and mention Ferenc Pukas, Pele, Johann Cruyff and Lionel Messi. Hopefully, in invoking these great names I will convince you that there is no paradox in a great side, the success of which relies on united play (Total Football is a handy term), having one star who shines above the common effort.
Hugo Meisl's Wunderteam were early exponents of what we would now call Total Football. Supporting the man with the ball, filling the gaps left by teammates, moving seamlessly from defensive to attacking roles and vice versa, changing shape in response to the state of play.
The cherry on top of Meisl's cake was a lightweight, cerebral striker - Matthias Sindelar. He was 175 cm tall and weighed just 74 kg
Meisl initially discarded Sindelar in favour of a more robust and basic English style centre forward- Josef Uridil- he was still very much in love with British football- particularly the Glasgow Rangers team he had seen in Vienna in 1905. The Scottish game had instilled in Meisl a faith in the effectiveness of the short passing game, but he also wanted his centre forward to be a great physical presence. From his debut in 1926 Sindelar was an occasional in the national team, in 1931 though, Meisl made him a regular.
When Austria's Wunderteam enjoyed a run of 14 unbeaten matches (April 1931- December 1932) Sindelar played in 11 of the matches. In total 'The Mozart of Football' played 43 times for Austria (25 wins,11 draws, and 7 defeats) and scored 26 goals.



For my German readers:
(Friedrich Torberg)

Auf den Tod eines Fußballspielers

Er war ein Kind aus Favoriten
und hieß Matthias Sindelar.
Er stand auf grünem Platz inmitten,
weil er ein Mittelstürmer war

Er spielte Fußball, und er wußte
vom Leben außerdem nicht viel.
Er lebte, weil er leben mußte
vom Fußballspiel fürs Fußballspiel.

Er spielte Fußball wie kein zweiter,
er stak voll Witz und Phantasie.
Er spielte lässig, leicht und heiter,
er spielte stets, er kämpfte nie.

Er warf den blonden Schopf zur Seite,
ließ seinen Herrgott gütig sein,
und stürmte durch die grüne Weite
und manchmal bis ins Tor hinein.

Es jubelte die Hohe Warte,
der Prater und das Stadion,
wenn er den Gegner lächelnd narrte
und zog ihm flinken Laufs davon.

Bis eines Tages ein andrer Gegner
ihm jählings in die Quere trat,
ein fremd und furchtbar überlegener,
vor dem´s nicht Regel gab noch Rat.

Von einem einzigen harten Tritte
fand sich der Spieler Sindelar
verstoßen aus des Planes Mitte
weil das die neue Ordnung war.

Ein Weilchen stand er noch daneben,
bevor er abging und nachhaus.
Im Fußballspiel, ganz wie im Leben,
war´s mit der Wiener Schule aus.

Er war gewohnt zu kombinieren,
und kombinierte manchen Tag.
Sein Überblick ließ ihn erspüren,
daß seine Chance im Gashahn lag.

Das Tor, durch das er dann geschritten,
lag stumm und dunkel ganz und gar.
Er war ein Kind aus Favoriten
und hieß Mattihas Sindelar. 

Willy Meisl

Goalkeeper Dr.Willy Meisl of Wiener Amateur-Sportverein played one international match, for Austria against Hungary in Vienna on May 2nd 1920. The game ended 2-2.
Meisl was the brother of the legendary Wunderteam manager, Hugo Meisl. He later managed Hammarby IF in Sweden and moved to Britain in the 1930's. Dr Meisl's writings give us great insight into the development of football in Austria and it's Empire.

Austria 1920- Dr Meisl in the hooped top.