Ostend 1907

A 2 day festival of football took place at the Wellington Hippodrome, Ostend on 19th &20th May 1907.  On the 19th 2 Southern league teams,  champions Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur , who had finished the season in 6th, faced Belgian opposition.  

Union Saint Gilloise were the Belgian champions.

19.05.07
Union Saint Gilloise	1	8	Tottenham Hotspur
Combined Belgium	1	10	Fulham
20.05.07
Tottenham Hotspur	2	1	Fulham

Tottenham's scorers in the win over Union were Leipzig born Max Seeburg (3),England legend Vivian Woodward (2), George Payne (2) and Alf Whyman.
Whyman and full back Walter Bull scored against Fulham.
The attendance for the Tottenham Fulham game was approximately 1,500.
Fulham joined the Football League for the 1907-08 season, becoming the 4th London club.

De Bal van Cyril Bernard Morrogh

College Melle

Royal Antwerp were formed in about 1880 by British expatriates and the Koninklijke Belgische Voetbalbond was established in 1895. Football had first arrived in Belgium in 1863. One football, a leather ball, a luxury item, was taken to The College of the Josephite Fathers at Melle by Cyril Bernard Morrogh . Morrogh was a young student from Ireland. Apparently it was his English classmates who showed most enthusiasm for the game. How closely their activities adhered to the Association Laws of the Game we will never know. Very little, I suspect. 
The information, illustration and post title are taken from Kroniek van het Belgisch Voetball (Fraiponts & Willcox, 2003)

Not the actual ball. This one dates from the 1880s

Ray Braine

Up until 1930 the way in which Belgian clubs got around the strict amatuer rules was to set their players up as cafe owners. Ray Braine, who had won 4 championships with Beerschot (Antwerp), scoring 141 goals in 142 games in his 8 year spell at the club, followed this route. The Belgian Federation then introduced a  rule that banned players from being cafe proprietors unless their parents had been in the business for 5 years.  
In 1930 Braine decided to try his hand abroad in order to earn money from football without resorting to subterfuge, He was set to join London club Clapton Orient, but the British government operated a very strict control on foreign labour, and would not consider allowing a foreign national to enter the country to work as a professional footballer. 
Braine turned instead to Czechoslovakia, joining Sparta Prague. He was very successful in Prague, winning 2 league championships and a Mitropa Cup. The Czechs offered him a small fortune to adopt Czech citizenship, but he declined, returning to Belgium in 1936.
He made 54 appearances for the national team, scoring 26 goals. 

The Low Countries

Intrepid spectators at a Belgium v Netherlands match, Antwerp, 1913.

During our era (pre 1937) the neighbours from the Low Countries played each other 54 times. (Argentina and Uruguay had played each other an incredible 132 times during this period, Austria and Hungary 81 and the originators, England and Scotland  met 61 times). 
The first meeting was Belgium's 2nd international, first for the Netherlands. Both countries were founding members of FIFA.
In the very first meeting The Coupe van den Abeele was contested, having previously been played for by representative XIs of the 2 countries in matches that are nor recognized as full internationals. The 'cup tie' status of these matches explains why extra time was played on 3 occasions .  The Coupe van den Abeele was played for when the teams met in Belgium. When the Netherlands were hosts the Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad Beker was the prize. 
The high scoring first meeting  (Netherlands winning 4-1 in extra time) set the tone-  the first 54 fixtures produced an average 3.9 goals a game. 

	Wins	Goals
Belgium	16	89
Netherlands	28	122
Drawn	10

14.05.05- a newspaper illustration shows  Eric Thornton saving a shot.

Netherlands 1905- white shirts with a red white and blue sash motif.

14.05.05- Thornton in the Belgian goal- Netherlands attacking. 

Pre 1937 the 2 sides also met twice in Olympic Games matches. In 1920 at Antwerp Belgium, on their way to gold, beat Netherlands 3-0 in the semi final. In 1928 at Rotterdam in the consolation tournament  (recognized by FIFA but not by the IOC) Netherlands won 3-1.

Netherlands also came out on top of the World Cup qualifying match played in Antwerp in  1934, winning 4-2. Both teams qualified for the Finals out of a 3 team group.

Armand Swartenbroeks- The Red Doctor

Armand Swartenbroeks didn't gain the prefix Red in his nickname on account of the then record 53 international appearances he made for Belgium's Diables Rouges between 1913 and 1928.
The Red was rather a reference to his socialist politics.
Doctor is self explanatory- he was a doctor of medicine and he had a dual career in medicine and politics after his football career ended. 
Swartenbroeks made his debut in a 4-2 win over Netherlands and having  faced Netherlands 16 times in all (w 6, d 5, l 5) his last game was against the same opponents. 
As the result of an act of great sportsmanship Swartenbroeks is the only non Dutch player to have received an award of merit from the KNV- playing in a B international in 1928 he deliberately missed a penalty that he thought had been incorrectly awarded against the Dutch keeper Jan de Boer.
A gold medal winner in the 1920 Olympic games he also appeared in the 1924 tournament. 
The Doctor made 295 appearances for Daring Club de Bruxelles in a career (1911-1930) that was interrupted by the war.

Englishmen abroad...

Football's development towards being a game
 of mass appeal occurred at a time of great commercial enterprise.
 It was not just military ventures that took the English overseas, but trade, industry and the 
development of such infrastructural necessities as railways in the countries that were following
 in the wake of industrial development.
The same of course could be said of the Scots, particularly with regard to the development of 
South American football.  
This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, but merely to provide examples of the way in which
 Englishmen were involved in overseas football.


Founders:
Many overseas clubs, as we have seen, were founded by Englishmen, usually keen amateurs such as    
Herbert Kilpin (Milan) or Dr James Richardson Spensley (Genoa), but sometimes  professionals such as Mark Nicholson, the former West Bromwich Albion player and FA Cup winner who was a founder of First Vienna Football Club 1894.

Players:
A number of Englishmen were actually capped by other countries.
Russia.
The most extreme example of a national team fielding 'foreign' players  must surely have been Russia in their (second) 1912 encounter with Hungary, The team contained 5 Englishmen,  members of Moscow's British Sports Club.
William 'Vasily 'Charnock 

Arthur V. Parker

Arthur V. Parker
G. Newman
T. Lunn
Edward Thomas

Belgium.
A number of Englishmen represented Belgium:
Alphonse Wright (midfield, Racing Club de Bruxelles, Belgium 5 caps 1906-07)
Wright kept his British citizenship a secret from the Belgian football authorities.

 Georgy Hebdin (forward, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, Belgium 12 caps 1908-20)
Initially kept his British citizenship a secret, but then satisfied FIFA's residency law.

Eric Thornton (goalkeeper, Léopold FC de Bruxelles, Belgium 2 caps 1905)
Thornton went to Belgium to study and represented  l'Université de Bruxelles in the 1900 Olympics. In 1907 he relocated to Antwerp and joined Beerschot AC.

 Austria
Charley Stansfield  (forward, Vienna Cricket and Football Club,2 caps 1905)
A real dark horse, with no form as a footballer in his native UK, he scored 4 goals in an international for Austria in a 5:4 win over Hungary, Stansfield played for Vienna Cricket and Football Club and won 2 international caps. He was however, a gambler and a drinker. Cricketer sent him packing, back to England, ad he appears never to have played again. 




Argentina
If you look at the Argentina line up that faced Uruguay on 21.10.06 the British/ European influence is obvious from the names of the players, many of whom were the sons of immigrants. 2 of the Argentina  players were actualy English born: 

Héctor J. Henman (inside forward, Alumni- 1 cap) Harold James Henman had traveled to South America with a South African touring side. He was, however, English born.
Wilfredo A. Stocks (winger, Belgrano- 1 cap) born in Nottingham, both parents English, moved to Argentina as a small boy. 


France (tenuous)
 I hesitate to include Charles Wilkes,  some sources claim he was born in the Chanel Islands and  adopted French citizenship, others record him as being born in Le' Harve. He played 4 times for France (1905-08).
Similarly Victor Sergent (Victor Bentall-Sergent) was born in England, but his father was French. The Racing club de France defender was capped 5 times by France (1907-13).

Belgium v France 07.05.05

These days, of course, International football is the centre of  a multi million euro industry that involves sponsorship, media rights, endorsements...
It might be refreshing to look back at the earlier days, when the amateur ethic prevailed and there was an altogether more relaxed attitude to the arrangement and completion of fixtures. 
Let's look at one of the oldest continental football rivalries, Belgium against France.

The second meeting between the 2 countries took place on 7th May 1905  at Vivier d'Oie, Brussels  An attendance figure of 300 is recorded.

The first incident of note occurred when France objected to the inclusion of Eric Thornton in the Belgian side.  

Eric Thornton

Goalkeeper Thornton was British. He studied in Belgium and had represented Brussels University in the 1900 Olympic Games. Thornton played his club football with Leopold Club de Bruxelles. He had played an international for Belgium against Netherlands.  The French, however, were not happy at Belgium  having an Englishman in their line up and their protest delayed the kick off by an hour. 
Robert Hustin of Racing Club de Bruxelles was sent for to replace Thornton and so the match could begin...


Except that Belgium only had ten players...
Gustave Vanderstappen (Union St.-Gilloise) arrived at the ground late despite the hour delay.

But Belgium could begin with ten men, so the game could kick off...
Except that there was no referee...
Mr John Lewis, the highly respected English referee was travelling to Brussels to officiate in the match. Mr Lewis was an ardent traveler who clocked up thousands of miles in order to referee matches, always refusing to claim his expenses.  Mr Lewis had arrived in Brussels routinely. However, the coach taking him to the ground had got lost. Very lost...
Fortunately Rodolphe Seeldrayers was on hand. Herr Seeldrayers was a German, but his role in the development of Belgian sport is inestimable. He was a founder member of the Royal Belgian Union of the Football Association Societies. Later he served  as president of FIFA. The French had no qualms about him stepping into the breech.
Fifteen minutes of football, no goals , but the arrival , firstly of Vanderstappen to make his country's number up to XI, and then of Mr Lewis (suitably agitated I'm sure).
The 15 minutes played were allowed to stand. Mr Lewis relieved Herr Seeldrayers of the refereeing duties. 

Fernand Canelle 

Belgium were winning 4-0 when in the 65th minute the French reaped something of a reward for their earlier protest. Their own goalkeeper, Georges Crozier (Union Sportive Parisienne), was on military service. He had to leave in order to catch a train to get back to his barracks on time. Team Captain Fernand Canelle went in goal for the remainder of the match.
Belgium won the eventful encounter 7-0. 

Oranje

When the Netherlands lined up for their 6th international match against Belgium in Antwerp on April 14th 1907 they wore orange for the first time.
This was the line up:
Reinier Beeuwkes (D.F.C Dordrecht) Ben Stom (Velocitas Breda)
Karel Heijting (HVV Den Haag)Willem Janssen (PW Enschede)Iman Dozy (Ajax Leiden) John Heijning (HVV Den Haag- captain)
Toine van Renterghem (HBS Den Haag)
Louis van Gogh (HFC Haarlem)
Pieter Boelmans ter Spill (HFC Haarlem)
Constant Feith (HVV Den Haag)
Ferry van der Vinne (HFC Haarlem)

Photographs from the Belgium game 14.04.07

Ben Stom was the only 'ever present' in the Netherlands line up. 
Belgium took a 31st minute lead through René Feye and debutant Louis van Gogh equalised for Netherlands in the 75th minute. As the Coupe Vanden Abeele was at stake extra time was played. The beautifully named and aristocratic  Constant Feith  put Oranje ahead on 99 minutes and van Gogh  rounded things off two minutes before the end of extra time. 

Jonkheer Constant Feith

Netherlands 1905- white with red and blue band ?

Charles Cambier

Belgium's first international team. Van Den Eynde is circled left and Cambier centre.

Charles Cambier

Belgium entered the international football stage with a game against France on May 1st 1904, just weeks before the formation of FIFA. 

Lining up at centre half was Charles Cambier, a 20 year old who played for  Club Brugge.
Cambier played 23 internationals for Belgium up until the outbreak of the war in 1914. He was with Brugge for 22 seasons, retiring in 1925.
His career was interrupted not only by the war, but earlier by a double leg fracture inflicted in a 1910 club match by his international team mate Lomme Van Den Eynde.
Following this indiscretion  Van Den Eynde, who played for Union St.-Gilloise, had first to escape the wrath of Arthur and Joseph Cambier, Charles' brothers and teammates, who attempted to beat him up.
A more official sanction followed. The Belgian FA banned Van Den Eynde (who had a reputation for over the top tackling) for life. 
The life ban was lifted in 1912, at about the same time as Cambier made his comeback from the injury, and Van Den Eynde actually made his return to the Belgian team before Cambier; however they never played alongside each other again. 

Nacional Tour of Europe 1925

Uruguay made a good impression on the European public with their Olympic winning display in 1924, and football fans were keen to see more of the South American style. 

Nacional was invited to make an extensive European tour, playing 38 matches over six months. They must have become experts on European railways!  

Nacional played against both national squads and professional club teams from 9 European countries. 

Nacional won 26 matches, drew 7, and lost 5.

There is a good Spanish  language site on the tour, with line ups, photographs* and match reports here.  

France

08.03.25       Nacional   3-1   Ile de France   (Colombes, Paris: 20,000)
15.03.25       Nacional   5-0  Normandy  (Stade des Bruyères,Rouen: 16,000)
19.03.25       Nacional   0-0   France -30 mins each way (Velódromo Buffalo, Paris: 40,000 )
22.03.25       Nacional   7-0   Roubaix    (Parc Jean Dubrulle, Roubaix: 15,000)
29.03.25       Nacional   4-0   Stade Bordelaise   (Stade de Sainte-Germaine, Bordeaux: 25,000)

Italy

  05.04.25       Nacional   3-0  Genoa FC  (Stadio Marassi, Genoa:18,000)

Spain

11.04.25      Nacional    0-1   Esportiu Europa  (Campo del Guinardó, Barcelona: 9,000)
12.04.25      Nacional    2-2   FC Barcelona  (Las Corts,Barcelona: 50,000)
13.04.25      Nacional    1-2   Catalonia XI (Las Corts, Barcelona: 25,000)
16.04.25      Nacional    1-1    Esportiu Europa (Campo del Guinardó , Barcelona: 11,000)
19.04.25      Nacional    2-2    Valencia XI  (Estadio Municipal, Valencia:15,000)
23.04.25      Nacional   13-1   Manacor FC  (Manacor: 10,000)  
26.4.25      Nacional       6-0      Balearic Isles XI   (Palmas de Mallorca, Palma: 5,000)   
  1.05.25      Nacional    2-1    Rey Alfonso XIII  (Palmas de Mallorca,  Palma: 6,000) 
 3.05.25      Nacional    4-1    Balearic Isles XI (Palmas de Mallorca,  Palma: 6,000)

Netherlands

10.05.25      Nacional    7-0   Netherlands (Schuttersveld, Rotterdam: 20,000)

Czechoslovakia

14.05.25      Nacional    0-1   Sparta  Prague    (Letná Stadium, Prague: 40,000)

France

17.05.25    Nacional  (reserves)    3-0 Franco-Swiss XI        (Paris: 7,000)

Belgium

17.05.25    Nacional    2-1    Brussels XI (Oscar Bossaert Stadium,Brussels:18,000)

France

21.05.25    Nacional    2-1     League of Alsace  (Stade de la Meinau, Strasbourg: 12,000)

Belgium

 24.05.25    Nacional    5-1     Belgium        (Brussels: 12,000)   
31.05.25     Nacional    1-2     Belgium        (Olympic Stadium, Antwerp: 55,000)

France

  04.06.25    Nacional     6-0      France         (Stade Bergeyre, París: 12,000)

Switzerland 

  07.06.25   Nacional     5-2     Switzerland     (Landhof, Basel: 12,000)

Austria

11 .06.25   Nacional     1-1     Austria  (Plater, Vienna: 70,000)  
17 .06.25   Nacional     6-0     Tyrol XI  (Innsbruck: 15,000)

 Switzerland 

21 .06.25   Nacional     5-1         Switzerland (Utogrund, Zurich: 15,000)

                                                                          Austria 
25.06.25   Nacional     2-1          Rapid Wien  (Vienna: 25,000)   
28.06.25   Nacional     2-0          Austria  (Vienna: 50,000)

Spain

   05.07.25   Nacional     0-1          Esportiu Europa (Estadio Europa, Barcelona: 25,000)  
   09.07.25   Nacional     4-2          Unión Sportiva  (Gerona: 6,000)
 12.07.25   Nacional     4-0          Catalonia XI (Las Corts, Barcelona: 30,000)

Portugal

 16.07.25   Nacional     7-2         Oporto XI  (Oporto, Porto:15,000)  

 20.07.25   Nacional     5-0         Sporting  (Sporting, Lisbon: 25,000)
 26.07.25   Nacional     5-2        Oporto XI  (Oporto, Porto:15,000)

Spain

    02.08.25   Nacional    2-2         Celta de Vigo  (Riazor, Vigo: 12,000)
    06.08.25   Nacional    0-0         Deportivo La Coruña (Real Deportivo,La Coruña: 20,000)   
   08.08.25   Nacional    3-0         Deportivo La Coruña (Real Deportivo,La Coruña: 20,000)

P	W	D	L	F	A
38	26	7	5	130	30

Héctor  Scarone

Scorers:

Héctor  Scarone 26; Héctor Castro 19; Borjas 17; Pedro Petrone  15; Pedro Cea 13; José Nazzasi, Suffiotti  10; Santos Urdinarán, Cassanello 5; Carlos Scarone 3; Rodolfo Marán 2; Miramontes, Ángel Romano, Ghierra,  Barlocco,  Alfredo Zibechi 1.        

* The photograph accompanying the report of Game 8 shows a ten yard arc on the edge of the penalty area, as does the movie of the Genoa game! The ten yard arc was not introduced until 1937... I'm looking into this.

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.

1920 Olympic Final

Robert Coppée converts a penalty after six minutes of the 1920 Belgium v Czechoslovakia Olympic football final.

Belgium

 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp saw the first ever intercontinental football competition. 
There was an early shock as Great Britain, chasing their third successive triumph, were beaten 3-1 by Norway in the opening round. The British delegation were concerned with the rise in 'professional' opponents within the international game, but in fairness Norway were a genuine amateur outfit.
The final was highly controversial and remains the only occasion in which an international final has been abandoned. Belgium was awarded the gold medal by default after Czechoslovakia walked off the field in the 39th minute of the final when their left-back Karel Steiner was sent off.
The Czechs were incensed with the English officials following a dubious second Belgian goal in the 28th minute.

The Czechs protested the result of the final as follows:
1. We were allocated an English linesman, which is in contradiction with the rules which state that each participating nation has the right to one or both linesmen. This violation of the rules was prejudicial to us during the game, because the English linesman was not impartial and this is why we seek the cancellation of the match. Immediately after the game we brought this notice to the attention of M. Rodolphe Seeldrayers.
2. The majority of the decisions of the referee Mr. Lewis were wrong and it was obvious that it gave the public the wrong impression about our game. Also both Belgian goals were the result of incorrect decisions by the referee and we seek a rigorous investigation on that point.
3. During the match, Belgian soldiers were introduced to the crowd until they circled the pitch and because of their provocative presence our players were unable to play their normal game. As a result of the very regrettable incident at the end of the match when there was a pitch invasion lead by the soldiers and our national flag was insulted we will not participate until we have received an apology from the (Belgian) soldiers.

 Crowd on the pitch after the abandonment of the game.

September 2nd, 1920
17:30

 Olympic Stadium, Antwerp
Attendance: 35000
Goals:   Coppée (penalty) 6mins,  Larnoe 28mins.