Deutsche Meisterschaft 1902/1903

VfB Leipzig

The 1903 German football championship was the first tournament sanctioned by the German Football Association (DFB) to crown a national champion. The DFB was made up of 30  local associations, and the winners of these associations were eligible to enter the championship. There were also associations from outside Germany (in Austria- Hungary) that were affiliated to the DFB, such as  Prague.
Of the thirty eligible teams, only six entered the inaugural championship.
The final was played at Exerzierplatz, Hamburg on May 31st 1903.

VfB Leipzig was one of the original eighty-six teams that came together in the city in 1900 to form the Deutscher Fußball Bund (DFB).

DFC Prag was founded by German Jewish students at a University in Prague in 1896. The DFB actively sought out members among ethnically German clubs from outside of the country, so  DFC Prag was one of the  founding members of the DFB and provided it with its first  president, Dr. Ferdinand Hueppe.


The routes to the final were makedly different- VfB Leipzig beat Britannia Berlin 3-1 away and then Altonaer FC von 1893 (of Hamburg) 6-3 at home.
 Prag, on the other hand,  reached  the final without playing a single playoff game.
They were due to play Karlsruher FV in Munich, but Prag protested, requesting that the match was played in Prague. Karlsruher then protested against Prague as a venue. The match was never played, and both teams entered the semifinal stage, where again they were scheduled to play each other at Leipzig.  Karlsruher  received a telegram which was supposedly from DFB, saying the game was off. So Karlsruher , failing to turn up, were disqualified.

Prag arrived in  Hamburg for the fianal as favourites ,a position they compromised somewhat by going out on a drinking session the night before the game. Kick off was delayed half an hour as officials sought a football that was in good enough condition to play the match. 
Prag took an 11th minute lead, the first half ended 1-1, but Leipzig dominated the second period and a   7-2 win saw them become the first winners of the Viktoria Meisterschaftstrophaee.

DFC Prag

Aston Villa 1896-97 Double Winners

The 1897 FA Cup final was played on April 10th at  Crystal Palace. A crowd of  65,891 saw Aston Villa beat Everton 3-2. Jimmy Crabtree scored the winner in the 44th minute.
Whilst Villa were playing in the final their nearest rivals in the league, Derby, were losing their match at Bury thus confirming Villa as  First Division champions.
In their League programme of 30 matches Villa won 21, drew 5 and lost 4. They scored 73 goals and conceded 38. They finished 11 points clear of their rivals.
The Cup run began with a 5-0 defeat of Newcastle at home on 30th January,  Notts County were beaten 2-1, a goalless draw with Preston North End was followed by a 3-2 win.  In the semi final at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, Liverpool were beaten 3-0.

Oriundi-Julio Libonatti

Julio Libonatti was born in Rosario, Argentina in 1901. He played for Newell's Old Boys from 1919 to 1926, scoring 78 goals in 141 appearances. He also made 15 appearances for Argentina, scoring 8 goals.

In 1926 Libonatti became the first recorded trans-Atlantic transfer when he moved to Torino in Italy. 

It was the policy in Mussolini's Italy that people of Italian extraction 'returning' to Italy automatically had dual citizenship.

Consequently Libonatti was able to make his Italy debut in 1926. He won 17 caps and scored 15 goals.

In the 1927-28 season he was Capocannoniere- the top scorer in Serie A. His total of 35 goals that season has only been bettered once.

England 1876

The earliest known photograph of an international football team.
This is the England XI that lost 3-0 to Scotland at the West of Scotland Cricket Ground, Glasgow on 4th March 1876.

Arthur Henry Patrick Savage (Crystal Palace), Edgar Field (Clapham Rovers), Frederick Thomas Green (The Wanderers), Beaumont Griffith Jarrett (Old Harrovians), Ernest Henry Bambridge (The Swifts), Walter Scott Buchanan (Clapham Rovers), George Hubert Hugh Heron (The Wanderers),Charles Eastlake Smith (Crystal Palace),William John Maynard (1st Surrey Rifles), Charles Francis William Heron (The Wanderers,capt), Arthur William Cursham (Notts County FC)

The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup 1874

Tonight at half past eight o'clock a number of gentlemen met at No. 3 Eglinton Terrace for the purpose of forming a football club. 
 

Queen's Park

When the The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup was first contested in the 1873-74 season it came as no great surprise that Queen's Park should win it.
 The first Association club in Scotland, The Queen's Park Football Club was founded on 9 July 1867. They dominated the early Scottish game-  best illustrated by the fact that in the first eight years of their existence they didn't concede a single goal. They won the Challenge Cup ten times during it's first twenty years, and also reached the English FA cup final twice. Queen's Park also provided the entire XI for Scotland's first recognised international in 1872.
Their style of play was different from that of their English contemporaries, as noted by The Field magazine in 1885: They dribble little and usually convey the ball by a series of long kicks, combined with a judicious plan of passing on.
 16 clubs embarked on the quest for the first Scottish Cup in October 1873: Alexandra Athletic, Blythswood, Callander, Clydesdale, Dumbarton, Dumbreck,Eastern,Granville, Kilmarnock, Queen's Park, Renton, Rovers, Southern, 3rd Lanark RV,Vale of Leven, and Western.

Queen's Park won the Cup without conceding a single goal, with victories over Dumbreck, Eastern and Renton preceding a 2-0 win against Clydesdale in the final, which was played at Hampden Park in front of a crowd of 2,500. Hampden Park* was Queen's Park's home ground, and they had contributed significantly to the cost of the trophy that they won.

Queen's Park were noted for keen preparation, training and experimenting with tactics, but they maintained a strictly amateur ethos, in keeping with their motto Ludere Causa Ludendi – to play for the sake of playing, so that as the Scottish game became more professionalised ( the Scottish League founded 1890, professionalism allowed in 1893)  they faded from prominence.

* The current Hampden Park is the third stadium to bear this name. Queens Park played at Hampden Park #1 up until 1883. They then moved to Hampden #2 when a railway was built over the old site. The present Hampden opened in 1903. At this point Third Lanark moved into Hampden #2 and it became known as Cathkin Park.

København A-Raeken 1889/90

The second oldest league competition in the world was contested in Denmark in the 1889/90 season. The competition was contested exclusively by Copenhagen clubs, with national championship playoffs being introduced in 1911/12. Seven teams entered, and all the matches were played at Nørrefælled park. All matches were played to a positive result, with extra time and replays if necessary.

The championship was won by Akademisk Boldklub (AB), a club formed in 1889 for University students, and the dominant force in early Danish football . They won the title via a rather protracted series of play offs. On March 30th 1890 they faced the other previously unbeaten team, Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB). AB emerged 2-1 winners. Due to this match being played in very bad weather conditions, a replay was arranged, which KB won 3-0. Each side having now won one game it was decided that they should play for a third time, and AB again won 2-1.

Balls

The laws of the game formulated by the FA in 1863 didn't make any specific statement about the ball. the first reference a standard-sized ball  was for a  game between the London Football Association and the Sheffield Football Association in 1866, when it was stated that a Lillywhite’s Number 5 must be used. The same brand of ball was specified for the  FA’s Challenge Cup competition.  Thus, in 1872  a revised version of the laws stipulated a ball of average circumference of not less than 27 inches and not more than 28 inches. In 1883 this rule was extended to  all games . A standard weight followed in 1889: from 12  to 15 ounces. This was amended in 1937 to become 14 to 16 ounces.

The valve, which eliminated the need for laces, was invented in Argentina in 1931. 

Ball used at 1936 Olympics

Turkey

When on a military posting to Izmir  in 1898 Fuat Hüsnü Kayacan (above) became the first Turkish man to play football.
 Football was played in  Thessaloniki and Izmir as early as 1875. F.C. Smyrna (Izmir) was the first football  club in Turkey. The game appeared in Istanbul in 1895. As The Ottoman Empire prohibited Turkish people from playing, these early sides were made up of wealthy English, Greek and Armenian expats.
In 1901 Fuat Hüsnü Kayacan was instrumental in forming a club called  Black Stockings FC  for Turkish players, but the police curtailed their activities and their one and only fixture, against Greek opposition, was abandoned.
Historians of Fenerbahçe identify Black Stockings FC as their predecessors. Fuat Hüsnü Kayacan had connections with all the major clubs in Istanbul at the time, being influential at both Fenerbahçe and Galatasary.

In 1908 football for Turkish subjects was decriminalised. 

Women's Football

 Anyone interested in the early years of women's football should check out this excellent site:
http://www.donmouth.co.uk/womens_football/womens_football.html

Renton FC - Champions of The United Kingdom & The World

Renton FC was formed in 1872. West Dumbartonshire was a nursery of Scottish football, with Renton's neighbours Vale of Leven and Dumbarton also producing strong teams in this era. In 1888 Renton beat Cambuslang 6-1 in the Scottish Cup final. It was their second cup win.

In the 1888 FA Cup final in England underdogs West Bromwich Albion beat Preston North End on  24th March . West Brom. then issued a challenge to Renton. They would come to Scotland and meet Renton on a neutral ground to determine the‘Champions of the United Kingdom’ – and the World.

Renton accepted the offer, and on May 19th the two cup winners met at Cathkin Park, Glasgow.

The match was played in appalling conditions, Renton running out 4-1 winners. Renton's team included 19 year old Neil McCallum, who later that year would score the first ever goal for Celtic.

A sign proclaiming Renton ‘Champions of the World’ appeared above the pavilion in their home ground, Tontine Park. 

 Two weeks later, Renton cemented their claims of world domination by beating Preston North End (away) in an exhibition game.It was this Preston North End team, who, the following season,won the first ‘Double’ in England, and with it the nickname 'The Invincibles'.

Billy Townley

Blackburn Rovers 1890 : Townley-Middle row, right.

William (Billy) Townley was born in Blackburn in 1866. He played football for Blackburn Swifts and Blackburn Olympic before joining Blackburn Rovers at the beginning of the 1888-89 season.
 Townley won his first international cap in 1889. The following year he scored two goals in England's 9-1 victory over Ireland .
 Townley was a two-time FA Cup winner with Blackburn Rovers.
 In 1890 he became the first player to score a hat-trick in an FA Cup final as Rovers beat The Wednesday 6-1.
In 1891 he scored in the final as Notts County were beaten 1-0.
Townley was a schoolteacher by profession, but when his playing career was ended by a serious head injury whilst with Manchester City, he decided to pursue a career in coaching. Opportunities being limited in Britain, he moved to the continent.

Starting with DFC Prag (a team from Bohemia who were part of the German Football Association) , Townley managed (or coached) numerous clubs in Germany and Switzerland, including Karlsruher FV (who he guided to the National Championship in 1910), FC St Gallen, 3 spells at Bayern Munich and 4 spells at  SpVgg Fürth (winning 2 National Championships).

Townley also coached the Netherlands to the semi finals of the 1924 Olympic tournament.