Manchester United in Central Europe 1908

United and Ferencváros

Having won the League Championship for the first time in the 1907-08 season, Manchester United, under the leadership of Ernest Mangnall, embarked on their first overseas tour.

06.05.08	Zurich Select	2*	4	Manchester United	Zurich
11.05.08**	Slavia	0	2	Manchester United	Prague
12.05.08***	Slavia	0	2	Manchester United	Prague
13.05.08	WSC	0	4	Manchester United	Vienna
15.05.08	WAC	0	5	Manchester United	Vienna
17.05.08	Vienna Select	0	4	Manchester United	Vienna
22.05.08	Budapest Select ****	2	6	Manchester United	Budapest
24.05.08	Ferencváros	0	7	Manchester United	Budapest

* 1 in some sources

** In some sources 09.05.08

*** in some sources 10.05.08

**** teams represented were MTC, Ferencváros & BTC

I can only find a full team listing for the game with WAC-Moger, Stacey, Burgess, Duckworth , Thompson, Downie, Meredith, Bannister,Turnbull, Picken, Wall- a strong United XI.
As Mr Mangnall commented on his return to England that United would never play Slavia again I can only assume that there was some controversy attached to the games in Prague- the English press reports contain nothing that enlightens us on this matter. 
In Vienna, the press commented, the referee ran along the touchline 'in a tremendous state of excitement...some of the attitudes he struck were simply magnificent'. The United players in this match were also surprised by the presence of some Oldham Athletic supporters- expats living in Vienna who attended despite the 1s 8d admission price. 
The game that attracted the most attention was the clash with Ferencváros.  The game ended with United being escorted from the ground by armed mounted police having being pelted with stones by the spectators (there were 16,000 present). Thompson received a superficial injury. 

Refereeing was the issue, as was often the case with overseas games in this era. The rules on the continent tended to be interpreted differently- physical contact, a staple of the English game, was frowned upon. 
Firstly it would appear that there were 'goal judges' deployed at the posts who actually interfered with the play in some way. 
There was controversy over a penalty awarded to United-  a United forward 'cleverly rolled into the penalty area' after being fouled, According to Hungarian sources the referee was aware of the deceit but was placed under pressure by the Manchester United players. Goalkeeper Moger scored the penalty to complete the 7-0 scoreline.
There is also some suggestion that the referee wished to dismiss 3 United players for overly physical play. Ferencváros lost 2 players to injury. Communication broke down and when one of the United men (Thompson) placed a hand on the referees shoulder the crowd became incensed.
Some reports held that there were no hard feelings after the game and that the 2 sides dined together, a suggestion dismissed by Mr Mangnall.

Manchester Courier

Incidentally, in the Ferencváros game 2 of the great players of the era shared a pitch for the only time. Billy Meredith and Imre Schlosser made 116 international appearances between them in careers that totalled 48 years.

Der Verband der Prager Deutschen Fußball-Vereine

The history of German domestic football is made very complex by the large number of regional competitions that fed into the National Championships. Another level of complexity emerges when we consider that there were actually clubs competing in the German National Championships that were from outside the borders of Germany itself. Prague was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy- being in Bohemia,a province of the Austrian Empire. There were a number of football clubs in Prague that were associated with the German speaking community (which was in fact diminishing rapidly during this era- at the turn of the century about 10% of the population of the city were Germans).
In 1900 Der Verband der Prager Deutschen Fußball-Vereine was founded- an association of German football clubs in Prague (which in German is Prag).
When the Deutscher Fußball Bund was established in 1900 there were 2 Prague based clubs among the founder members- the very similarly named Deutscher FC Prag and Deutscher FC Germania Prag.

The first championship was held in the 1901-02 season. The following teams took part:
Deutscher FC Germania Prag
FC Austria Prag
FC Favorit Prag
FC Hellas 1900 Prag
Fußball Sektion der Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten Prag
FuAC Sport Prag
FC Sturm Prag
Deutscher FC Prag

 Deutscher FC Germania Prag emerged as champions.

The club had been founded as Unitas Prag in 1898 by Heinrich Nonner, who had previously played for Regatta Prag and DFC Prag. For a short while the club was renamed Urania before becoming  Germania. It was  Nonner who represented the club at the first ever meeting of the Deutscher Fußball Bund.

1n 1902-03 only 3 clubs participated in the championship. It would appear that DFC Prag were selected to compete in the German national championships in rather a random manner as the Prague tournament was not conclusively decided.

In March 1903  DFC Germania Prag went out of existence.They faced financial problems and had lost their home ground, on which a church was to be built. The club relocated to Graslitz (which is now the Czech city of Kraslice).

This signalled the demise of  Der Verband der Prager Deutschen Fußball-Vereine , as only 2 active clubs remained. 

 Germany joined FIFA  in 1904, and consequently teams from outside the country were no longer allowed to play in the DFB competitions. 

Nonner

Die Pfarrwiese

Simply adore this panoramic postcard of Rapid Vienna's Pfarrwiese ground. Football in La Belle Époque. 

There is an air of gentility about the scene. People in their Sunday best attending the game.

An assortment of headwear and plenty of walking-canes...

... and this lady has really made an effort!

Note the high fences to prevent the ball being booted out of the ground- this was before Jimmy Hogan taught the Austrians to play it on the carpet.

Rapid moved to this ground  in the Hütteldorf area of Vienna in 1911. The initial capacity was 4,000,

This site has some pictures of the ground as it is today. 

Austria vs Hungary, 1902

Hungary had fielded a national selection 3 times in 1901. Their opponents had been the English sides  Richmond and Surrey Wanderers (twice) over the course of 3 days in April (11th, 12th and 13th). The  tourists  had proved too strong for the Hungarians, winning 4-0, 5-1 and 6-1. The Hungarian XI for the first match featured an English player (Windett).
Whereas the Hungarian governing body, Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség, had been founded in 1901, football in Austria at this time was organised on a city by city basis. 
A national governing body (Österreichischer Fußball-Bund) was not established  until 1904. 
On October 12th 1902 a match was played at WAC Platz, Vienna between teams representing Vienna and Budapest: 

Vienna Selection			Budapest Selection
Philipp Nauß	Wiener A.C	GK		Bádonyi Gyula	Budapesti T.C
'Eipel'-Wilhelm Eipeldauer	First Vienna	FB		Berán József	Ferencváros
‘Omlady’- Emil Wachuda	Wiener A.C	FB		Gabrovitz Emil	Postások
Felix Hüttl	Vienna Cricket and F.C.	HB		Koltai József	Ferencváros
Rudolf Blässy	S.C. Graphia	HB		Pozsonyi Imre	M.Ú.E.
‘Quick’- Raimund Mössmer	D.J. Währing	HB		Bayer Jenő	M.A.C.
Julius Wiesner	Wiener A.C	F		Buda István	Budapesti T.C
Gustav Huber	Wiener A.C	F		Steiner Bertalan	33 F.C.
Engelbert Schrammel	Wiener A.C	F		Pokorny József	Ferencváros
Jan Studnicka	Wiener A.C	F		Hajós Alfréd	Budapesti T.C
Josef Taurer	Wiener A.C	F		Oláh Károly	Budapesti S.C.

The Viennese controlled the game, placing the Hungarian goal under relentless pressure.  Josef Taurer put the hosts in front in the 5th minute and Studnicka got a second after 10. Gustav Huber made it 3 before half time and in the second half Studnicka completed his hat trick for a 5-0 win to Vienna. 
It was agreed during the course of  the after match celebrations to hold this fixture on an annual basis.
Hajós Alfréd* wrote in Sport Világ magazine that the Austrian advantage had been to have the core of the team made from the players of one club (WAC), whereas the Budapest players were relatively unfamiliar with each others' play

In 1907 Austria,Hungary  and Czechoslovakia (Bohemia) were all admitted separately to FIFA.

In 1908 the Austrian  and Hungarian Associations agreed to retrospectively designate the 1902 match  an official international. 

*The Hungary captain was a fascinating man. Hajós, the Hungarian for sailor, was a psuedonym- he was originally called Guttmann Arnold. Hajós was a double gold medal winner in swimming at the Athens Olympics in 1896. He was also a top class runner and discuss thrower. It wasn't all about sport though, he was also an architect of considerable renown. He was responsible for designing part of the Millenáris Sporttelep stadium in which Hungary played their matches. This must have given him considerable satisfaction when he was later coach of the national team.

Tottenham Hotspur and Woolwich Arsenal on Tour, 1912

Spurs at Leipzig

When the 1911-12 season ended on April 29th Woolwich Arsenal were in 10th place in Division 1 and Tottenham Hotspur in 12th. The famous North London rivalry had yet to come into being, as Arsenal were still based in Plumstead (South East London). In May 1912 both clubs embarked on tours of central Europe (Germany, Austria-Hungary) and played each other in an exhibition match at Vienna arranged by Hugo Meisl. 

Tottenham Hotspur
12.05.12	Hull City	2	0	Tottenham Hotspur	Brussels
	The Belgian Charity Cup- Beddeker Cup Hull City retaining the trophy.
16.05.12	VfB Leipzig	1	3	Tottenham Hotspur	Leipzig
	The hosts were Mittel-Deutschland champions and had made the semi-finals of the national championships.
20.05.12	Wiener Sport Club	2	5	Tottenham Hotspur	Vienna
24.05.12	Woolwich Arsenal	4	0	Tottenham Hotspur	Vienna
	An exhibition match for a solid silver cup and medals.
27.05.12	Ferencváros	1	4	Tottenham Hotspur	Budapest
	Fradi were the champions of the Budapest league, winning 14 out of 18 games and having a goal difference of 57.
28.05.12	Hungary	2	2	Tottenham Hotspur	Budapest
	The Hungary and Austria teams were preparing for the Olympic Tournament at Stockholm.
30.05.12	Hungary	3	4	Tottenham Hotspur	Budapest
02.06.12	Austria	3	0	Tottenham Hotspur	Vienna
	Both Austria and Hungary featured in the second round of that summer's Olympic tournament- Hungary had a bye in the first round and lost 7-0 to Great Britain in the second. Austria beat Germany 5-1 before losing 3-1 to the Netherlands. They went on to meet in the final of the consolation tournament, Hungary winning 3-0.
Woolwich Arsenal
11.05.12	Hertha BSC Berlin	0	5	Woolwich Arsenal	Berlin
12.05.12	Viktoria 89 Berlin	2	2	Woolwich Arsenal	Berlin
	1911’s German National Champions.  Former Tottenham player Jack Brearley took up the coaching position at Viktoria at about this time.
16.05.12	Deutscher FC Prag	1	4	Woolwich Arsenal	Prague
19.05.12	Ferencváros	1	2	Woolwich Arsenal	Budapest
22.05.12	Grazer AK	0	6	Woolwich Arsenal	Graz
24.05.12	Woolwich Arsenal	4	0	Tottenham Hotspur	Vienna
26.05.12	SK Rapid Wien	2	8	Woolwich Arsenal	Vienna
	Rapid were the Austrian League champions…
27.05.12	Wiener Sport Club	0	5	Woolwich Arsenal	Vienna
	…and WSC had finished the season just one point behind Rapid.
29.05.12	Sp Vgg Fürth	0	6	Woolwich Arsenal	Fürth
	Fürth were managed by Billy Townley , the former Blackburn Rovers player.

It was Arsenal's second visit. They had toured Belgium, Netherlands, Germany  and Austria -Hungary in 1907.  Tottenham were of course old hands at the touring lark. Having visited Austria -Hungary  in 1905 they had since played in Belgium, South America and Germany.