- 16 Jun 08, 09:00 AM
Vienna
I never knew Austria were once quite good at football. It took a painting - apparently a very famous one here - that opened my eyes to that fact.
Paul Meissner's iconic image of the "Wunderteam" of the 1930s is currently on show in the Wien Museum. I was going to take a photo of it for the blog but was told I couldn't.
Anyway, here it is, courtesy of Getty Images:
The Wunderteam, coached by Hugo Meisl, earned their moniker for going 14 games unbeaten between April 1931 and December 1932. Captained by Matthias SIndelar, nicknamed "Man of Paper", their run eventually came to an end when they were blown away 4-3 by England at Stamford Bridge.
Ironically, it was an Englishman, Jimmy Hogan, who helped Meisl craft a team that continues to inspire Austrians today. Some even believe this side was the very first to play Total Football, though the Dutch will no doubt disagree.
Hogan, who also coached Aston Villa, was a decent footballer, reaching the FA Cup semi-final with Fulham in 1908. But it was as a coach he shone. A big fan of keeping the ball on the deck - known as the 'Scottish passing game' in those days - he joined forces with Meisl to take the Austrians to unprecedented heights. No mean achievement for an Alpine nation.
Given their progress under Meisl and Hogan, Austria entered the 1934 World Cup in Italy as clear favourites. Everything was going swimmingly, too, until they reached the semi-finals. But then the weather and the host nation conspired to beat them. It's always the good teams - the ones that like to pass to feet - that struggle when the rain falls and turns the pitch to mush.
That was pretty much the beginning of the end for the Wunderteam. They reached the Olympic final in 1936 under Hogan. But then World War Two broke out and that was pretty much it. You know the rest. Germany annexed Austria...
Thankfully, Meisl wasn't around to see the final curtain come down on his beloved team. He died in 1937.
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Beeb (I think it was) did good documentary on Sindelar a few years ago. He refused to play for Germany after they annexed Austria and was found dead in his flat with his girl friend having allegedly died of carbon monoxide poisoning through a gas leak. Feeling was that it was no accident. His grave in Vienna is an impressive sight
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As I was researching the Wunderteam I came across a lot of stories that would all make interesting reads, Wolves45. Sindelar was one. As for Hogan, he was branded a traitor by the English FA for spending the whole of WW1 in Europe. But thanks for the tip about Sindelar's grave.
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I think one of their star players was murdered by the Nazis.
Not a very good end for a great player...
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They were very good in the fifties as well. The bbc used to show live international matches on Sunday afternoons then, and my first experience of seeing good football was Italy v Austria. I was a Scottish boy and had only ever seen, well, Scottish football - up and at 'em, get stuck in. This was a revelation : controlling, skillful football. The Italian right back was Fachetti, I think, I still remember his passing and assurance on the ball.
Jintray
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Good article on Sindelar in yesterday?s Observer. There is an excellent description of Austria?s final match (against Germany) before the team was disbanded. It was to be carefully planned piece of Nazi propaganda ending in a low score draw. However Sindelar tired of restraining his abilities against an inferior team and scored two in the latter stages of the match to win the game.
I?d love to see a Beeb programme/series on sporting teams that defied oppressive invading regimes. Dynamo Kiev is another example that comes to mind?
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It's taken long enough for anyone in the Euro-2008 media to notice- but what can you expect from a British media which thinks football history began when the EPL was set up.....
Football got into Austria very early (as did cricket- Austria Vienna started life as a cricket club!) and the country had one of the earliest professional leagues in Europe (amazingly given how shaky the inter-war Austrian economy was). One of the earliest league champions was a Viennese Jewish side drawn from the local Jewish youth movement (which must be unique in Europe). If I remember correctly, Meisl was part-Jewish in origin and had serious problems after 1938
Sindelar was near the end of his career by the time of the Anschluss in 1938 so it's not certain he'd have been picked for the German side anyway (though he had played against germany in the last pre-Anschluss international. which Austria won). Attempting to integrate the Austrians into the German side for the 1938 World Cup by more or less establishing a quota of players from the new "Ostmark" who had to be fitted into the squad didn't work too well. The German and Austrian teams played very different styles and the Austrians were an ageing side by 1938 anyway.
If you look at the list of German cup and championship winners, you'll see that the 1942 German championship was won by a Vienna side (Rapid, I think). There wasn't an all-Reich league; each region had its own competition with an end of season play off system- and the game was at least nominally amateur, as it had been in Germany even before the Nazis took over, which posed real problems for the ex-pro Austrian clubs. The game was marked by a quite remarkable late turn round and suspicions of a fix linger to this day (von Schirach, the Nazi boss in Vienna, had a big role in the overall running of German sports and- unusually for a top Nazi- was interested in football)
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I had a chat with the press officer at Rapid Vienna last week. Hoping to get along to their ground and speak to some players - past and present - before the end of the tournament. Any other ideas gratefully received.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
They had a decent team in the late 70's and early 80's, making the later stages in 2 tournaments in a row in 1978 and 1982, including a famous 3-2 win over West Germany.
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Did a quick check- the controversial champsionship win was in 1941 and it was Rapid (I wonder if their press people will be keen to talk about that item in the trophy cabinet......). Hakoah Vienna won the Austrian League in 1925, so I doubt if there's going to be much left about the winning side these days (though there might still be a Hakoah association in Vienna, I suppose).
Austria Vienna (then known as FC First Vienna, for obvious political reasons, won the last German cup competition to be played through to a conclusion in 1943).
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At #6 "At 11:18 am on 16 Jun 2008, Forthview wrote: If I remember correctly, Meisl was part-Jewish in origin and had serious problems after 1938."
Indeed Meisl had serious problems in 1938, he was dead!
There are numerous teams which have been dominant forces and are now gone for various reasons, political and otherwise (Remember the Magical Magyars of Hungary, where is Hungarian football nowadays?)
This would make a very good series as dmcurran (#5) stated earlier. Any chance of the beeb putting something together?
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Austria were once good at football?... so were England once.
Maybe you could do a piece on an oil paiting of England in 1966... just an idea!
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#12
Any decent ones of the '66 team?
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Forthview wrote:
If I remember correctly, Meisl was part-Jewish in origin and had serious problems after 1938
Can't really see it Forthview, cos according to the article...
Thankfully, Meisl wasn't around to see the final curtain come down on his beloved team. He died in 1937.
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Good article Phil, enjoyed that - is Hugo Meisl the chap in the suit in the painting?
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Knew I shouldn't have relied on memory- I was confusing him with his namesake Willi Meisl, also Austrian, who was the top football writer in per-Nazi Germany and was forced into exile after Hitler took over
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#15
Yep, that's him. The painting is definitely the star exhibit.
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My mother was born in Vienna and met my father at the end of the war. He was in the Royal Engineers. My Dad played amateur football for his father in laws team and his father in law played for my fathers team over here in the 50s and 60s I think. I know that I saw a game in Vienna when I was quite young , probably in the late 50s with Rapid Vienna playing Arsenal. May have been a friendly. How would you find out about that game with such limited information? Rapid and Austria Wien were the big two in those days. Great rivalry.
Really would love the Austrians to beat Germany. My Mum and Dad would have been so pleased if they were still here.
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Austria wasn't that bad after WW2 either, becoming third in the 1954 World Cup.
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I am Austrian and I must say everyone over here is really looking forward to this game tonight, and we all believe if we play real heartedly, we can beat the Germans (and will have the luck that we missed in the last games to score). It could have real positive consequences for the future of Austrian football should Hickersberger's team beat Germany tonight.
We are really hot to beat them ;-))
I think this whole FIFA world ranking should be looked into after Euro 2008 because Austria is definitely a Top 50 team, taking we played better than Croatia and Poland....as Alan Shearer pointed out.
IMMER WIEDER OESTERREICH!!
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Austria, the country of the greatest coach ever, Ernst Happel.
2 European Cup with Feyenoord and HSV and a 3rd final with Club Brugge.
Lost the final with Holland in 1978 and has been succesfull with basically ever team he managed.
At least the Austrians ecognized this when the renamed the Prater Stadium in Ernst Happel stadium.
And indeed, let there be a repeat of 1978, Austria - Germany 3-2.
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Consider:
"I never knew Austria were once quite good at football."
And:
"Phil Gordos is a senior broadcast journalist at BBC Sport Interactive."
I would have thought expertise was a pre-requisite for such a position?
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#22
Yep, you have a point. I'm on the first plane back to Heathrow.
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Just one thing about this wunderteam - the two stars of the side - Sindelar and Josef Bican -were both Czechs. Sindelar was from near Jihlava and Bican was from Prague. The latter is Slavia Prague's record goalscorer. We could have done with both of them last night to finish off the Turks!
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#22
Phil G is a Senior Broadcast Journalist at BBC Sport interactive and has written an extremely interesting article that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading. I, for one, never knew that Austria were once quite good at Football. But I do now.
I especially liked what #6 had to say about British sports in unlikely countries (cricket) and can add that the German Rugby Team of the 1930's was also quite good, so I've been told by a German at the club I play for. That would also make a decent documentry.
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Re #6 and #10
Austria Wien did not start out playing cricket, that was First Vienna. Austria Wien was previously known as Amateure, changed their name in the late 1920s, I believe. The German Cup was won by First Vienna in 1944, not Austria Wien. As for Sindelar, people to this day die of carbon monoxide poisoning, but no one blames the Nazis anymore. His death was most probably an accident.
By the way, First Vienna are still around, playing in Regionalliga Ost (third tier of football in Austria), alongside Wiener Sportklub, who in the 1950s beat Juventus 7-0 in Champions Cup play!
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Re #2:
It was a little unfair of the FA to brand Hogan as they did. When war broke out Hogan took the view that he had a contract which he was obliged to fulfil, but in any event he was effectively interned by the Austrians, so he couldn't have left and decided he might as well make the best of things.
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Jintray (No 4) When Austria were good in the 1950s the key man was Ocwirk and Billy Wright, for the game against them at Wembley in 1951, was, for the only time in his career, named inside left for England with Bill Nicholson at half-back. The plan was for Wright to shadow Ocwirk. However, Nicholson missed the game through injury and Wright returned to the half-back line. It ended 2-2 but England won the return 3-2 (Nat Lofthouse Lion of Vienna etc).
As for Sindelar, he was still in the Austrian team when Germany came a-knocking. he must have been like Derek Dougan, whose best years were from 29 to 36.
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The book 'Prophet or Traitor? The Jimmy Hogan Story' by Norman Fox provides a very readable account of Austria's Wunderteam. I think it's rather misleading to say the Austrians were 'blown away' by England. Most match reports suggested that England were outclassed at times in the match at Stamford Bridge, and certainly, it was the closest a continental European team had ever got to beating England on their home soil.
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#29
Sorry, 'blown away' was a reference to 'Man of Paper'. No disrespect intended to Austria.
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When England beat Austria 4-3 in 1932, they were 4-1 up with 10 minutes to go then the visitors scored twice, one of the goals by Sindelar. Blackpool CF Jimmy Hampson scored 2 that day to make it 5 in 3 internationals. They never chose him again!
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I was amused by your comment "I never knew Austria were once quite good at football". You could substitute Austria with England, and that would ring true with 90% of football fans worldwide, although Ramsey's 1966 World Cup winners never acheived the same aclaim as the Austrian Wunderteam!
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