1909 – Three Founding Members, Three Fancied and Three Phantasmagoric Ones
The U.I.A.F.A. (Union internationale amateur de football association) was founded
in March 1909 in Paris by the A.F.A. (Amateur Football Association, England,
created in 1907 by a number of clubs, such as the Corinthians, Casuals,
Old Carthusians and Old Etonians, dissatisfied with the role of professional football
within the F.A.), the Č.S.F. (Český svaz footballový,
Bohemia, which, like the A.F.A., had been denied F.I.F.A. membership at
the 1908 congress in Vienna) and the U.S.F.S.A. (Union des sociétés
françaises de sports athlétiques, France, which had left the F.I.F.A.
after that 1908 congress out of disagreement with the non-admittance of
the A.F.A.).
The first president of the U.I.A.F.A. was Victor E. Schneider
from Geneva, formerly a F.I.F.A. vice-president (he had been present at
its foundation in 1904, also in Paris), who represented the
francophone clubs of Switzerland loath to renounce on matches against
U.S.F.S.A. member clubs. Some second level clubs from
Vienna had also toyed with
the idea of joining, having attended a meeting in Prague aimed at preparing
the foundation of this new international federation, but eventually all remained
with the Ö.F.V. (Österreichischer Fußball-Verband). Likewise,
and contrary to French expectations, no Italian or Swiss clubs joined the new
federation, although some did seek, in vain, dispensation from F.I.F.A. to continue
playing friendly matches with their traditional French rivals from across the border.
In addition, there was hopeful speculation in L'Auto about prospective members
from Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Turkey, which never got beyond wishful
thinking but gives rise to the suspicion, also in light of the rather modest
level of football in these three countries at the time, that at least part of the
motivation behind the foundation of the U.I.A.F.A. was the French habit, dating
back centuries, of pestering the Austrians, no doubt heartily applauded
by the Bohemians.
1910 – Three Further Members
In February 1910 a rebel Belgian sports federation, the F.B.S.A.
(Fédération belge de sports athlétiques), joined the U.I.A.F.A.
Its membership did not include any major clubs, and appears to have been
limited to Brussels and the francophone provinces of Hainaut and Namur.
Of course, the U.I.A.F.A. named its new member "Belgium", but even calling
it "Wallonia" would have overstated its influence.
Later that year, the F.E.C.F. (Federación Española de Clubs de Foot-ball)
entered as well, after a first contact by telegram in October 1909. The F.E.C.F. was
a Catalan initiative (its most prominent founding member was F.C. Barcelona, but its
initial membership also included clubs from Irún, Madrid, Pamplona, Tarragona and
Vigo) vying for supremacy in Spain with the
U.E.C.F. (Unión Española de Clubs de Foot-ball, which at the time incorporated,
among others, Madrid F.C., Athletic de Bilbao and Ciclista de San Sebastián).
This second new member was often referred to as "Catalonia" by the French, which
did not do justice to its geographical range; in 1911 the F.E.C.F. had in fact
managed to gather most Spanish clubs under its umbrella before falling apart
again in 1912 (F.C. Barcelona were among the first to leave).
The third new member was presented by the U.I.A.F.A. as "Austria", a gigantic
misnomer, given that this "Austrian" federation was in fact the Z.F.P.
(Związkiem Footballistów Polskich) from Galicia (then, like Bohemia, part
of Cisleithanien, the Austrian half of the Habsburg Doppelmonarchie),
a federation officially founded in May 1911 at the initiative of Wisła Kraków,
which had already joined the U.I.A.F.A. on its own, masquerading as "Austria", in
December 1910 after withdrawing from the Ö.F.V. – only to return within
a year, in July 1911, by hastily joining the newly founded Z.P.P.N. (Związek
Polski Piłki Nożnej, known in Austria as Deutscher Fußball-Verband
für Polen), a Galician subfederation of the Ö.F.V. initiated by local
rivals Cracovia and supported by the leading clubs from Lwów (then the main
footballing centre of Galicia), thus killing off the Z.F.P. after a mere two months.
1911 – Three Phantom Members
Finally, at its January 1911 congress in Paris the U.I.A.F.A. reportedly admitted
federations from Switzerland (L.S.S., Ligue sportive suisse), British East Africa (!)
and "South America" as new members. There is no doubt about the Swiss entry, but
its actual substance is highly doubtful, as no clubs of any importance
withdrew from the official federation and in fact no information on L.S.S. member
clubs or matches organised by the L.S.S. was found in the contemporary Swiss press;
according to [Ruo 53], p. 31, a split within
the S.F.A. (Schweizerische Football-Association) was avoided and the only noteworthy
internal result of the international tensions was the demission of V.E. Schneider
as "internationaler Delegierter" in August 1909. As for the latter
two territories, one can only surmise they were represented at the congress
by some resident Englishmen sympathetic to the A.F.A. who happened to be in Europe
at the time, or had merely sent a letter of support – in the case of East Africa
possibly a member of the then Amateur Football Association of British East Africa,
which had been founded as the Nairobi District League Committee in 1906 and
subsequently became the Football Association of Kenya.
1912 – Vanishing Members
The first U.I.A.F.A. member to disappear was the Galician Z.F.P., which did not
survive the summer of 1911. Whether the L.S.S. ever really existed is questionable,
and in 1912 both the U.S.F.S.A. and the A.F.A. started negotiating their
way back into the senior bodies (F.I.F.A. and F.A. respectively). As a first result,
at the end of December 1912, the U.S.F.S.A., which had already been deserted by several
major Parisian clubs as early as August 1910, joined the C.F.I. (Comité français
interfédéral), by then long established as the new French F.I.F.A. members (provisionally
since December 1908, officially since May 1910). That effectively ended the U.I.A.F.A.
At the beginning of 1913, both Spanish federations
(by then with different names and member clubs, as these had been squabbling incessantly
and changing allegiance freely) applied for F.I.F.A. membership, only to be denied at
the congress in Copenhagen in May, upon which they merged, in September, into
the R.F.E.F. (Real Federación Española de Foot-ball), which was admitted
to F.I.F.A., the driving force behind this unification,
in 1914.
In the same year, the A.F.A. returned to the F.A. fold, after two years of negotiations.
That just left the Bohemians, unwilling to be subordinate to the Austrian
federation, a problem eventually "solved" by the impending war.
Membership Review
Apart from the Bohemian and French founding members and, to a lesser extent,
the A.F.A. and the F.E.C.F., none of the U.I.A.F.A. member federations commanded
substantial support in their home countries. Most major Spanish clubs were affiliated
to the F.E.C.F. at some point, but hardly any for the entirety of its short existence.
The A.F.A. was joined by but a relatively small minority (less than one tenth) of
the amateur clubs in England; its core members were the Old Boys clubs of the upper
class "public" schools in the home counties surrounding London. The F.B.S.A. was formed
by minor clubs from around Brussels and the francophone regions of Hainaut and Namur
(although the athletics section of Stade gantois apparently also joined); its regional
football champions included Cercle l'Union et Progrès de Bruxelles,
Châtelineau, Gosselies Sports and Union sportive molenbeckoise. Even in France,
hardly a football hotbed at the time, its teams were described as "faible".
The L.S.S. probably only existed on paper, while the most significant activity of the
Z.F.P., which had been formed by eleven, for the most part fairly obscure clubs from
Biała, Dębica, Kraków, Mielec, Nowy Sącz, Rzeszów, Tarnów and Wadowice,
was the hosting, by Wisła, of Aberdeen F.C. as part of the latter's
misguided tour in May 1911
(approved, out of ignorance, by the secretary of the Scottish F.A., who, after an
Austrian complaint, duly apologised for this faux pas at the F.I.F.A. congress
in Dresden at the beginning of June).
The football tournament at the Roubaix exposition is sometimes, quite preposterously,
termed a "first European championship"; this is most tellingly belied by the fact that
France's neighbours Belgium (Roubaix is very close to the border) and Spain, both
affiliated to the U.I.A.F.A. at the time, were not even invited
to enter.
Note that the claim in the relevant
wikipedia article,
as archived in February 2024
and September 2024,
that the tournament originally was to be contested by all U.I.A.F.A. member federations
(including, staggeringly, British East Africa) is a blatant lie, reminiscent
of the wanton gibberish produced by the IFFHS on
the 1920 Olympics,
and cannot be substantiated by any contemporary sources; in
November 2024,
the reference to British East Africa was removed from
this mendacious wikipedia article (which, in all archived versions up to at least
June 2025,
provided an entirely fake quarter-final draw) and the Belgian "withdrawal"
suggestively linked to their defeat against Bohemia on
May 25 – which is utter nonsense as the entire programme for the tournament had
already been published in February 1911, when, on the 10th of that month,
La Tribune de Genève
(a newspaper from the home town of Victor E. Schneider, which probably is
no coincidence) announced "trois matches internations" at the occasion of
the exposition: "Le 25 mai se jouera le match Angleterre contre Suisse et
le lendemain France contre Bohême. Le 29 mai, les gagnants de
ces deux matches seront opposés l'un à l'autre."; that two months later
L'Auto listed the four participants explicitly as "France, Hongrie,
Suisse et Angleterre" only shows (apart from the fact that neither Belgium nor
Spain were ever considered as entrants) that French understanding
of Central European geography left much to be desired.
Moreover, observe that the
aforementioned article
also stated that the tournament was organised by local club Racing Club de Roubaix,
"d'accord avec l'U.S.F.S.A. et ses fédérations alliées", so "in agreement with
the U.S.F.S.A. and its allied federations", and therefore not directly by
the U.I.A.F.A. – meaning there can be no question of any sort of
U.I.A.F.A. championship. Another reason not to take the event too seriously as
a proper championship is that the two French entrants, U.S.F.S.A. "Nord" and
U.S.F.S.A. "France A", overlapped: they fielded nearly the same forward line
(cf. the squad lists and match details below).
In addition, the assertion in the
November 2024
version of that wikipedia article that the Swiss had withdrawn following tensions
between "the Alemannic and the Romands" (which were a decisive factor nine years
later in their withdrawal from
the 1920 Olympics)
is an invention, originally introduced in an
article by Matthieu Delahais
on the Chroniques bleues website, given that any members the elusive L.S.S. may have
had (none are confirmed and based on the (un)available information the very existence of
the L.S.S. may have been nothing but an elaborate hoax by Victor E. Schneider) were
surely all francophone. The May 24 issue of L'Auto vaguely described the reason
for the Swiss forfeiture as "différentes circonstances", but it is most
likely the L.S.S. withdrew because monsieur Schneider could not assemble a
team – faute de joueurs, faute de clubs membres, faute de tout. In fact,
rather than any dissensions, it probably was the more or less unanimous stand of the
Swiss football community, on both sides of the Röstigraben, to remain
loyal to the F.I.F.A., that caused the Swiss withdrawal from this tournament and,
ultimately, contributed to the unlamented demise of the U.I.A.F.A. (together with
the lack of unity within France, which
provided F.I.F.A. with a new (and rather more credible) French member, the C.F.I.,
and the lack of all but vague verbal support from Hungary).
Finally, the statement in both the aforementioned
article by Delahais and the
November 2024
version of the wikipedia article that the match on May 25 was
played "après l'arrivée de la course cycliste Paris-Roubaix",
i.e. "after the end of the Paris-Roubaix cycling race", is, to put it mildly, misleading:
there was a cycling race that day between the two cities (the second
edition of the so-called "Paris-Roubaix Indépendants"), but the sixteenth edition
of the Paris-Roubaix had taken place more than five weeks earlier, on April 16, 1911 (cf.
BikeRaceInfo,
CycleBase
(access now limited to registered users but archived by
the invaluable Wayback Machine)
or www.procyclingstats.com,
or, of course, the contemporary Belgian, Dutch and French newspapers).
The contemporary French press called the Roubaix football event, somewhat more modestly,
"Grand tournoi européen" or "Grand meeting de l'Exposition de Roubaix".
Even so, the use of the adjective "grand" is merely indicative of
the French predilection for agrandissement and not justified by either
the limited scale or the haphazard set-up of the event.
If one insists on looking for a "first" European championship avant la lettre,
the football tournament at the 1908 Olympics
(open to all countries with an existing football federation) is the obvious
choice – even if the French would rather forget about their showing in London
and the Bohemians couldn't afford the trip.
Note that the A.F.A. representation should not be confused with the England Amateur
side fielded by the F.A. at the same time (which was much stronger, winning
both official Olympic football tournaments before the Great War).
Tournament hosts France had been the laughing stock of the continent ever
since their embarrassing performance at
the 1908 Olympics; after
a 2-1 win against Switzerland in March 1908 they went winless for more
than three years and a half (in which they played fifteen matches, drawing
one and losing the remainder, scoring 13 goals and conceding exactly 100;
for these matches, France were represented by the U.S.F.S.A. until the end
of 1908 and by the C.F.I. since 1909), before finally getting a win at
the end of October 1911 – against Luxembourg.
Thus, given the poor quality of the opposition, it was no surprise Bohemia won
the competition; they had a strong team, which had only lost 0-4 at home to
the full (professional) England side
in June 1908 (Austria
and Hungary had suffered heavier losses against the same opponents; three
of Bohemia's players in that match, after which unhappy home supporters had
viciously assaulted the referee,
were part of the squad for Roubaix: Veselý, Benda and Bělka), and the Slavia
club side had made a name for itself across the continent before leaving F.I.F.A.;
after the draw for the football
tournament of the 1908 Olympics, Bohemia,
who had been paired with France in the first round, had been considered favourites
to win the silver medals by the Dutch press, but they eventually withdrew less
than a week before that match.
Tournament Proper | Other Football Matches | Squad Lists and Match Details
Tournament Proper
All matches were played at the Stadium de l'Exposition de Roubaix.
Organised by Racing Club de Roubaix.
Participants (4):
A.F.A. (England)
Č.S.F. (Bohemia)
U.S.F.S.A. "France A" (France)
U.S.F.S.A. "Nord" (France)
NB: U.S.F.S.A. "Nord" replaced L.S.S. (Switzerland), which had withdrawn; instead of
the Č.S.F., "Hungary" had been announced as participants on April 11, but this
was due to a confused French journalist, as two months earlier a Swiss newspaper
(La Tribune de Genève) had already identified the participants as Bohemia, England,
France and Switzerland, and it is unthinkable the U.I.A.F.A. would have agreed to
holding such a tournament without its strongest (and founding) member federation;
in addition, no Hungarian club or federation ever joined the U.I.A.F.A.
Semi-finals
[May 25; ref: F. Jénicot (R.C. Roubaix)]
U.S.F.S.A. "Nord" 1-2 A.F.A. [HT: 0-1]
[hosts also listed as U.S.F.S.A. "France B"; the hosts scored at the beginning of
the second half, the last goal was scored "at the final whistle" by the English
centre forward (presumably H.W. Bryant); referee Fernand Jénicot was the brother
of Albert Jénicot, who had played for France B at the 1908 Olympics;
see below for additional data on line-ups]
[May 28; att: 4,000; ref: W.A. Gardner (A.F.A.)]
U.S.F.S.A. "France A" 1-4 Č.S.F. [HT: 1-4]
[Chandelier 1-2; Bělka 0-1, 1-3, Košek 0-2, Medek 1-4; referee Wallace Gardner
was also active as a player for the A.F.A. at the tournament;
see below for additional data on line-ups]
Final [May 29; att: 3,000; ref: A. Collier (U.S.F.S.A.)]
A.F.A. 1-2 Č.S.F. [HT: 0-0]
[N.N. 60; Košek 70, Bohata 73 (scorers according to [Bor 57]; according to French
newspaper reports, Bělka scored both Bohemian goals); Pimmer saved penalty (83);
referee Albert Collier was a member of the U.S.F.S.A. Council (Conseil) but in
July 1911 he left for the L.F.A. (Ligue de Football Association), which had been
founded by four Parisian clubs in August 1910 and had joined the C.F.I., by then
the French F.I.F.A. members (cf. [Del 23], p. 37);
see below for additional data on line-ups]
Other Football Matches
The programme as announced in L'Auto on April 11 also included the following matches
as part of the tournament:
[May 7]
Final of the "Championnat militaire d'association de l'U.S.F.S.A."
U.S.F.S.A. "Nord" - A.F.A. member club to be announced
[May 14]
Swindon Torun FC (sic!) - Hull City
This is rather peculiar as both Hull City and Swindon Town were regular F.A. member clubs
and thus forbidden to play in any event involving the U.S.F.S.A. or U.I.A.F.A. In fact,
both clubs did play each other in Europe, one week earlier, in Brussels, Hull defeating
Swindon 1-0 in a match for the Coupe Henri De Decker (which Hull would also win in 1912
and 1913) on May 7.
On April 29, the Brussels newspaper "La Dernière Heure" announced, under the heading "Le
tournoi international de football à Roubaix", that the Stadium de Roubaix would be opened
with a "grand match de football" between the amateur team of Wales and the representative
team of Northern France (so U.S.F.S.A. "Nord") on May 7, but the Welshmen clearly changed
plans within a few days and had to be replaced (by the Old Malvernians).
In addition, the final of the "Championnat militaire d'association de l'U.S.F.S.A." was
only played on May 14 in Le Havre; instead a semi-final for that tournament was the first
ever match in the Stadium de l'Exposition de Roubaix; eventually the following matches
were played:
[May 7, inauguration du Stadium de l'Exposition de Roubaix]
43e rgt. inf. de Lille 13-0 23e bat. chasseurs alpins de Grasse
U.S.F.S.A. "Nord" 3-1 Old Malvernians [HT: 2-0]
NB: result of the semi-final between the 43e régiment d'infanterie de Lille
(champions of the 1er corps d'armée) and the 23e bataillon de chasseurs
alpins de Grasse (champions of the 15e corps d'armée) as given by L'Auto
on May 8; other sources gave the result as 12-0.
[May 14]
Roubaix XI 1-0 Lyford FC [HT: 1-0]
Finally, on May 25, the Č.S.F. played a friendly against the Belgian U.I.A.F.A. members
on their way to Roubaix (a return visit after the Belgians had visited Slavia in March,
losing 2-6 and 0-5); this match was in no way related to the Roubaix tournament, apart
from presumably being the cause of the postponement of Bohemia's first match there from
May 26, as announced in February, to May 28:
[May 25; stade La Forestoise, Bruxelles]
F.B.S.A. 1-6 Č.S.F.
[the visitors were announced as Slavia and played in Slavia jerseys but the team
included three players (Hajný, Bělka and Pilát) of other clubs]
Squad Lists and Match Details
Below all available information on squad lists and match line-ups, mostly taken from
contemporary French newspapers, is given. As the spelling accuracy (even of French
names) of the responsible journalists left a lot to be desired, all corrections and
clarifications are most welcome.
Note that the following abbreviations were used for French clubs (following L'Auto):
ASF = Association sportive française (Paris)
FCR = Football Club de Rouen
OL = Olympique lillois (Lille)
RCF = Racing Club de France (Paris)
RCR = Racing Club de Roubaix
SF = Stade français (Paris)
SR = Stade roubaisien (Roubaix)
USC = Union sportive de Clichy
UST = Union sportive tourquennoise (Tourcoing)
Squad Lists | First Semi-Final | Second Semi-Final | Final
Squad Lists
Prior to printing all squad lists on May 24 (see below), L'Auto twice published
a 12-men A.F.A. selection for the tournament (all spellings as in the originals;
the players involved are clearly identical but there are small differences in
their initials):
On May 10 (page 5):
G.M.C. Taylor (Old Cranleighans);
J.C.D. Tetley (Old Carthusians), J.E. Hobbs (Union et Smiths Bank);
H.A. Milton (Cassuals), B.H. Farnfield (New Crusaders), I.L. Snell (Old Carthusians);
F.J. Smith (Civil Service), C.E. Brisley (Casuals), Rev. H.V. Farnfield (New Crusaders),
A.H. Birks (Guy's Hospital), W.A. Gardner (Eastbourne), G.A. Joseph (New Crusaders).
On May 21 (page 7):
G.M. Taylor (Old Cranleighans);
J.C. Tetley (Old Carthusians), J.E. Hobbs (Union et Smiths Bank);
H.A. Milton (Casuals), B.H. Farnfield (New Crusaders), J.L. Snell (Old Carthusians);
F.I. Smith (Civil Service), C.E. Brisley (Casuals), Rev. H.V. Farnfield (New Crusaders),
A.H. Birks (Guy's Hospital), W.A. Gardner (Eastbourne), G.A. Joseph (New Crusaders).
On May 24, L'Auto (page 5) announced the following compositions of the participants
(misspellings as in the original):
Angleterre:
G.M.C. Taylor;
Y.C.D. Tetley, J.E. Hobbs;
H.H. Milton, B.H. Farnfield, Y.L. Emell;
R. Mouton Hing, C.E. Brisley, H.V. Stebbings, A.H. Birgs, W.H. Gardner.
NB: Y.C.D. Tetley was John Charles Dodsworth "Jack" Tetley (Old Carthusians);
J.E. Hobbs was John Edward Hobbs (Union of London and Smith's Bank);
H.H. Milton should read H.A. Milton (Casuals);
B.H. Farnfield may have been Percy Hamilton Farnfield (New Crusaders) or
(less likely) Bernard Stanley Farnfield (New Crusaders) – or neither,
as there were half a dozen Farnfield brothers at New Crusaders, a club
they had founded;
Y.L. Emell probably was Ivan Edward Snell (Old Carthusians);
Mouton Hing is a misspelling for Manton King (Guy's Hospital);
C.E. Brisley was Cuthbert Everard Brisley (Casuals);
H.V. Stebbings apparently replaced Reverend Herbert Vernon Farnfield as
compared to the squads listed on May 10 and 21, and his initials may
inadvertently have been copied from the discarded clergyman;
A.H. Birgs should read A.H. Birks (Guy's Hospital);
W.H. Gardner should read W.A. (Wallace) Gardner (Eastbourne).
Bohême:
Plunner Karel (Slavia);
Teschy Rich (Slavia), Kayny M. (Smichow);
Kovarovick (Slavia), Maizl Frank (Slavia), Benda Linarn (Slavia);
Bohata Otto (Sparta), Medek Lad (Smichow), Belka Josef (Sparta),
Kosek Yan (Slavia), Sicoky M. (Slavia).
NB: apart from the reversal of family and first names (undoubtedly following the
original paperwork submitted by the Bohemians), note that hardly a single
name made it correctly into the paper (and Bohata and Medek were linked to
clubs they never belonged to); the actual players were:
Karel Pimmer (Slavia);
Richard Veselý (Slavia), Miroslav Hajný (Smíchov);
Karel Kovařovic (Slavia), František Rosmaisl-Majzl (Slavia), Emanuel Benda (Slavia);
Otakar "Otto" Bohata (Slavia), Ladislav Medek (Slavia), Josef Bělka (Sparta),
Jan Košek (Slavia), Miroslav Široký (Slavia);
the Bohemian team was trained by Johnny Madden (Slavia; from Scotland).
Note that while the above eleven may have been presented as the first choice team,
the Bohemian squad obviously included additional reserve players. Czech sources
list two players who were used in the tournament:
MF: Rudolf Holý (Slavia)
FW: Václav Pilát (Sparta)
Both had also played against the F.B.S.A. selection in Brussels on May 25; for that
match, two other players were also mentioned, probably due to faulty spelling (also
given that around the Belgian match it was mentioned the visitors were travelling
with two reserve players, so the entire squad apparently consisted of 13 players):
GK: Karel Pinye (Slavia) [presumably Karel Pimmer]
FW: Miloslav Hedek (Slavia) [presumably Ladislav Medek]
France (équipe A):
De Gastyne (RCR);
Rouxel (SF), Schalbar (USC);
Remy (ASF), Denis (RCF), Nicol [c] (RCF);
Bacrot (OL), Cahndelier (OL), Eloy (OL), Sartorius (RCF), Voyuex (OL).
NB: the names of Schalbart, Rémy, Chandelier and Voyeux were misspelled in the paper;
a note on substitutes following the four team compositions stated that Denis was
to be replaced by Moigneu (UST); note that four of the five forwards were also
part of équipe B.
France (équipe B):
Parsi (UST);
Mattisse (SR), Colette (RCR);
Spriet (SR), Douchet (OL), Raulin (UST);
Voyeux (OL), R. Dubly (RCF), Eloy (OL), Chandelier (OL), Bacrot (OL).
NB: the name of Parsys was misspelled in the paper; note that four of the five
forwards were also part of équipe A.
First Semi-Final
On May 25, L'Auto (p. 5) announced the following line-ups for the first semi-final
(note that it did not list first names, which were added as far as available, and
that numerous (but possibly not all) spelling errors were corrected):
France (équipe B):
Albert Parsys (UST);
Mattisse (SR), Colette (RCR);
G. Spriet (SR), Douchet (OL), Raulin (UST);
Paul Voyeux (OL), Raymond Dubly (RCR), Albert Eloy (OL),
Paul Chandelier (OL), Carlos Bacrot (OL).
NB: reportedly, the same eleven players had taken the field against the Old Malvernians
(spelled as Old Malversians in the paper...) on May 7 (a report on that match had
Paulin (apparently instead of Raulin) in the northern line-up); Parsys was part of
the French squad at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp.
However, on May 26, a match report in Excelsior (p. 6) stated Voyeux had been replaced
by Lesur, who most likely was Henri Lesur (UST), an outside right (ailier droit) later
capped six times for France (C.F.I.), but may also have been his older brother Jean.
Angleterre (A.F.A.):
G.M.C. Taylor (Old Cranleighans);
J.W. Stretton (Old Malvernians), W.L. Johnson (Saint Thomas Hospital);
S.A. Bryant (Civil Service), N.H.M. Smit (Norsemen), S.L. Wilson (Magdala Amateurs);
R. Manton King (Guy's Hospital), H.V. Stebbings (Ramsgate Saint Georges),
H.W. Bryant (Civil Service), F.M. Dickson (Old Wilsonians), Wallace Gardner (Eastbourne).
NB: for most players, also their county (Surrey, Middlesex or Kent) was indicated;
some players were listed with multiple teams (e.g. R.M. King with Guy's Hospital,
Casuals, Surrey and United Hospitals); only the first one given is listed above;
note the above team differs considerably from the one announced on May 24.
Second Semi-Final
On May 27, L'Auto (p. 5) announced the following line-ups for the second semi-final
(note that numerous spelling errors were corrected and some first names added):
Bohême:
Karel Pimmer (Slavia);
Richard Veselý (Slavia), Miroslav Hajný (Smíchov);
Karel Kovařovic (Slavia), František Rosmaisl-Majzl (Slavia), Emanuel Benda (Slavia);
Otto Bohata (Slavia), Ladislav Medek (Slavia), Josef Bělka (Sparta),
Jan Košek (Slavia), Miroslav Široký (Slavia).
France (équipe A):
Guy De Gastyne (RCF);
Rouxel (SF), Auguste Schalbart (USC);
Rémy (ASF), Henri Moigneu (UST), Alphonse Nicol [c] (RCF);
Carlos Bacrot (OL), Paul Chandelier (OL), Albert Eloy (OL),
Emile Sartorius (RCF), Paul Voyeux (OL).
On May 28, L'Auto (p. 7) again presented the line-ups for the second semi-final,
in which two changes were made for France: Henri Moigneu (UST) was replaced by
Robert Diochon (FCR) and Emile Sartorius (RCF) by Raymond Dubly (RCR).
On May 29, L'Auto (p. 6) published a match report, stating that Diochon had been
replaced by Gaudin, meaning France's actual line-up was:
Guy De Gastyne (RCF);
Rouxel (SF), Auguste Schalbart (USC);
Rémy (ASF), Gaudin (RCF), Alphonse Nicol [c] (RCF);
Carlos Bacrot (OL), Paul Chandelier (OL), Albert Eloy (OL),
Raymond Dubly (RCR), Paul Voyeux (OL).
Note Nicol was a naturalised Romanian born as Niculescu and that the entire forward
line was identical to that of U.S.F.S.A. "Nord" as announced on May 25 (but in which
Voyeux apparently later was replaced by Lesur, see above on the first semi-final).
As for the visitors, [Bor 57] listed Rudolf Holý (Slavia) instead of Kovařovic and
Václav Pilát (Sparta) instead of Medek, giving the line-up as:
Karel Pimmer (Slavia);
Richard Veselý (Slavia), Miroslav Hajný (Smíchov);
Rudolf Holý (Slavia), František Rosmaisl-Majzl (Slavia), Emanuel Benda (Slavia);
Otto Bohata (Slavia), Jan Košek (Slavia), Václav Pilát (Sparta),
Josef Bělka (Sparta), Miroslav Široký (Slavia).
Note Pilát was part of the Czech squad at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp.
Final
On May 29, L'Auto (p. 6) announced the following line-ups for the final (note that
numerous (but possibly not all) spelling errors were corrected and first names were
added where available):
Angleterre:
G.M.C. Taylor;
Jack Tetley, John Hobbs;
H.A. Milton, B.H. Farnfield, Y.L. Emell;
R. Manton King, Cuthbert Brisley, E. Melliar Smith,
A.H. Birks, Wallace Gardner.
NB: Melliar Smith (possibly the N.H.M. Smit announced in the line-up for the first
semi-final) replaced W. Stebbing (presumably H.V. Stebbings), injured in that
first semi-final; a match report in Dunkerque-sport (June 4) mentioned Dickson
and Wilson (both announced in the line-up for the first semi-final) as players.
Bohême:
Karel Pimmer (Slavia);
Richard Veselý (Slavia), Miroslav Hajný (Smíchov);
Karel Kovařovic (Slavia), František Rosmaisl-Majzl (Slavia), Emanuel Benda (Slavia);
Otto Bohata (Slavia), Ladislav Medek (Slavia), Josef Bělka (Sparta),
Jan Košek (Slavia), Miroslav Široký (Slavia).
However, [Bor 57] listed Rudolf Holý (Slavia) instead of Bělka and Václav Pilát (Sparta)
instead of Medek, giving the line-up as:
Karel Pimmer (Slavia);
Richard Veselý (Slavia), Miroslav Hajný (Smíchov);
Karel Kovařovic (Slavia), František Rosmaisl-Majzl (Slavia), Emanuel Benda (Slavia);
Otto Bohata (Slavia), Jan Košek (Slavia), Václav Pilát (Sparta),
Rudolf Holý (Slavia), Miroslav Široký (Slavia).
Sources included: [Bor 57], [Del 23], [DHL 08], [FIF 31], [HiL 11], [HoK 97], [JeJ 05], [Ruo 53], various contemporary French newspapers (available through Gallica), various contemporary Dutch newspapers (available through Delpher), various contemporary Belgian newspapers (available through Belgica Press), various contemporary Swiss newspapers (available through e-newspaperarchives.ch), eu-football.info, Chroniques bleues, http://historiawisly.pl, La Fútbolteca, Xtratime.org
Thanks to Matthieu Delahais and Jérôme Perani for additional information
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
(karel.rsssf@gmail.com)
Last updated: 25 Jul 2025
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans and RSSSF 2021/25
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.