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Trivia
- There is no report of this prestigious game involving the Scottish League, Scottish Cup and Glasgow Cup treble winners in the Glasgow Herald the next day, but there is news of Rangers’ Good Year trumpeting a “state of prosperity” at Ibrox, where the financial return for the year was said to be “magnificent”.
- One of the Hungarian players in the opposition side was István Tóth who would in later life lead anti-fascist resistance fighters against the Nazis until he was captured & executed. The great Ferencváros forward István Tóth, who managed FTC, Inter, Triestina and Újpest, was shot in Budapest by the SS. He had spied on German troop movements for the US and forged ID papers for Jews and Communists. His glasses were found in his pocket. RIP
- There are no reports of the danger of war from Germany or Austria/Hungary in the Glasgow Herald, but military operations in Ulster and Scotland are in the news when two companies of the Norfolk Regiment with bayonets fixed were in close proximity to the home of Cpt Craig MP the UVF leader and caused the rapid mobilisation of 600 UVF men leading to the regular soldiers backing down. In Glasgow about 500 UVF soldiers of the Rutherglen, Whiteinch, Clydebank, Maryhill, Gallowgate and Cowcaddens companies took part in manoeuvres at Garscube Estate, Killermont on Saturday and on Sunday 700 UVF men, accompanied by a brass band, marched from Partick Burgh Hall in columns past a saluting base on their way to a service at Whiteinch Parish Church. The first Nationalist parade in Belfast consisting of about 1,000 unarmed men, not in uniform, marched to Hannahstown led by an Irish piper and returned by the Falls Road.
- The Scotsman reviews Miscellaneous Publications including An Account of Selkirk, by The Rev. J. Sharpe of Heatherlie Parish Church compiled from the Session and Presbytery records, which covers matters such as in 1735 when Thomas Inglis cordiner of the burgh of Selkirk was charged with selling his wife and John Riddel with buying her. Another entry notes in 1725 it was necessary for the Council of the Church court to ordain that no prosecutor or defender could drink liquor with the Bailies while the court was in session and no Magistrate could be drunk when sitting on the Bench.
- Trade Affairs in The Scotsman: Workers at North British Railway Works, Cowlairs, who have been agitating for weekly, instead of fortnightly pays, have been granted this concession starting, June 29th. 900 miners at the Viewpark and Haugh Head Collieries are still on strike. Edinburgh: Besides the 80 striking coopers who came out last week, the masters have locked out a further 120 because of the strike action. An official for the men stated that they had modified their demand of 1d. per hour increase to 2s.[10p] a week bringing their wages up to 35s.[£1.75] a week but the Masters’ Association would not agree to this.
Review
Celtic’s opponents at the Anvil Road ground, Ferencvaros T.C. or “Fradi” as they are known, were formed some 11 years after Celtic but share the green and white of the bhoys and have a similar proud history and no little skill, boasting the talents of Hungary’s all-time record goal-scorer, Imre Schlosser, a.k.a. Slozi, who netted 417 league goals.
Another legendary player was István Tóth who would in later life lead anti-fascist resistance fighters against the Nazis until he was captured and executed. Most of the players who played for the Hungarian club on this day would be called up shortly afterwards and many died in the First World War, where of course the sportsmen who shook hands in friendship after this sporting game would become enemies in mortal combat. Some of the Ferencvaros players, such as Ferenc Weisz survived WWI only to die under forced labour on the Eastern Front in WWII.
The local press reporting this match seemed flattered that their team had held out for a draw against the mighty Celtic, one of the best teams in Britain, who they consider strengthened since our previous visit in 1911. Singled out for special mention are goalkeeper Charlie Shaw and CM, who was Peter Johnstone. Of their own team it is again the goalkeeper, Ungar [See Match Pictures] who gets praise, but defender Weibner is criticised for his fouling which, the reporter says, was employed to cover his lack of skill. Another who gets praise is Dr Gaspar Borbas, a great Hungarian internationalist (41 caps) whose skill on the park on the left-wing was matched by off the park by his skills of advocacy, which saved the lives of many from being sent to concentration camps during WWII. The Ferencvaros squad in season 1913/14 was a successful one, coming second in the league to MTK, beating English champions Burnley 3-1, and but for the war might have been one of the great Hungarian teams.
The team Celtic faced may have been to some extent shaped by a man who would later coach at Celtic Park, Jimmy Hogan, who was reported to have been thrown in jail in Hungary when the First World War broke out.
Teams
FERENCVAROS TC:
Ungar, Rumbold, Payer, WeinberII, Kiss B., Blum, Weisz F., Tóth;(aka Potya), Pataki M., Schlosser, Borbás
Scorers: Borbás, Payer
CELTIC:
Shaw, McGregor, Dodds, Young, Johnstone, McMaster, McAtee, Gallacher, McColl, McMenemy, Browning
Scorers: McMenemy,
Referee: Fehéry
Attendance: 25,000
Venue: Anvil Road later re-named: Florian Albert Stadium,
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
N.B. This Hungarian newspaper article was kindly translated for The Celtic Wiki by Tobak Csaba, the Historian of the Ferencvaros TC Museum. Tobak also provided the wonderful photographs of the teams and action from the Ferencvaros and Burnley matches. We are indebted to him for his kindness.
FTC – Celtic
“FTC’s closed defense did not let the Celtic forwards evolve. Schlosser and Tóth went back to strengthen the defense and when Celtic made heavy attacks FTC defended its goal with eleven players. Thus, we cannot really talk about FTC attacks only about launching Borbás with long passes.”
Celtic – FTC 2:” (1:1) Üllői Way, Referee: Fehéry, 25.000 spectators
After two years Celtic visited us again, this time as the superior winner of the Scottish Cup and league. Based on its results, Celtic belonged to the best teams of Great Britain that time and it is simply marvelous that they could not win here, in Hungary. Their team-play was in a class of its own but they missed all their chances in front of the goal.
The technique of the Scottish players is a good explanation for why they dominated on the match. Their quick, energetic but always fair play gave great entertainment to the supporters on the stages and could be taught for other teams.
These occasions show really how far we are behind from professionalism and how much more we have to learn. The result and Fradi’s play was not bad either but the crowd could clearly see that Celtic could have won by goals.
The direct defense worked impeccably by the lead of Ungár but that was not the case with the midfielders, especially not with Weinber, who compensated his deficiencies with brutality. After his surgery, Schlosser played for the first time again this match but was far from his original form.
It had been a while since Borbás played the last time, but this was not noticeable and he helped the team with his quickness greatly and he scored a beautiful goal. Just as usual, Pataki played well but Tóth was weak on the right wing.
Line-up of Celtic:
Shaw- McGregor, Dodds – Young, Johnstone, McMaster – McAtee, Gallagher, McColl, McMenemy, Browning
The best part of the team was its defender and goalkeeper. Regarding the midfielders, the CM was the best but the wing players were not far behind. Although, the three center forwards worked nicely together, they finished their attacks unsuccessfully. The wingers made it tough for Fradi’s defenders but the attacks were not converted into goals.
McMenemy scored in the 8th minute for Celtic following the third corner of its team. Dr. Borbás equalized in the 28th minute with a sharp shoot. In the early minutes of the second half, one Celtic player touched the ball with his hands at a corner situation and scored a goal and took the lead again. Soon after in a similar situation, Payer equalized from a penalty.