It's 1912 and what you are seeing is the very first football world championship final caught on film.
Conventional wisdom has it that England has been world champions just once in 1966.
But within this unique footage lies the secret of two world championship titles long forgotten when England beat Denmark in the final of the 1912 Stockholm Olympic football tournament the world championship was theirs for the second time in these pre-world cup days when the Olympic football tournament was the world's premier competition England were the original masters the inventors and the most influential nation in the evolution of the game the English may have invented the game of football.
But much of the early innovation came from Scotland and it was against the backdrop of the docks and industry on the River Clyde in Glasgow that the first revolution in football happened at the very first international match between Scotland and England in 1872 Scotland had developed a passing running game through their oldest team queen's park whereas in England they predominantly played a dribbling game where individual skill was the only thing that counted so you can imagine the culture shock in the first game where an English player would have come up to ascot and the Scott would have kicked the ball away and the English players must have thought what's he doing so everywhere you go in the world now you're looking at teams at the pass and run.
That game came out of the western Scotland cricket ground saint Andrews day 1872.
The scots invented it further south in the Lancashire conurbation based around the River Mersey on the port of Liverpool the scots were hugely influential in helping popularize the game the first English champions Preston north end were famous for their scots professors by the time of this Preston wolves match in 1905 football had become the entertainment for the working class crowds of up to thirty thousand were not uncommon there was nowhere in the world that came close understandably when FIFA had been formed the year before the British were less than interested there is in a sense cultural and political isolationism and football is just part of society and reflects society.
So the British empire was at its height when FIFA was founded so you can imagine the four home nations thinking well why should we join FIFA we invented the game what on earth could they tell us about how to play the game the league football was the staple diet for supporters but the allure of watching or playing for your country remains strong in 1907 with the scots wearing the rosemary colors of pink and primrose the annual match was recorded on film for the first time it was part of the home international championship involving wales and Ireland the oldest international tournament dating back to 1884. in 1908 a second tournament was added to the calendar when football was included as an official sport at the Olympics for the first time in the London games of that year.
Like at the Stockholm Olympics Mizell invited an English coach called jimmy hogan to Vienna.
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It was from the three great cities of central Europe Prague Budapest in Vienna that the first challenge to Britain as the major European superpower came with two of the three cities lying on the river Danube the distinctive and successful style of football that these cities produced took its name from the great river before the great war all three cities had been united under the Habsburg monarchy but with different languages and customs it had never been a happy alliance on the football pitch the rivalry was intense millions died in the great warfighting over a small strip of land on the western front but for the peoples of central Europe, the end of the war saw the whole scale redrawing of national boundaries Czechoslovakia with its capital in Prague was created as a political entity for the first time and football became an ever more powerful expression of this nationalist feeling in 1919.
An unofficial Czech Slovakian team took part in the allied games at the Pershing Stadium in France where they beat Belgium the united states and Canada on the way to the final a year later the Czechoslovaks would lose to host Belgium in the final of the Antwerp Olympics but here they beat host France to win the title outside of Britain Prague had one of the most sophisticated club networks on mainland Europe Sparta Prague had won the affections of the cities working-class while Slavia had attracted the more literary set in the capital by the mid-1920s footballers from all over Europe were being enticed to play for them as the two struggled for supremacy before huge crowds have by the mid-1920s the idea of a European cup for clubs was gaining strength thanks largely to the efforts of Hugo Maisel in 1927 it became a reality when Sparta Prague met rapid Vienna in the first final of the Atropa cup.
The present European cup may date from 1955 that the very first European champions were not real Madrid but Sparta.
Who won this final over the following 12 years the metropole cup captured the imagination of mainland Europe um before the river Danube winds its way into Croatia it passes through Budapest a city at the heart of football's Danubian legend here too inter-ethnic rivalries helped take football to a higher plane the predominantly Jewish club mtk Budapest won 10 titles in a row between 1914 and 1925 coached by jimmy hogan the Hungarians were famous for their skillful short passing game in 1928 ference varos the club of the german community won not only the Hungarian championship and cup but also the Atropa cup the first of only six clubs to do the fabled treble of the league cup and European cup if the heart of the Danubian legend rest in Budapest then the soul lies 250 kilometers upstream in the city of Vienna.
It was here that this legend was born and where it reached its zenith 1920s Vienna was a hotbed of political intrigue the social democrats of red Vienna created a sports movement based on the amateur ethic that they hoped would bolster working-class solidarity they were skeptical of big clubs like rapid who although working class in origins played in what the social democrats perceived as a bourgeoisie league they were fighting a losing battle in 1920 Austria became the first country outside of Britain to accept professionalism as football became a major spectator sport three years later a crowd estimated that a hundred thousand watched the Italy Austria match in Vienna a continental record that stood until after the second world war football in central europe was rapidly approaching the standard of the British isles by 1931 it was arguably as good and the legend of the Austrian wonder team was born that year after Scotland were beaten five the wonder team was the creation of Hugo Maison who as well as running the Austrian football association was the team's coach from 1931 Austria were beaten just twice in the next three years .
they were unlucky to lose one of those to England in London in 1932. indeed that heroic defeat only added to the mystique that grew up around the wonder team like Hungary and Czechoslovakia the Austrians relied on sublime skills learned on the street shunning the more physical aspects of the game but therein lay its downfall a downfall that was to test the friendship of Maisel and Pozzo to the limit if the 1920s had belonged to the Danubian school then the 1930s were the domain of a nation that lay to the south of the central European powers Italy foreign more than any leader of the time Mussolini realized the political value of sport in 1929 Vittorio Pozzo became Italian coach for the third time over the course of the next decade the Italians swept all before them competition for the national teams of Europe had been introduced in 1927 at the same time as the Atropa cup.
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The new international cup the forerunner of the current European championship was also the brainchild of Hugo Maisel in 1930 Italy.
Became the first European champions on the train journey back home having won the cup in Budapest Pozzo dropped it chipping off a small fragment Italy's first national league kicked off in 1929 and Mussolini was often seen at matches especially those involving Lazio as Syria ah grew in wealth and importance it became home to numerous foreign stars like the top scorer at the first world cup in 1930 Guillermo staff from Argentina four months later he made his debut in this match between Lazio and genoa one of just over a hundred foreigners to appear in the league in the 1930s some Argentines Brazilians and Uruguayans of Italian descent even played for the national team football gave Mussolini a profile and he used it to good effect though there is some debate as to how much he really liked the game as they were not members of FIFA England would not be there.
The defeats of English football 11 wearing white shirts by Czechoslovakia in their first international in Prague for 35 years has caused critics much discussion on the question of whether English soccer is as preeminent as it used to be and the home side playing very precise football delight their supporters by shattering the legend of English supremacy after this defeat a month before the finals potter said the English would have progressed no further than the quarterfinals had they been in Italy in the event the 1934 world cup was overshadowed by controversy especially the alleged manipulation of referees by the hosts nowhere was this more evident than in the semi-final between potts as Italy and mises Austria the incident ended the friendship between poster and Maisel that goal also meant Italy were in the final where Eklund.
The controversial Swedish referee was again in charge which did little to quell suspicious minds Italy faced another of the Danubian school Czech Slovakia having gone a goal behind the Italians equalized with just nine minutes left in extra time Italy scored the winner after a handball by mirza was ignored by the referee Italy were world champions though on their return to Prague the Czechoslovakian team received a tumultuous welcome Italian supporters rally to hybrid urge their men into victory in the great international and the stands are packed with some sixty thousand spectators and tremendous enthusiasm already it can't be the heat so it must be excitement or spaghetti prince Arthur of connecting with the buried senior grundy shakes hands first with arsenal sorry England wearing white shirts than with the Italian team in England the world cup had gone almost unnoticed when the Italians came to London five months after winning the world cup.
It was billed as the match of the century.
It later became known as the battle of hybrid as tempest fleet as early as the second minute Italy was down to ten men through injury to orsi up in less than a quarter of an hour a nasty shot for the team which is referred to as world soccer champions the Italians fought back and although they lost 3-2 it was now their turn to consider themselves moral winners isolationism was very much the order of the day in England the English saw little reason to question their superiority despite the growing number of defeats experienced abroad herbert Chapman manager of the arsenal team was one Englishman who did follow developments on the continent along with his friends' mice lompotso Chapman was the third of the great napoleons of interwar football in Europe.
He joined arsenal in 1925 a club that had yet to win a trophy football between 1920 and 1930 by and large was dominated by by teams from the north and specifically by Huddersfield town and then herbert Chapman who had already guided Huddersfield town to three consecutive league championships moved to arsenal and within five years Chapman had taken arsenal to the 1930 fa cup final and then the following year they became the first London team to win a league championship in the 1930 fa cup final Chapman's two clubs came head to head as arsenal played husband like Pozzo and Mizel Chapman was an innovator it was he who first pulled a third man into defense and before the 1930 final even tried to sign a foreign but the transfer of rudy Haydn the goalkeeper of the wonder team was blocked by the ministry of labour one of the many hurdles Chapman faced in his career famous for the appearance of the graf zeppelin the 1930 finals saw arsenal win the first of seven trophies in a decade they completely dominated .
Here's Mr herbert Chapman the famous manager with his lads at hybrid and now I'm going to ask him to introduce him to you, Mr. Chapman, I must apologize this morning I'm so husky I can scarcely speak in January 1934 Chapman died at age 58 it's not inconceivable to think of herbert Chapman as uh if he'd lived even another five or six years possibly moving on from arsenal to becoming an England manager Chapman would have had England in the world cups the next night you know he understood football as an international game he understood what we understand as modern football obviously arsenal lost a lot when Chapman died but arguably English football lost a lot as well particularly the England national team in an increasingly professional game the strict adherence to the amateur ethic meant isolation had also been the name of the game for Germany.
The biggest nation in Europe though in 1936 berlin hosted the Olympic games hijacked by the nazis for their propaganda 1936.
Olympics are remembered as one of the most political ever the games left an indelible impression on those taking part in the world cup was now the premier football tournament but the final between Italy and an Austrian team coached by jimmy hogan still attracted huge interest Italy's win playing a strong physical game was celebrated as much as their world cup triumph time politics and nationalist sentiments ensured the club football maintained a high profile in central europe during the 1930s prague by then one of europe's most fashionable capitals remained a favorite destination as clubs competed for the best players on the continent in 1938 thanks to the signing of pepe bitsan from rapid vienna slavia prague won the mitropa cup.
The last chapter in the evolving story of football during the interwar years was written in France at the finals of the 1938 world cup absent again were England and Uruguay along with the Austrians whose players now represented Germany after the angelus of earlier in the year with the death of chapman in 1934 and mizel in 1937 potso was the undisputed master of european football he could virtually do as he pleased is here made them good italy reached the final where they faced hungary having beaten the czechs in 1934 final and the austrians in 1936 olympic final here was a chance to vanquish the danubian school though they had to face a hostile reception from emigre italians who had fled mussolini's regime this was a much more polished italian team than in 1934 .
And for their second goal, Italy gave the Hungarians a dose of their own medicine Miata passing when it was easier to score before piola finished it off three major finals in the 1930s three opponents from the Danubian school and the Italians had beaten them all had achieved something no coach had managed to do before or has done since leading a team to two world cup victories in the decade of the dictators Mussolini's Italy was the masters on the football field were in Europe put a stop to the world cup and Olympics but remarkably football carried on almost uninterrupted in most countries until the conflict reached its savage worst in 1944 if one thing had ranked the Italians in the 1930s it was their inability to beat the English in the three matches they played so when the England team arrived in turn.
In may 1948 it was a chance for the Italians to see to some unfinished business I felt that we probably had one of the strongest squads that England have had for a great number of years and uh straight after the war when people like tommy lawton ray carter wolf manion and stan matthews tommy lawton were playing and the team more or less selected itself at the age of 62 potso was taking charge of his 95th and last international based on the remarkable torino team that perished in a plane crash a year later this was a talented italian team and they were still world champions england the pretenders to the throne were slowly being drawn out of their self-imposed isolation and had even agreed to take part in the 1950 world cup in brazil.
In the event it was a remarkable match that reinforced the english belief that they were still the best team in the world the four-nil scoreline remains italy's worst-ever home defeat pot so was sacked he was a remarkable man in so many ways but he was getting on to when we played them me i don't know how old he would be but certainly been in the job a long time and so they were ready to see a change but a delightful man to meet and to talk to very knowledgeable about the game it was the end of a truly remarkable era and now it's all aboard about half a million pounds worth of soccer stars off to win the world cup for england or bust the ball in the attempt england's first world cup adventure was an unmitigated disaster far from winning it they didn't even get past the first round winterbottom may have been England's first coach but his role was limited .
When I looked upon those games I thought how stupid we are we it's typical where isolation is in every way we don't see the need for preparation whether it was lack of preparation bad luck or just the skill of the Americans the disaster of the one-nil defeat against the united states was seen as symbolic by the rest of the world but only as an aberration by the English it was just one of those games that that when you play and you could play them 99 times out of 100 and you know probably win by four or five goals, I think we heard the woodwork on four or five instances in that particular game and it was one of those games along with the game went you weren't going to win it as england were being unceremoniously knocked out of the world cup.
A new and very different form of the Danubian school was rising to prominence behind the iron curtain in what was now termed eastern europe based around the players of the army side honved the legend of the hungarian Aranha at or golden team was beginning to take shape at first the iranchapat were viewed with some suspicion in western europe after all they were communists and soldiers to boot volatility the first signs that the hungarians were developing into a formidable team became apparent to the west during the 1952 helsinki olympics in the final they met Yugoslavia and although the professional nations of the west were barred from sending their strongest teams the manner in which the hungarians won the title was still very impressive football was just one of 16 gold medals, Hungary won in Helsinki Hungary were placed third in the medals table behind the united states and the soviet union a remarkable achievement for a country of just nine million people naturally they received the hero's.
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Welcome on their return and naturally the politicians were quick to capitalize on the success of Helsinki the political adventure was the most public manifestation of government backing for sport in Hungary came with the building of a huge new stadium in Budapest in true communist fashion it was called the nep stadium the people stadium the fact that many of the Helsinki athletes also help with the building at some stage only added to the attraction when it was opened in august 1953 may have been building a reputation as the best national team in the world but the honda of pushkassenko were doing the same at club level Hungarian football look set foreign was the coaching inspiration behind the Aranha at it helped that he had so many world-class players in his team .
But above all they were, innovators players were given the freedom to experiment and within this group lay the genesis of the total football of the modern game in november 1953 the Hungarians came to london to play england there was huge interest in the match not just in hungary but across the whole of europe england's 81 years of invincibility at home to foreign teams looked decidedly under threat the great wembley match began with right winning the toss from push ash and exchange of courtesies of a very friendly character which is how it should be of course again perfect coordination led to a goal for hungary in less than a minute the scorer's name is pronounced hidegkuti I hope the Olympic champions now started an absolute orgy of scoring their second came through ditakuti.
The third was a real beauty just watch the smart footwork by pushka so the match ended with England's first defeat at home by a foreign side their heaviest defeat for 72 years six months later the hungarians made the most important train journey of their lives after 16 years the world cup was returning to Europe Hungary had reached the final the last time it had been held in Europe this time they were favorites to go one better in their way stood a nation still reeling from the effects of war it was ironic that when peace came to Germany football stopped during the war it had continued almost uninterrupted amid the chaos and hardship the championship did start again in 1948.
With little other entertainment, football became hugely popular to a level not witnessed before in the country in 1950 stuttgart was also the scene for west germany's first ever international within the first 10 seconds of their first game west Germany almost scored foreign had got west Germany off to a winning start sepp Herberger had been appointed national team coach in 1936 a post he held for 28 years no individual contributed more to the evolution of the game in Germany than Herberger is it was against this background that Herberger took his team to Switzerland for the 1954 world cup at the start no one gave them a chance but by hook and by crook they reached the final where they faced the hungarians unbeaten in 31 games stretching back four years.
On the day of the final in the burn, it had been raining hard it was the one thing that gave the germans hope they knew that man for man they were no match but the soggy pitch would make life difficult for their skillful opponents the hungarians had won the admiration of many in western europe but there was a perception in the east that a communist country would not be allowed to win the world cup that left english referee bill ling with potentially the most difficult match of his life hungary raced into an early two-goal lead but within 10 minutes the Germans were back on level terms though grusich the Hungarian goalkeeper was clearly impeded as germany equalized there were no more goes until just before the end of a match the hungarians dominated.
It was the germans though who made the breakthrough to lead 3-2 be germany's victory was the most unlikely outcome but then the world cup final was becoming noted for producing unlikely results and controversy the hungarians to this day believe they were not allowed to win that final but it was a defeat taken with customary good grace in Germany, itself disbelief combined with a national euphoria unknown since the war it marked germany's re-entry into the cultural mainstream of europe and laid the foundations of football in success that made the nation one of the major european superpowers of the second half of the 20th century foreign in the wake of the hungarian uprising in 1956 and the crushing of it by the soviets most of hungary's great players and coaches left for the west where they continued to influence the development of modern football on every continent that is the legacy of the urantia patch by the end of the 1950s the european champions cup was being given a glorious baptism by real madrid and the european championship was beginning to shape the fixture list of national teams the landscape of european football was to change for good you
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