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, Clapham Rovers,
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 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 (the Russians instead joined F.I.F.A. at
the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm)
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 sometimes 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, including Cercle athlétique and Red Star Amical Club, 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., which had lost the support of the
influential Army F.A. in June 1911,
immediately after the Roubaix tournament, 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 was open to considerable improvement.
(In his defense, it may also be that the responsible journalist got confused
because he was aware that Bohemia was not a country in the sense the other
participants were, whereas Hungary's status was comparable to England's.)
Moreover, observe that the
same Swiss paper
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.
itself – meaning there can be no question of any sort of U.I.A.F.A. championship.
Another reason to discard any Czech claims that these three matches constituted a serious
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 line-up discussions below). Of course,
this was due to the late entry of the second French side, but then again, it is not
suggestive of the earnestness of an event that one quarter of the participants has
to be exchanged a day or two before the start of the show.
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, at which the
Czechs refused to finish the final) is
an invention, originally (in April 2020) introduced
in an article by
Matthieu Delahais on the Chroniques bleues website
(where "tiraillements entre les Alémaniques et les Romands" were evoked),
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 evasively 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
Chroniques bleues 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).
To the best of our knowledge, the contemporary French press never referred to the Roubaix football event as "championnat amateur" or "championnat d'Europe", instead calling it, 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 evidently 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.
In stark contrast, Bohemia's football had enjoyed a strong reputation for years.
They 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,
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.
Two weeks before the exposition matches in Roubaix, Slavia had
split a two-match series (3-2, 1-2) against the Scottish professionals
of Aberdeen, and thus,
given the mediocre quality of the opposition, Bohemia were the clear favourites
to win the tournament; the only surprise was the difficulty they had,
perhaps partially due to their fairly arduous tour schedule,
in overcoming the (second choice) English side, which had only scraped into
the final thanks to a last minute winner against France B.
Tournament Proper | Other Football Matches
Tournament Proper
All matches were played at the Stadium de l'Exposition de Roubaix (the wikipedia
article complained about above locates the opening match at the Vélodrome, which
was opened in 1936, a quarter of a century after this tournament; presumably the
old Vélodrome was meant, based on the supposed finish of Paris-Roubaix on that
day, but that is incorrect as well, as the postcard on the Chroniques bleues site
clearly shows).
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) [also referred to as U.S.F.S.A. "France B"]
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; referee Fernand Jénicot was a brother of Albert Jénicot, who had
played for France B at the 1908 Olympics;
line-ups:
U.S.F.S.A. "Nord": Parsis; Matisse, Collette; Spriet, Douchet, Raulin;
Lesur, Dubly, Eloy, Chandelier, Bacrot;
A.F.A.: Taylor; Stretton, Johnson; H. Bryant, Smit, Wilson;
King, Stebbings, S. Bryant, Dickson, Gardner;
see below for a discussion of the 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 (scorers as in L'Auto;
note that Medek was not part of the Bohemian line-up according to [Bor 57]);
referee Wallace Gardner also played for the A.F.A. in both its matches;
line-ups (for Č.S.F. partially conjectural):
U.S.F.S.A. "France A": De Gastyne; Rouxel, Schalbart; Rémy, Gaudin, Nicol [c];
Bacrot, Chandelier, Eloy, Dubly, Voyeux;
Č.S.F.: Pimmer; Veselý, Hajný; Holý, Rosmaisl, Benda;
Bohata, Košek, Pilát, Bělka, Široký;
see below for a discussion of the 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 (who did not play according to [Bor 57]) 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);
line-ups (for both partially conjectural):
A.F.A.: Taylor; Stretton, Johnson; H. Bryant, Smit, Wilson;
King, Melliar Smith, S. Bryant, Dickson, Gardner;
Č.S.F.: Pimmer; Veselý, Hajný; Kovařovic, Rosmaisl, Benda;
Bohata, Košek, Pilát, Holý, Široký;
see below for a discussion of the line-ups]
Other Football Matches
Matches at the Roubaix Exposition | "Slavia" Tour Matches
Matches at the Roubaix Exposition
The programme as announced in L'Auto on April 11 also included the following 3 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
postponed to 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 3 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]
"Slavia" Tour Matches
On May 25, the day of the first semi-final in Roubaix, the Bohemian team played a
friendly against the Belgian U.I.A.F.A. members on its way to France; this was a
a return visit after the Belgians had visited Slavia in March, losing 2-6 and 0-5,
and the visitors played as "Slavia", donning Slavia jerseys although the line-up
included players of other clubs; this match was in no way related to the Roubaix
tournament, apart from possibly 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 "Slavia"
[the visitors were announced as Slavia and played in Slavia jerseys but the team
included players of Smíchov and Sparta]
After the tournament, the Bohemians played two more matches before returning home,
opposing a U.S.F.S.A. Parisian selection as "Prague" and a Rouen eleven as "Slavia".
[Jun 4; stade de Colombes, Paris]
U.S.F.S.A. "Paris" 0-5 "Praha" [HT: 0-2]
[match played as part of a series of "city matches" between the two capitals;
three (!) of the eleven selected Parisian players, Massip (ASF), Gaudin (RCF)
and Périni (USC), failed to appear; the kick-off was delayed by 45 minutes,
to the vocal displeasure of the public, while the hosts hurriedly looked for
replacements, eventually fielding Boss (CF), Pefferkorn (GC) and Jacolliot (ASF)
instead; the match report in L'Auto was one long litany about the rough play
by the visitors ("un jeu dur, très dur, même du style professionel") and the
apparently insufferable heat]
[Jun 6; Rouen]
Rouen XI 3-6 "Slavia"
[the visitors were announced as Slavia but included players of other clubs;
match played as part of the festivities around the "Millénaire normand", a
celebration of a treaty between Charles the Simple and Viking warlord Rollo,
one of the sixteen great-great-great-grandfathers of William the Conqueror,
which established the Duchy of Normandy in 911]
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)
CF = Club français (Paris)
FCR = Football Club de Rouen
GC = Gallia Club (Paris)
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
Squads Announced in L'Auto and The Sporting Life
Bohemia (Č.S.F.) | England (A.F.A.) | France A (U.S.F.S.A. "France A") | France B (U.S.F.S.A. "Nord")
Squads Announced in L'Auto and The Sporting Life
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 slight 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 23, The Sporting Life published a rather different eleven (only two players,
Taylor and Gardner, had remained in the team) to depart from Charing Cross the next
day to represent "England" in the "International Tournament" at Roubaix; some of the
changes may have been caused by the A.F.A. annual general meeting held in London at
the same time which some of the earlier announced players may have wished to attend:
G.M.C. Taylor (Old Cranleighans);
J.W. Stretton (Old Malvernians), W.L. Johnson (Saint Thomas's Hospital);
H.W. Bryant (Civil Service), N.H. Smit (Norsemen), S.L. Wilson (Mansfield Amateurs);
R.M. King (Guy's Hospital), H.V. Stebbings (Ramsgate Saint George's),
F.M. Dickson (Old Wilsonians), S.A. Bryant (Civil Service), W.A. Gardner (Eastbourne).
Among those eleven, only four (Wilson, King, S.A. Bryant and Gardner) were marked
as "internationals".
On May 24, L'Auto (page 5) announced the following compositions of all 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: The Sporting Life had listed only four of these eleven players (Taylor, King
(correct for Hing), Stebbings and Gardner); the other seven (the two backs,
the three half backs, and the two inside forwards) had been announced in
L'Auto on May 10 and 21, some of them in different spelling variations;
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 (I.L. Snell on May 10) was Ivan Edward Snell (Old Carthusians);
R. Mouton Hing is a misspelling for R. Manton King (Guy's Hospital);
C.E. Brisley was Cuthbert Everard Brisley (Casuals);
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 (Smíchov), 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 John 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]
However, there probably was a 14th player, as a preview of the Paris-Prague match
played on June 4 included "Milda" in midfield, along with Benda and "Maize" (i.e.
Rosmaisl "Majzl"), which must refer to Slavia player Bohumil "Milda" Macoun (the
same preview also mentioned "Koly", but that is an obvious misspelling for Holý).
France (équipe A):
De Gastyne (RCF);
Rouxel (SF), Schalbar (USC);
Remy (ASF), Denis (RCF), Nicol, cap. (RCF);
Bacrot (OL), Oahndelier (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), Roulin (UST);
Voyeux (OL), R. Dubly (RCF), Eloy (OL), Chandelier (OL), Bacrot (OL).
NB: the names of Parsis, Matisse, Collette and Raulin were misspelled in the paper;
note that four of the five forwards were also part of équipe A.
Based on the above information and the available match previews and reports, we may
reconstruct the squad lists below.
NB: caps and goals refer to matches during F.I.F.A. membership (Bohemia until 1908, Czechoslovakia since 1920;
U.S.F.S.A. until 1908, C.F.I. since 1909; none for the A.F.A.); the Roubaix tournament itself is therefore
not included.
Bohemia (Č.S.F.)
Pos Full Name DoB DoD Club Caps Goals
GK Karel Pimmer SK Slavia Praha 0 0
DF Miroslav Hajný 3- 1-1886 SK Smíchov 0 0
DF Richard Veselý 18- 9-1881 SK Slavia Praha 3 0
MF Emanuel "Eman" Benda 2- 2-1884 SK Slavia Praha 4 0
MF Rudolf Holý SK Slavia Praha 0 0
MF Karel Kovařovic 15- 8-1890 SK Smíchov 0 0
MF Bohumil "Milda" Macoun 21- 2-1886 26- 3-1922 SK Slavia Praha 2 0
MF František Rosmaisl "Majzl" 5- 2-1884 9- 5-1945 SK Slavia Praha 1 0
FW Josef Bělka 20- 2-1886 14- 3-1944 AC Sparta Praha 4 4
FW Otakar "Otto" Bohata 21- 5-1889 19- 1-1963 SK Slavia Praha 0 0
FW Jan Košek 28- 7-1884 30-12-1927 SK Slavia Praha 3 4
FW Ladislav Medek 17-10-1889 24- 9-1915 SK Slavia Praha 0 0
FW Václav Pilát [o20] 6- 5-1888 28- 1-1971 AC Sparta Praha 4 0
FW Miroslav Široký 21- 1-1885 4-1949 SK Slavia Praha 1 0
tr. John Madden (Scotland) 11- 6-1865 17- 4-1948 SK Slavia Praha 2 5
NB: Madden's caps and goals for Scotland (for which he represented Celtic as centre forward).
[o20] Pilát was part of the Czech squad at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp.
England (A.F.A.)
Pos Full Name DoB DoD Club Caps Goals
GK G.M.C. Taylor Old Cranleighans 0 0
DF W.L. Johnson Saint Thomas's Hospital 0 0
DF J.W. Stretton Old Malvernians 0 0
MF H.W. Bryant Civil Service 0 0
MF N.H. Smit Norsemen 0 0
MF S.L. Wilson Mansfield Amateurs 0 0
FW S.A. Bryant Civil Service 0 0
FW F.M. Dickson Old Wilsonians 0 0
FW Wallace A. Gardner Eastbourne 0 0
FW R. Manton King Guy's Hospital 0 0
FW E. Melliar Smith 0 0
FW H.V. Stebbings Ramsgate Saint George's 0 0
NB: while the above twelve players travelled to Roubaix, the following ten had originally been announced but
eventually did not make the trip (so it appears the above A.F.A. side was very much a second choice one):
DF John Edward Hobbs 1886 Union of London & Smith's Bank 0 0
DF John Charles Dodsworth "Jack" Tetley 11- 4-1885 9-10-1917 Old Carthusians 0 0
MF Percy Hamilton Farnfield 16- 6-1881 19- 8-1962 New Crusaders 0 0
MF H.A. Milton Casuals 0 0
MF Ivan Edward Snell 25- 4-1884 29- 8-1958 Old Carthusians 0 0
FW A.H. Birks Guy's Hospital 0 0
FW Cuthbert Everard Brisley 5- 7-1886 30- 7-1918 Casuals 0 0
FW Reverend Herbert Vernon Farnfield 1- 7-1883 18- 2-1936 New Crusaders 0 0
FW G.A. Joseph New Crusaders 0 0
FW F.I. Smith Civil Service 0 0
France A (U.S.F.S.A. "France A")
Pos Full Name DoB DoD Club Caps Goals
GK Guy de Gastyne [#] 10- 5-1888 3- 2-1972 Racing Club de France 0 0
DF Jean Rouxel Stade Français 0 0
DF Auguste Schalbart 7-11-1889 1952 US Clichy 0 0
MF Victor Denis [o8b] [c] 12- 1-1889 3- 3-1972 Racing Club de France 1 0
MF Robert Diochon [c] 9- 6-1883 14- 9-1953 FC Rouen 0 0
MF Pierre Gaudin [c] Racing Club de France 0 0
MF Henri Moigneu [o8a] [c] 9- 3-1887 14- 3-1937 US Tourquennoise 8 0
MF Alphonse Nicol [*] 1885 11-1913 Racing Club de France 0 0
MF Robert Rémy AS Française 0 0
FW Etienne Bacrot [!] [b] Olympique Lillois 0 0
FW Paul Chandelier [b] 23- 1-1892 28- 9-1983 Olympique Lillois 3 0
FW Raymond Dubly [o20] [b] 5-11-1893 7- 9-1988 RC Roubaix 31 4
FW Albert Eloy [b] 17- 4-1892 7- 1-1947 Olympique Lillois 2 2
FW Emile Sartorius [o8a] 11- 9-1883 23-11-1933 Racing Club de France 5 2
FW Paul Voyeux [b] 11- 4-1884 20-10-1967 Olympique Lillois 1 0
[#] De Gastyne's family name was Benoist, but like his father (Jules) and brother (Marco) he was known
as De Gastyne.
[*] Nicol was a naturalised Romanian born as Niculescu (cf. Chroniques bleues).
[!] for his first name, erroneously given as Carlos by Pierre Cazal in his series on "Les quasi-Blues",
cf. La Vie sportive du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais, issue of 30 November 1912, p. 5.
[b] also part of the squad of France B.
[c] Denis, Moigneu, Diochon and Gaudin were all selected as centre half, in that order, so Gaudin, who
eventually played, was fourth choice for the position (and second behind Denis at his own club).
[o8a] Sartorius was part of the French A squad at the 1908 Olympics in London;
Moigneu was chosen for that squad but was unavailable due to military service.
[o8b] Denis was part of the French B squad at the 1908 Olympics in London.
[o20] Dubly was part of the French squad at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp.
France B (U.S.F.S.A. "Nord")
Pos Full Name DoB DoD Club Caps Goals
GK Albert Parsis [o20] 2- 6-1890 24- 2-1980 US Tourquennoise 5 0
DF Collette RC Roubaix 0 0
DF Georges Matisse Stade Roubaisien 0 0
MF Douchet Olympique Lillois 0 0
MF A. Raulin US Tourquennoise 0 0
MF Gaston Spriet Stade Roubaisien 0 0
FW Etienne Bacrot [!] [a] Olympique Lillois 0 0
FW Paul Chandelier [a] 23- 1-1892 28- 9-1983 Olympique Lillois 3 0
FW Raymond Dubly [a] 5-11-1893 7- 9-1988 RC Roubaix 31 4
FW Albert Eloy [a] 17- 4-1892 7- 1-1947 Olympique Lillois 2 2
FW Henri Lesur 2-10-1892 US Tourquennoise 6 0
FW Paul Voyeux [a] 11- 4-1884 20-10-1967 Olympique Lillois 1 0
[!] for his first name, erroneously given as Carlos by Pierre Cazal in his series on "Les quasi-Blues",
cf. La Vie sportive du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais, issue of 30 November 1912, p. 5.
[a] also part of the squad of France A.
[o20] Parsis (known as Parsys throughout his career but his official name was Parsis) was part of the
French squad at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp.
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 spelling errors (and the odd club affiliation) were corrected):
France (équipe B):
Albert Parsis (UST);
Georges Matisse (SR), Collette (RCR);
Gaston Spriet (SR), Douchet (OL), A. Raulin (UST);
Paul Voyeux (OL), Raymond Dubly (RCR), Albert Eloy (OL),
Paul Chandelier (OL), Etienne 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.
However, on May 26, a match report in Excelsior (p. 6) stated Voyeux had been replaced
by Lesur, which must refer to Henri Lesur (UST), an outside right (ailier droit) later
capped six times for France (C.F.I.).
Angleterre (A.F.A.):
G.M.C. Taylor (Old Cranleighans);
J.W. Stretton (Old Malvernians), W.L. Johnson (Saint Thomas's Hospital);
S.A. Bryant (Civil Service), N.H. Smit (Norsemen), S.L. Wilson (Mansfield Amateurs);
R. Manton King (Guy's Hospital), H.V. Stebbings (Ramsgate Saint George's),
H.W. Bryant (Civil Service), F.M. Dickson (Old Wilsonians), Wallace Gardner (Eastbourne).
NB: while the above team differed considerably from the one announced on May 24, it
does correspond to the team announced by The Sporting Life on May 23 (apart from
changing the positions of the two Bryants);
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.
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 first names added):
Bohême:
Karel Pimmer (Slavia);
Richard Veselý (Slavia), Miroslav Hajný (Smíchov);
Karel Kovařovic (Smíchov), František Rosmaisl (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);
Jean Rouxel (SF), Auguste Schalbart (USC);
Robert Rémy (ASF), Henri Moigneu (UST), Alphonse Nicol [c] (RCF);
Etienne 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 (who thus was the fourth choice, after V. Denis, Moigneu and
Diochon, for centre half, the central and then arguably most important position
in a team), meaning France's actual line-up was:
Guy de Gastyne (RCF);
Jean Rouxel (SF), Auguste Schalbart (USC);
Robert Rémy (ASF), Pierre Gaudin (RCF), Alphonse Nicol [c] (RCF);
Etienne Bacrot (OL), Paul Chandelier (OL), Albert Eloy (OL),
Raymond Dubly (RCR), Paul Voyeux (OL).
Note 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 Holý instead of Kovařovic and Pilát
instead of Medek (who, according to the match reports in L'Auto (29 May)
and Dunkerque-sport (4 June), scored the last goal), giving the line-up as:
Karel Pimmer (Slavia);
Richard Veselý (Slavia), Miroslav Hajný (Smíchov);
Rudolf Holý (Slavia), František Rosmaisl (Slavia), Emanuel Benda (Slavia);
Otto Bohata (Slavia), Jan Košek (Slavia), Václav Pilát (Sparta),
Josef Bělka (Sparta), Miroslav Široký (Slavia).
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); it was certainly incorrect for most of the A.F.A. side and
probably also for two players of the Bohemian team:
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 reportedly replaced W. Stebbing (presumably H.V. Stebbings), injured
in the first semi-final; however, Dunkerque-sport mentioned (June 4, p. 2), in its
match report refreshingly free of spelling errors, Dickson and Wilson (who had both
been announced as part of the line-up for the first semi-final) as players (as well
as Gardner and Smit).
Bohême:
Karel Pimmer (Slavia);
Richard Veselý (Slavia), Miroslav Hajný (Smíchov);
Karel Kovařovic (Smíchov), František Rosmaisl (Slavia), Emanuel Benda (Slavia);
Otto Bohata (Slavia), Ladislav Medek (Slavia), Josef Bělka (Sparta),
Jan Košek (Slavia), Miroslav Široký (Slavia).
However, [Bor 57] listed Holý instead of Bělka and Pilát instead of Medek,
giving the line-up as:
Karel Pimmer (Slavia);
Richard Veselý (Slavia), Miroslav Hajný (Smíchov);
Karel Kovařovic (Smíchov), František Rosmaisl (Slavia), Emanuel Benda (Slavia);
Otto Bohata (Slavia), Jan Košek (Slavia), Václav Pilát (Sparta),
Rudolf Holý (Slavia), Miroslav Široký (Slavia).
That same Czech source also included a line-up for the A.F.A. side, which bar
the glaring spelling errors corresponds to the travelling eleven reported by
The Sporting Life on May 23:
Taylor;
Johnson, Shetton;
Wilson, Smith, Bryant I;
King, Stelbings, Dicksow, Bryant II, Gardener.
Thus, assuming L'Auto was at least correct about the replacement of Stebbings,
one may conjecture the following A.F.A. line-up for the final (additionally
supported by the Dunkerque-sport match report mentioning Dickson and Wilson):
G.M.C. Taylor (Old Cranleighans);
J.W. Stretton (Old Malvernians), W.L. Johnson (Saint Thomas's Hospital);
H.W. Bryant (Civil Service), N.H. Smit (Norsemen), S.L. Wilson (Mansfield Amateurs);
R. Manton King (Guy's Hospital), E. Melliar Smith, F.M. Dickson (Old Wilsonians),
S.A. Bryant (Civil Service), Wallace Gardner (Eastbourne).
Sources included: [Bor 57] (as cited in Xtratime.org), [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), The Sporting Life (issue 23 May 1911, p. 4); Chroniques bleues, eu-football.info, La Fútbolteca, Historia Wisły
Thanks to Matthieu Delahais, Neil Morrison 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: 1 Aug 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.