TheDeutscher Fußball-Club Prag,commonly known asDFC Prag,was a football club based inPrague.The club was founded on 25 May 1896 by a group of German Jews in Prague, which at the time of its founding was the capital of theKingdom of BohemiainAustria-Hungary.DFC Prag was one of the strongest teams in Europe in the beginning of the 1900s.[1]The team took part in the1903 German football championship finaland became Bohemian champions several times. The club was dissolved in 1939, following theoccupation of CzechoslovakiabyNazi Germany.A new DFC Prag was founded on 9 June 2016, in the tradition of the original club.
 Historical club logo | |||
| Full name | Deutscher Fußball-Club Prag z.s. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 25 May 1896 9 June 2016 | ||
| Dissolved | 1939 | ||
| Ground | Stadion Belvedere (Historical) | ||
| Capacity | 18,000 | ||
| Chairman | Jan Kašpárek | ||
| Website | http:// dfcprag / | ||
|
| |||
History
editFounding member of the German Football Association
editThe multi-national character of Austria-Hungary meant that footballers in the monarchy could find themselves playing in the leagues ofGermany,Austria,Hungaryor Bohemia. It was common for sports clubs to be founded based on the shared ethnicity of their members. DFC Prag was founded on 25 May 1896, by a group of German Jews from the football department of Deutscher Eis- und Ruder-Club Regatta Prag, established in 1891.
When it was formed in 1900, theGerman Football Association (DFB),actively sought out members among ethnically German clubs from outside of the country. DFC Prag was afounding memberof the German association and its president, Dr. Ferdinand Hueppe, became the first president of this new national association.
Contesting Germany's first championship
editDFC Prag was a very strong side at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s: they were Bohemian champions in 1896, and played in Germany's first ever national final in 1903, and became again Bohemian champions in 1917.
The story of the team's appearance in the1903 finalis an odd one as they got there without having to play the scheduled semi-final match againstKarlsruher FV.The opponents received a telegram, supposedly from the DFB, indicating that the game had been rescheduled and consequently did not travel to the appointed match-up. DFC Prag, already waiting inLeipzigfor the arrival of Karlsruher FV, were declared the winners by forfeit and advanced to the final, over the loud protests of the opponents. To this day the origin of the telegram is unknown. The second team to advance to the final wasVfB Leipzig,and the match was scheduled for 31 May 1903 at the home ground ofFC 93 AltonainHamburg.
The heavily favoured DFC Prag arrived in Hamburg a day in advance and took themselves off on an ill-advised pub crawl the night before the final. Most of the team were students at theCharles Universityin Prague and took the opportunity to explore Hamburg. And so the team arrived to the final in less than ideal shape.[2]The match was delayed half an hour as officials scrambled to find a football that was in good enough condition to play the match. The Altona club provided a new ball and eleven minutes in DFC Prag scored the first goal. At the end of the half, the score stood at 1–1, but VfB Leipzig then pulled away to emerge as the first German champions with a 7–2 victory. VfB Leipzig later the same year agreed to challenge Karlsruher FV and were again victorious, this time by a 7–3 score.
Play outside of Germany and dissolution
editWhen Germany joinedFIFAin 1904, DFC Prag was no longer eligible for play in the country. FIFA also rebuffed attempts to create ethnic German and Slavic football associations within the borders of the fractious Austro-Hungarian Empire, preferring to stay clear of politics. DFC Prag played variously in Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia and remained a strong side until about 1914. The club sent a number of players to the Austria national team in spite of the club's uncertain status. DFC Prag dominated theSudetenleague in the ethnically German area of Czechoslovakia, and in the period immediately prior to World War II, the club won a pair of amateur championships, in 1931 and 1933.[3]
The rise to power of theNazisin Germany in the early 1930s led to discrimination against Jews. By 1933, Jewish teams were excluded from general competition and limited to play in separate leagues or tournaments. In 1938, Jewish players and teams were banned outright as discrimination turned to persecution.
With the annexation of theSudetenlandby Germany in 1938, these policies were quickly imposed in the area. DFC Prag, its players and officials, were, despite their mostly Jewish descent, suggested to join the movement ofKonrad Henlein,theSudeten German Party.As players and officials refused, the club was immediately banned as a "Jewish club" after the German seizure of Prague in 1939, and dissolved due to the ban.[4][5]Already in the years before, the players had felt the hostility from the Nazis, especially during matches against teams from German-dominated Sudetenland.[6]
After theGerman occupation of Czechoslovakia,some Jewish players from DFC Prag fled abroad. Others were arrested by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps, where many of them died.[6]Jewish football players Fritz Taussig, a former long time goalkeeper of DFC Prag, and Egon Reach, also a former player of DFC Prag, were both sent to theTheresienstadt concentration campand eventually murdered in theHolocaust.[7][8]
In 1933 German football was re-organized under theThird Reichinto sixteen top-flight leagues known asGauligen.As other countries or regions came under German control, new leagues were formed, such as theGauliga Ostmarkin Austria after theAnschlussand theGauliga Sudetenlandafter the seizure of the area from Czechoslovakia.
The remains of DFC Prag and FC Deutscher Sportbrüder Prag were merged in 1940, into a politically acceptable side under the regime, known as Nationalsozialistische Turngemeinde Prag, commonly known as NSTG Prag. The team began play in the 1940–41 Gauliga Sudetenland Group 2, where they won the division and the league championship, leading to participation in the1941 German football championshipand the1941 German Cup.The next season they particated in the Gauliga Sudetenland-Mitte, where they again won the division, leading to participation in the1942 German Cup.However, the club voluntarily withdrew from participation in the national championship or further Gauliga play. The team disappeared with the end of World War II.
Refounding
editA refounding of the club after World War II would have been hopeless, as adecreeby Czechoslovak PresidentEdvard Benešin 1945 forced Germans to leave Czechoslovakia and have their assets confiscated[6]but in July 2016, 77 years after the original German-Jewish club had been dissolved, a new DFC Prag was founded with the aim of establishing a youth department, followed by a senior team in the following years.[9]
Stadium
editDFC Prag played its first matches at a sports field on the so-called Königswiese. The Königswiese, which later came to be known as the Kaiserwiese (Císařská louka inCzech), is a man-made island on theVltava River,in the district ofSmíchovin Prague. The sports field was also used by other football teams, and was the site of the first derby betweenSK Slavia PragueandAC Sparta Praguein 1896.
However, the club was soon to find itself a new home at the underdevelopedLetnáarea. For this purpose, the club tore up a tent in the southeastern corner of the area and built a sports field, which in addition to a fence also had a covered grandstand. The stadium was namedStadion Belvedereand came to hold 18,000 spectators. The stadium of SK Slavia Prague, one of the biggest rivals of the DFC Prag, was at the time located right next.
Stadion Belvedere was situated in the southeast corner of theLetná Park.The stadium was completely demolished in 1939, to make place for theNational Agricultural Museum,which was constructed on the site in 1937–1939. The National Agricultural Museum still occupies the site today, with theNational Technical Museumsituated directly opposite.
Honours
edit- German Champions
- Runners-up:1903
- Bohemian Champions:1896, 1913,[a]1914[a]
- Regional Champions(de):[b]1917
- Czechoslovak Amateur Champions:1931, 1933
- DFVfB Champions in theČSAF[c]:(10) 1923, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1937
- ^abThe Bohemian Championship was organized by the German Football Association for Bohemia (DFVfB) (de). The DFVfB was founded in 1911 and was an autonomous member of theAustrian Football Association (ÖFV)until the end of theFirst World War.
- ^The Regional United Championship for the Kingdom of Czech of the ÖFB (Czech:Mistrovství krajského svazu pre Království České OeFV) was a common championship for Czech and German clubs in the Kingdom of Bohemia organized by the Czech branch of theAustrian Football Association (ÖFB).The Competition was only held in 1917.
- ^The German Football Association for Bohemia (DFVfB) became a subdivision of theCzechoslovak Football Association (ČSAF)in 1923.
References
edit- ^Heinlein, Stefan (23 May 2017)."Deutscher Fußball-Club Prag: Ein Traditionsverein beginnt von vorn".deutschlandfunkkultur.de(in German).Cologne:Deutschlandradio.Retrieved28 November2019.
- ^Muras, Udo (31 May 2003)."So sehen Meister aus".Die Welt(in German). Berlin: WeltN24 GmbH.Retrieved28 November2019.
- ^Jeřábek, Luboš (2007).Český a československý fotbal – lexikon osobností a klubů(in Czech). Prague, Czech Republic: Grada Publishing. p. 162.ISBN978-80-247-1656-5.
- ^"Geschichte des DFC".dfcprag(in German).Prague:Deutscher Fussball-Club Prag z.s. n.d.Retrieved11 November2017.
- ^"Fußball-International: So erzielte Dessauer Kicker in Prag ein historisches Tor".Mitteldeutsche Zeitung(in German).Halle:Mediengruppe Mitteldeutsche Zeitung GmbH & Co. KG. 15 June 2017.Retrieved11 November2017.
- ^abcFörster, Andreas (9 October 2017)."DFC Prag: Die Zukunft läuft auf dem Rasen".Berliner Zeitung(in German).Cologne:DuMont Net GmbH & Co. KG.Retrieved11 November2017.
- ^Steiner, František (2017) [1st pub. 2009]. "Einleitung". In Zwicker, Stefan (ed.).Fußball unterm gelben Stern Die Liga im Ghetto Theresienstadt 1943–44(PDF)(in German).Paderborn:Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Brill Deutschland GmbH. p. 8.ISBN978-3-506-78626-5.Retrieved13 November2017.
- ^Dr. Zwicker, Stefan (24 June 2015)."Fußball im Ghetto Theresienstadt".dfb.de(in German).Frankfurt am Main:Deutscher Fußball-Bund e.V.Retrieved10 November2017.
- ^Deutsch-jüdischer Fußballverein DFC Prag nach 77 Jahren wiedergegründet(in German)Radio Prag,published: 1 July 2016, accessed: 5 July 2016
Further reading
edit
- Grüne, Hardy (2001).Vereinslexikon.Kassel: AGON SportverlagISBN3-89784-147-9
- Král, Lubomír (2006).Historie německé kopané v Čechách.Prague: MJF Praha.ISBN80-86284-59-X.