Video: Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and revolutionary, joined the forces where MLSZ was born later

PÉTER CSILLAG, TAMÁS HEGYI, ZSOLT SZABÓKY

Vágólapra másolva!

2021.01.19. 09:09

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Several memorial plaques decorate the building at 1 Akadémia Street, which once housed the Archduke Stephen Hotel. However, we're missing one of the marble plaques here, next to Miklós Wesselényi, György Klapka, József Bem and János Gundel, namely the one that would remember the founding of the Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ) in January 1901. We talked about this story with sports historian Gábor Laszip and Imre Bozóky, former president of MLSZ.

It's worth taking a closer look at the history of the classicist building, designed by Mátyás Zitterbarth Jr., completed in 1835, where the Hungarian Football Federation started its journey in the same place Sándor Petőfi began his military career before. The spiritual continuity is, of course, just an anachronistic game, yet the poet who died in the Revolution of 1848 poeticized the enthusiasm of future footballers when he wrote: “and you, nice places where we every so often had fun / either by sitting in a circle or striking the ball.” Just as the people of the grandstands could feel the following Petőfi poem: “To me, this game is a beauty to see...”

On behalf of the preparatory committee, President Károly Iszer and Secretary Ferenc Horváth convened the inaugural meeting of MLSZ on January 8, 1901.

Hungarian football pioneers, aka BTC's ancient players

“Invitation to the inaugural meeting of the Hungarian Football Federation in Budapest on Saturday, the nineteenth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and one at eight o'clock in the banquet hall of Archduke Stephen Hotel (District V, 1 Akadémia Street).”

“In 1897 there were only two, but in 1900 more than ninety public football matches were played in the capital. These were friendly matches, but there was a demand for clubs to play these matches or cups in a more organized way so that teams could measure their performance not just on an ad hoc basis. This demand paved the way for the formation of the Federation, which was formulated at the end of 1900 when the Federation convened a meeting in the Ferencváros Civic Circle on December 22 where delegates from active football clubs agreed on how to move forward,” said sports historian Gábor Laszip.

English subtitles available!