In everyone’s life there comes a time when you have to stand up for what you believe. Where you have to stand up and be counted.
It was Martin Luther King who said “right defended is stronger than evil triumphant.”
Many will have heard of Matthias Sindelar, many will not, but clearly he lived up to that belief.
Matthias was born on 10 February 1903 in Kozlov, Moravia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the son of, a blacksmith. In 1905 he and his family moved to Vienna. It was here that he started to play football in the streets.
It was not long before his natural talent was spotted. At the age of 15, he joined Hertha Vienna, and would stay at the club until 1924. That was when he moved to the club we know today as FK Austria Vienna; it was Wiener Amateur-SV up until 1926. Immediately he and the team were successful, they won the Austrian Cup in 1925, 1926, 1933, 1935 and 1936, a league title in 1926, and the Mitropa Cup in 1933 and 1936.
In 1926 he was selected for Austria. He scored on his debut, a 2-1 victory over Czechoslovakia. He would go on to score four goals in his first three internationals. However he would soon fall out of favour with the national coach Hugo Meisel, who was renowned for his disciplinarian views. Matthias was he believed too much of an individual to be a part of his team. He would remain outside the national team for four years.
So the story goes Meisel was quietly having a coffee in Vienna in 1931 when his table was surrounded by a group of the city’s football journalists who insisted that Matthias be selected. Miesel must have been convinced by their arguments as he was recalled for a match against Scotland on 16th May 1931. Austria won 5-0 and Matthias scored. .
The Wunderteam was born. From April 1931 to December 1932 the national team went on an unbeaten run of 14 games; Matthias would play in 12 of those games. The team’s style of play style was said to be based on the Scottish school of football that focused on quick passing which had been introduced by Englishman Jimmy Hogan. In the Wunderteam (Wonder Team) Matthias was the star and captain.
In that period Austria were scoring goals at will. In the 12 games Matthias played up to and including the loss to England that ended their undefeated run the team scored 50 goals and conceded 17. They had defeated Germany 6-0 in Berlin and 5-0 in Vienna, as well as Hungary 8-2.
Matthias was given the name Der Papierene (The Papery Man) due to his slight build. However this underplayed his wonderful brain that managed to see which passes to make well ahead of his opponents. Theatre critic Alfred Polgar wrote that “He had brains in his legs and many remarkable and unexpected things occurred to them while they were running.” It should come as no surprise that he was also known in Vienna as the “Mozart of Football.”
He was loved by all and had the power to mix in high society and with the common man. Like many stars of today he was begged to endorse products. He enjoyed the money, and again like many since his era, he squandered much of it on women and gambling.
Come the 1934 World cup and the Wunderteam was one of the favourites. They brushed aside Hungary in the quarter finals but then met the host nation Italy in the semi final. Italy had taken part in the first ever replayed match at the World Cup in their quarter final against Spain. After drawing 1-1 at the end of extra time the two teams met again. This time Italy won 1-0, so physical was the match that three Spaniards had to leave the field of play due to injuries. Spain also had two goals ruled out, one for offside. The semi final was an equally bruising encounter in which Matthias was closely monitored by Luis Monti who had lost the 1930 final when playing for Argentina. He was renowned as a ruthless, physical player but also one with plenty of skill. Italy won 1-0.
Matthias was a superstar in his era. Fans flocked just to se him play, and try and emulate him in their own games. He played 43 times for Austria and scored 26 goals. The national team only lost seven of those games.
On 12th of March 1938, Austria was annexed into the German Third Reich, an occupation that became known as the Anschluss. The new Government soon dismantled the old football league and all Jewish teams were expelled. Many Jewish players fled the country.
Some players were coerced into joining the German National side. Some of them bought into the Germans ideology, others joined with a great deal of reluctance. Matthias Sindelar refused.
He was however convinced to shift his stance when it was put forward that one last game would be played in which the Austrians would wear their national colours. Although at Matthias’s request the Austrians played in red-white-red kit – the national flag’s colours – instead of their traditional white and black. The match would understandably be against Germany, and be a celebration of unification. Austria had qualified for the 1938 FIFA World Cup prior to Anschluss, but would be forced to withdraw. Some Austrian players would be a part of the German squad in France, however they would bow out to Switzerland, losing in extra time.
The new Government insisted that the game be a low-scoring one, and that a draw would be the preferred result. The game took place on 3rd of April 1938 in Vienna.
In an act of defiance Matthias according to reports on the game showcased all of his skills, teasing his opponents. In the first half of the game when scoring opportunities came his way, he is said to have deliberately pushed his shot the wrong side of the post. To those who did not know of his skill he looked like a player out of form. To those who knew, he was taunting his oppressors. He continued in this vein for most of the second half, until suddenly he flicked a switch. He finished off a passing move with Karl Sesta to give Austria the lead. Sesta would score the second goal in a 2-0 victory.
At the final whistle Vienna’s Prater Stadium erupted in noise. The people who had been bowed and humbled suddenly found their voices again chanting “Österreich! Österreich!” While Matthias is said to have danced a solo waltz in front of the German hierarchy.
He was asked to represent Germany again. He again refused citing old age and the effects of old injuries. He was 35 years old.
On 23rd January 1939 Matthias Sindelar was found dead in bed in the arms of his girlfriend Camilla Castagnola in the apartment they shared. Ever since then there have been theories about his death, was it suicide, was it accidental, or was it murder?
The investigation into his death has been described as scant. The official verdict at the time cited carbon monoxide poisoning as the cause of death. This was attributed to a blocked chimney flue. Neighbours had complained of a similar defective flue only days earlier.
It was said that he was depressed by the German invasion and that he took his own life, yet those who knew him never believed that to be the case.
Egon Ulbrich, who was a lifelong friend of Sindelar, stated in a documentary that a local official was bribed to record his death as an accident. The reason for this was to ensure that he would receive a state funeral.He said “According to the Nazi rules, a person who had been murdered or who has committed suicide cannot be given a grave of honour. So we had to do something to ensure that the criminal element involved in his death was removed.” It was reported that in excess of 20,000 mourners attended his funeral.
Certainly many believe that he was murdered. It was reported that a policeman involved in the immediate search of his flat soon afters death informed a newspaper that the heating worked properly. If he was not murdered why did.the Nazis order the more thorough enquiries of the Public Prosecutor to be closed down?
It appears that his continual defiance of the Nazis became too much. Despite repeated attempts to convince him to play for Germany he continued to refuse. He had defied the wish for a draw in the Unification match, and openly celebrated victory. In addition when he heard that a Jewish acquaintance of his was being forced to sell his bar for a price well below what it was worth to local party bureaucrats in what was termed a “legal seizure”, he stepped in. He paid in cash what he felt the business was worth and reinvented himself as a café owner.
Having taken over a business from a jew, not surprisingly many of his customers were also Jewish. The Nazis marked him down as “very friendly with jews” and that he was “unsympathetic to the party.” He was constantly under surveillance himself because he was prepared to publicly maintain such friendships. There were claims that he was Jewish himself, but he was in fact a Catholic.
We shall never know the truth now, and each can believe what they want. Those who love football and the romance of the game often believe it was his courage and defiance that saw his life end prematurely. It was his sense of doing what was decent and what was right, sticking up for what he believed that resulted in his early demise. Clearly he was an honourable man who believed he had to defend what was right.
Finally it seems appropriate that this Austrian football genius who was nicknamed the “Mozart of Football,” should have ended his life at the same age of just 35 as the musical virtuoso to whom he was linked!
