OLYMPIC FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT 1912

Picture : Olympic Champion 1912 Great Britain – Standing from left : Horace Littlewort, Ronald Brebner, Arthur Berry, Harold Walden, Vivian Woodward, Gordon Hoare, Ivan Sharpe, Arthur Knight. Down from left : James Dines, Thomas Burn, Edward Hanney.

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1912 Stockholm
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 The 5th Olympic Games were held in Stockholm, Sweden, from May 5 to July 22, 1912. In addition to 16 sports disciplines, art contests were – for the first time – held in architecture, literature, music, painting and sculpture. The gold medal for literature, incidentally, was awarded to Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, for his “Ode to Sport”, which he had submitted under the double pseudonym Georges Hohrod and Martin Eschbach.

 It was thanks to the development of FIFA and of the full international as well as British support that Olympic football made headway, and that although France withdrew, ten well-prepared national teams travelled to the Venice of the north, as Stockholm is also known. Except for Belgium, Bohemia and Switzerland, all the major football nations from the European mainland were present. In fact, the Olympic football tournament in 1912 amounted to a European championship without the British professionals. England’s amateur national team, however, still was quite strong at the time, as not a few of its players also were active in England’s professional national team.

 Since eleven national teams had entered, a preliminary round (eighth-finals) had to be played before the quarter-finals to bring them down to eight. The preliminary draw was the cause of much criticism, as four of the stronger teams were drawn against each other while weaker ones received a bye. It also was hard to understand why Sweden had to play against the Netherlands.

 In addition to the hosts’ unexpected early exit, Finland surprised with a strong showing and Austria were inconsistent. In the end, the three first placed teams were the same as four years previously. Superstar Vivian John Woodward, an architect by profession, led England to their second consecutive Olympic victory. Denmark once again lived up their fame of fielding the strongest national team on the European mainland and won the Olympic silver while the Netherlands placed third.

 A consolation tournament, also played in knockout format, was held for the teams eliminated in the eighth- and quarter-finals. The Final, for 5th and 6th place, was a passionate match, fiercely contested by arch-rivals Hungary and Austria. In the end, Hungary won thanks to their world-class player Imre Schlosser. The other two ranks went to Germany, who caused an international sensation by beating Russia with its record win, and Italy.

Olympic Tournament

1912 Stockholm