Egon Pollak (soccer player)

Egon Pollak (1939)

Egon Erwin "Gitschi" Pollak , Hebrew אגון פולק(Born November 12, 1898 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary , † 1984 in Germany ) was an Austrian football player .

Career

Gitschi Pollak joined the SC Hakoah Vienna school team in 1911 at the age of twelve. Through the reserve team he came to appearances in the first team during the war years - also due to the absence of regular players. At this time, Pollak was still playing in the attack, where he formed a strong internal trio with Moses Häusler and Max Grünwald in reserve . During the promotion season 1919/20 he came to three missions in the combat team. From the first appearance of the blue-whites in the top division, he was part of the regular formation, but now in the Halves series.

The team established itself in the first class straight away and after a fourth place in the debut season, a fight for the championship followed in the second year, which was only lost on the last match day against the Wiener Sportclub . After professional football was introduced in Austria in the 1924/25 season, the Hakoah finally succeeded in winning the championship.

After Pollak had already been called up in the Viennese city selection in 1922, he made his debut in the Austrian national team in May 1924 , where he played as a right wing runner in the 4-1 win against Romania . However, this should also be his only assignment in the national team. In addition, Pollak was also vice-president of the players' union, an interest group for Viennese professional players.

In the spring of 1926 the Hakoah undertook an American tour, which was a great success with the public and led to a number of Hakoah players - including Pollak - being offered contracts by US clubs. He returned with the team to Vienna and played the championship to the end. After he also played for the Hakoah in the first games of the new season, he decided to accept the offer and received approval from his club. He left for New York to play for the New York Giants in the American Soccer League .

His former club colleagues Max Grünwald, Béla Guttmann , Ernö Schwarz and Moses Häusler also switched to the Giants . Pollak only played one season with the Giants, after which he returned to Vienna, where he again ran for his home club. However, the Hakoah was so weakened by the personnel departures that, despite the return of Pollak and Alexander Neufeld, they were unable to stay in the league and were relegated to the second class. In the following season Pollak played a few more games for the lower class SK Hasmonea , with whom the promotion to the first amateur class succeeded. He then lived in Berlin, where he played for a team of Austrians abroad that was affiliated with the Berliner SV 92 .

In 1934 he emigrated to Palestine , where he took over the training of Maccabi Tel Aviv . In addition, he also looked after the national team of Palestine on the occasion of the second Maccabiade in 1935 and later in the context of qualifying for the soccer World Cup in 1938 , where they failed in two games against Greece . After an Australian tour with Maccabi in 1939, he stayed as a youth coach in Sydney for a year and then returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

In 1948 he took over again the Israeli national team, which played its first game after independence of the state, this was lost in New York with 1: 3 against the USA . Pollak then worked in youth work and as a sports journalist before moving to Germany in the 1970s .

successes

• 1 × Austrian champion : 1925
• 1 × Austrian second division champion: 1920
• 2 × Austrian Cup semi-finalist : 1920, 1923
• 1 game for the Austrian national soccer team