Roland Shires

Roland Shires (* 1871 ) was a football player and referee born in England .

As a businessman based in Vienna, he played football and probably also cricket for the Vienna Cricket and Football Club there . After his company sent him to Budapest as a branch manager , he joined the MTK there.

As a referee, he appeared for the first time in a game between the cricketers and the Budapesti TC on March 25, 1898 on the WAC square in Vienna's Prater in front of 450 spectators, which the home team won 3-1. It was quite common at the time for players to act as referees.

He made history when he directed the city game between Vienna and Budapest on October 12, 1902, also on WAC-Platz, which the Austrians won 5-0 in front of 500 spectators. The game was later recognized as an international match, making it the first to be played on the European continent. Just three months earlier, on July 20, the first international match outside the British Isles took place in Montevideo, when Argentina beat their native Uruguayans 6-0 there.

He is listed in three other games of Vienna club teams against foreign visiting teams. So on March 27, 1903 in a game that SK Rapid Wien won 5-0 against FAK Sopron from Hungary, and on April 12 in a 4-1 defeat of the Cricketers against the German champions VfB Leipzig . On April 22nd, he whistled in a 7-2 defeat for First Vienna FC against Rangers FC from Glasgow.

In the first international match against Switzerland on April 8, 1901, Teddy Shires was a cricketer.

literature

• Lajos Gerhárd: A magyar sport pantheonja . I-II. és III-IV. kött, A magyar sport pantheonja Kiadóvállalat, 1932.
• László Rejtő, László Lukács, György Szepesi : Felejthetetlen 90 percek . Budapest Kiadó Vállalat, 1977, ISBN 963-253-529-4