From Belfast with love
The renaissance of a unique relationship: On this, the occasion of the English Language Day, Stephen Henderson, Chairman of Glentoran Football Club, surprised us with a special message.
Glentoran Football Club, also known as Glentoran Belfast, is one of the oldest clubs in Northern Ireland. In 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, a tournament organized by the First Vienna Football Club formed in1894.
At that time, the Belfast club played twice on the old Hohe Warte stadium against a Vienna city selection, Vienna Select XI, over the Pentecost holidays 1914. The Vienna team consisted of players from First Vienna, FAC, Hertha Vienna, 1. Simmeringer Sport-Club and Sports-Club Rudolfshügel.
The first game on May 27, 1914 finished in a 1-1-draw. The second game was won by Glentoran 5-0 a few days later.
For the Northern Irish side, the Vienna Cup is considered as the first recognized European trophy won on foreign soil by a British club, as the tournament was held under the auspices of the Austro-Hungarian Football Association. In fact, it was the first trip Glentoran had ever undertaken to mainland Europe. The tour led Glentoran through several European cities, including Prague, Berlin, Bratislava, and Budapest, but for the most part the side was based at the Hotel Continental in Vienna.
The cup remains to this day, the most important artefact in Glentoran trophy cabinet - even though the Belfast club has won the league championship 23 times and the Irish Cup 22 times. The trophy takes pride of place in the boardroom of the Northern Irish club.
It was the only artefact to have survived the destruction of the stadium during the second World War.
It was only at the end of February, that none other than FIFA President Gianni Infantino Glentoran visited Belfast and recognized the great importance of the Vienna Cup.
Through the mediation of our club historian Alexander Juraske, author of "Blau Gelb ist mein Herz", Blue-Yellow is my heart, First Vienna Football Club 1894 has re-connected with the traditional Northern Irish club. And lo and behold – the century old friendship has re-ignited again immediately.
Glentoran was founded in 1882 and is one of the most successful clubs in Northern Ireland. Almost all of their players who travelled to play in Vienna in1914 worked in the Belfast shipyard. Many in turn would have worked on the world’s most famous ship RMS Titanic three years previously.
The club won the championship for the first time in 1894, the year First Vienna Football Club 1894 was founded.
April 23 is English Language Day. The United Nations launched this day to celebrate the English language.
https://www.un.org/en/observances/english-language-day
The following is Stephen Henderson's original message.
