HOW CONTINENTAL FOOTBALL IS DEVELOPING
— 02/03/1927 —

For some considerable time there has been speculation as to the progress of Association football on the Continent, more especially with reference to Germany, and many different opinions have been expressed. On Monday there walked into the "Express" Office a man who was able to afford first-hand information on the subject, because he is engaged in the work of training the football enthusiasts over the Rhine. An old Burnley forward, he will perhaps be remembered by the seniors of the present-day supporters of Turf Moor — Jimmy Hogan, who played as inside right for Burnley from 1902-3. For the benefit of those of the younger generation who had not the chance to see "Jimmy", it may be stated that he is a native of Burnley, his mother living at 43. Todmorden-road. He commenced his career as a professional footballer with Nelson, after which he came to Burnley for a season. Fulham was his next club, and after Fulham he went to Swindon Town and Bolton Wanderers, with whom he finished his career in 1913. But in 1910 he had been to Holland for a short time to coach a team in Dordrecht, and he had also coached the Dutch international team. In the summer of 1912 he coached the Austrian Olympic team for the Olympic games at Stockholm.

When he had finished his first-class career in England, he went to Austria as a trainer, and was in Vienna when the war broke out as the trainer for the Austrian Football Association. In 1916 he was trainer for the Hungarian team M.T.K. (Hungarian Sporting Team). and he found himself training in Budapest. He returned to England after the war, and then went out to Switzerland, in Berne, and one year in French Switzerland, in Lausanne. At that time he coached the Swiss international team. From Switzerland he went back to Hungary to the famous M.T.K., but in July, 1926, he obtained the important post of trainer to the Central German F.A. He had several offers at that time, from Spain, Prague, Barcelona, Vienna, and several German clubs.

Hogan: If one accepts a post as a private trainer, however, they expect a championship the first year. But the work of an Association trainer is shown in improvements in different parts of the country.

» In Germany there are five smaller Football Associations, attached to a parent body, something like the County Association in England as compared with the F.A. The smaller bodies in Germany are known as the Central German F.A., the South German F.A. the South-East German F.A., the West German F.A., and the North German F.A.

» I joined the central body which is composed of 960 clubs with a playing membership of 130,000, all amateurs. My work consists of travelling all over Central Germany and giving instructions to schools of footballers at different towns. My programme is mapped out a fortnight in advance, and the students know when I am coming and arrange for a week's holiday. I generally stay a week in the various towns, the principal ones of which are Dresden, Leipsic, Halle, Magdeburg, Erfurt, and Plauen.

» My day's work consists of giving lessons in football positional play and tactics from 9—12 every morning. I illustrate my remarks at a blackboard, and the students take notes of what I say ready for the examination which I give them on Fridays. Every afternoon during the week I give practical demonstrations on the ground, and show them how to trap the ball, how to swerve, how to dribble, and all the other little items which go to make up a footballer. Then we will have a little side game, in which I referee, stopping the game when I see the students doing anything tactically wrong and explaining to the where their error lies. Very often I get somebody else to take the whistle, and I play with the team. All the students know something about the game when i get them in my hands, and I am there to teach them the finer points.

» The Germans were wise in realising that football was born in England, and that Englishmen were still its best exponents. The other countries, Hungary, for example, did not acknowledge the fact, and when countries like Italy and Spain wanted trainers they applied to Hungary for them, which was a mistake.

» Of course, I am not the only trainer out there. To my knowledge there are seven English trainers in Switzerland and 28 in Germany. Among those I can call to mind are Bash, formerly of Aston Villa, Lawrence and Booth, both old Newcastle United players, Spiksley, of Sheffield Wednesday, and Hanney, the former amateur international centre-half of England. The class of players who receive tuition from me is better, perhaps, than you would imagine. My pupils are nearly always composed of teachers, doctors, and bank clerks; they are mostly men in good positions.

» The best football in Germany is in the South, where Spiksley is training. The 'gates' at matches are quite good; in Munich, at a championship game, they will have anything up to 15,000 or 20,000 spectators. All matches are played on Sundays. In Central Germany we get the biggest crowds at Leipzig. Since I left England in 1913 I have either trainer or played football with teams from Stockholm to Algiers. In Africa I played in one game in the coaling town of Oran, where the British Consul entertained myself and the English centre-forward of the team to dinner at the British-American Club, where we had a good time.

Mr. Hogan is the proud possessor of an enormous collection of humorous and complimentary cartoons from German sporting papers, and these show to no small extent the respect which he has earned as a trainer in Germany. Since August 15th, 1926, he has given football lessons to no fewer than 13,500 players. Sometimes he adresses bi fewer than 200 or 300 at a time. Everybody in Germany receives him exceptionally well, and this he attributes to the good treatment meted out to German prisoners of war who were interned in England from 1914 to 1918. He has had perforce to learn the language.

Hogan: But I still speak German with a Lancashire accent.

Mr. Hogan's linguistic accomplishments are indeed a credit to his industry and he amused the staff at the "Express" with several funny stories of misunderstanding he had in the early days due to an imperfect knowledge of German. He now speaks German, Hungarian and French, not a bad accomplishment considering that he has only been out of England for 13 years.

He referred to the good impressions which the Bolton Wanderers left wherever they toured and said that they were the most popular of all the touring teams. The great drawback of German football, he said, was the fact that it was not taught in the schools. The teachers were older men who did not know football, and, for the sake of keeping their own jobs, tended to discourage its introduction. That spirit the trainers were having to fight. The Germans were a great nation of gymnasts and spent considerable time on physical exercises.

Mr. Hogan has trained international teams of five countries, Switzerland, Holland, Austria, Hungary, and Central Germany, and he contends that the best football on the Continent is to be found in Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. He expresses himself disappointed with Danish and Dutch football. Up to the war these nations gave promise of good things, but they have fallen off of recent years. Football had made wonderful profess in Italy and Spain and in the latter country he saw a player whom he considers to be the finest goalkeeper in the world.

Hogan: It was in Barcelona that I saw him. I am an Englishman and as such I contend that the best football is still here, but I can honestly say that Zamora, of Barcelona, is the finest goalkeeper alive. He is very agile and is far more popular than any bull-fighter. He earns a far better wage than any English footballer, and could not be tempted to leave the country, so if you are in need of a custodian it is no use looking his way. I am over here at the moment at the instigation of the Central German F.A., who have sent me home to see if I can pick up any new developments in the game in England. I am after a few "wrinkles" if you like. I saw one match last week, but there was nothing new in it as far as I could see.