SAID THE SECRETARY OF DFC...
— López Chacón | 31/12/1924 —

At the Hotel España we had the pleasure of greeting Kurt Raudnitz, worthy director of DFC Prag and sports critic. After the essential introductions, we began our interrogation, which we will try to faithfully convey here.

Our first question was whether they found their stay in Barcelona pleasant, to which we were answered with a resounding and sincere "yes."

Kurt Raudnitz is of average height; a stature more Latin than German. His simple manner and his youth easily make us feel spontaneous sympathy towards him.

— Did you come with full force to Spain?

Raudnitz: Our team has come to Spain with all its starting players, although the inside right, Patek, who will play tomorrow, did not participate in Sunday's game.

— How do the championships work in your territory?

Raudnitz: The way our championship is played allows the existence of important clubs. There are, as you know, Hungarian, German, Austrian and Czechoslovak Federations. The championship, not yet settled, is currently led by Slavia, followed in order by Victoria Zizkov, Meteor VIII, S. C. A. F. C. and Sparta. Our serious opponent is the powerful eleven Teplitzer F. K. In our Federation we occupy first place.

— To what you attribute the Real Sociedad's defeat?

Raudnitz: The defeat of Real Sociedad de San Sebastián in our own country and field was due, more than anything, to the fact that DFC played that day as it has never played before. As for the San Sebastián eleven, I must tell you that they played a lot and well, although they became demoralized at the first opportunity. There is no way they are a team to score 11 goals against like we did...

— What are the impressiones of Spanish football in your country?

Raudnitz: Both in my country and abroad, Spanish victories are generally imputed to a certain amount of incorrect and hard play on the part of the player, something which made us momentarily uneasy; but when the match with Barcelona was over, our erroneous belief vanished in the face of the correct behaviour and manner of play of the Catalans. I must therefore congratulate myself on having, personally, discarded this prejudice that we had brought with us. We had also exaggerated and fantasised a lot about the crowd. We witnessed nothing but admiration and applause for the home team, but in a very clear sense, and without failing to applaud our own moves as well. So, both from the players and the crowd at Las Corts, we took away a very pleasant memory.

— Who are your best players?

Raudnitz: Our best players? I will hardly be able to answer you, because DFC is a homogeneous group in which no one stands out for his personal style of play; however, for my taste I think that this year the inside right Patek, Mahrer and Kuchrynka are in very good form.

— And in F.C. Barcelona?

Raudnitz: In the Barcelona there are some very notable elements, already known to me, among whom Samitier, Piera and Carulla stand out first of all. As for Piera, I can assure you that he is the best outside right we have seen.

— Do you think the Barcelona is superior to Real Sociedad?

Raudnitz: Undoubtedly. Although Real Sociedad de San Sebastián is an excellent team, I believe that Barcelona surpasses them in terms of finesse and control of the ball. All the teams form a splendid eleven that we consider difficult to beat; however, if we are not mistaken, we are going to try to beat them in our match tomorrow, Thursday, for which we will deploy all our greatest efforts.

— What were your general impressions?

Raudnitz: We have been "sugested" by Mr. Llovera's refereeing, so much so that of all the referees, Llovera is the one we liked the most. And let it be noted that we are not referring only to those from Spain, but to all those we have met, including in our nation. This has fulfilled the aspirations that we brought to Spain to find excellent referees. So I beg you to let the public know in the columns our complete satisfaction with the work of Llovera, whom we had to congratulate at the end of Sunday's match. Incidentally, in this respect and as far as the public is concerned, I am thinking of publishing in my usual newspapers a series of articles aimed at undoing the false concept that is held abroad of the Spanish public, players and on-field referees, since, in fairness, our brief tour has served to convince us of the exaggerated fantasies that are woven about you in foreign countries and even in our own country.

*

So much for the sincere statements of the DFC Prag secretary. We end our task by welcoming the fact that the lips of the representative of the Czech team are making the right appraisals of our sporting affairs, and we can only congratulate ourselves on the long-awaited and indispensable beginning of an era of reparations that we have the right to demand for the good name of Spanish sport.