CONVERSATION WITH ORTH
— Géza Lányi | 01/12/1925 —

At the Carlton Café I met Gyuri Orth, who is currently on a cinema tour in Slovenia. As a dutiful sports columnist, I was immediately thinking about the interview I was going to "commit" against Orth, but at the same time I remembered that I already had an interview match with Gyuri Orth once, two years ago, and then I took the short cut: I didn't get an interview. To this day, I still don't know why he avoided making a statement then, but I vowed to take thorough revenge for my failure two years ago. I gave him some truth myself, because I bothered him at the theater, where he went to have fun and not to give an interview.

I thought the meeting at the Carlton Café a suitable means of revenge, and I thought to carry it out by — interviewing him thoroughly. The questions I put to him were partly in accordance with my revenge, but on the other hand Orth — who had probably given more interviews in his life than Tchicherin or Mussolini — had already been questioned about everything, and I asked him about things he had not yet said in front of a journalist.

I can tell you now that I have succeeded in making amends for my latest failure, and I will not bore anyone with the details of the interview manoeuvre, except to say that I have cornered Gyuri Orth and "knocked him out" until the following statement.

Lányi: The situation of Hungarian football internationally, has it regressed in recent years?

Orth: The perception that Hungarian football is in decline or stagnating is wrong. The Hungarian football culture is still among the best in the world and every year the Hungarian humus produces its own great football talents, which are then picked up by foreign countries. What is certain is that the players at home do not represent the true strength of Hungarian football, but we must never overlook the fact that there are a whole host of top-class Hungarian players abroad. There are few truly top-class players at home because most of them have been forced abroad by the poor economic situation. Talented players from lower-tier teams are barred by the current transfer rule — which requires a one-year waiting period — from moving to the big teams, where they could develop their talents after proper training. Many of these then also migrate abroad, where their talent is lost. It is also certain that the skills of those back home are overestimated and, in the absence of an opportunity for comparison, they demand much more than they are capable of. Players of the calibre of Rumbold, Payer, Domonkos, Schlosser, Biró Gyuszi etc. are not at home today, at least not in the numbers they were back then.

Lányi: What would the Hungarian national team be like with the inclusion of foreigners?

Orth: As I mentioned, there are many excellent Hungarian players abroad who could not be ignored when a Hungarian national team is being assembled. I have no information about their current form and therefore I can't put together a positive team, but I have mentioned a few names who - in the right form - could be members of the Hungarian national team:

» Goalkeepers: Plattkó, Fehér, Fábián. 
» Half-backs: Guttmann, Viola, Bánás, Hajós, Obitz.
» Forwards: Schlosser, Hirzer, Schaffer, Konrád II., etc.

» The best thing, of course, would be for many Hungarian footballers living abroad to come home and create an atmosphere in Hungary where Hungarian football could once again shine in its former glory and could compete with the national teams of any nation.

Lányi: How do you imagine a national team made up of the best players in Europe?

Orth: I've been all over the world, I know the football teams of every nation. I know players who have big names, but when I've seen them play, they've had a bad day by chance, while others I've barely heard of have been in great form. It's very difficult to make a European squad after that, but the following players are among the best and, in my opinion, should be the first to be considered for such a selection:

» Goalkeepers: Zamora, Plattkó.

» Full-backs: Hojer, Blum, Caligaris, Tandler.

» Right half-backs: Kolenatý, Samitier. 
» Centre half-bcks: Káďa, Fridberg, Bánás.
» Left half-backs: Červený.

» Right wingers: Cutti, Bobor, Piera.
» Right inside forwards: Konrád II., Rydell, Rhode, Molnár, Gschweidl.
» Centre-forwards: Schaffer, Vaník, Harder, Szedlacsik.
» Left inside forwards: Schlosser, Dvořáček, Hirzer.
» Left wingers: Cevenini, Wesely.

Lányi: Tell us the football ranking of the continent's countries?

Orth: We need to set up three categories here. I put Hungary in the first category, in case I include our foreign players. The Czechs, Austrians, Spaniards and Danes are on a par with Hungarian football.

» In the second group I put the following: Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium.

» The third category includes Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania and France.