The Czech class
Wilhelm Schmieger | 11/06/1921

Lately one has been looking for reasons why the Czechs have a higher playing strength than our average in their top clubs. It is widely recognized that the Czechs play the better system today and that they survived the war far better than we did. Aside from the more favorable nutritional conditions, a reason for the strength of the Sparta and Slavia teams that should not be underestimated seems to rest in a certain looseness of the organization of the Czech football business. The Czechs consider the playing power of their representative clubs to be a national matter of honor and no restrictive regulations prevent the transfer of young talents from the small to the big clubs. For example, a new striker recently played in the championship match against Sparta, for Slavia, who had belonged to a Czech club in Brno a few days earlier. Our organization protects the little ones much more. Player transfers are extremely difficult and so the great talents, which we are sure to have in large numbers, stay where they are and do not come to light when they are first class. The good players are spread across many more clubs. We are far from wanting to speak out for the Czech system, we just state that they are much more likely to achieve top performances than we are.