ORTH'S MASTERFUL TREBLE
— István Novák | 1968 —

TThe two great bombers, Schaffer and Schlosser, were followed in the list of top scorers by a footballer who did not score as many goals as their glorious predecessors, but whose footballing skills were not only recognised by everyone in Hungary, regardless of club level, but who was and is still considered the greatest Hungarian footballer of all time. In January 1962, the whole sporting world was shocked to hear the news from Porto that György Orth, the former world-famous Hungarian footballer and later football coach, who had achieved great results, especially in South America, had died unexpectedly of a heart attack. At the same time, the members of a European football conference meeting at the time awarded him the title of Europe's best football player.

Orth was the three-time top scorer in Hungarian football. He started out at Grund, then moved from the youth team of Vasas in 1917 straight to the golden team of MTK. He made his MTK debut on 14 October in a 6-1 win against UTE. In the next championship game he was the other goal scorer alongside Schaffer, scoring 4 goals in his third game, then 2. He then scored 5-5 goals in succession in the 8-0 win against III. kerület and 17-0 win against MAV. It was an impressive debut at the top of the footballing world, and when he took the ball on the pitch, the tens of thousands of people in the crowd roared:


— Ooooorth... Ooooorth!


MTK won the title without defeat, with only one draw and a goal difference of 147:10. That goal difference has remained an undisputed record in the competition between the best teams ever since. The proud title of goalscoring champion was still decided by the goal duo of Schaffer and Schlosser, with Schaffer scoring 42 goals. Orth's time has not yet come, he will not fit into the Braun, Konrád II., Schaffer, Schlosser, Nagy J, forward line for the next championship year. It is precisely his exceptional playing ability that is demonstrated by his performances in the 1918-1919 championship, when he mostly excelled at right-back.

Life got off to a slow and difficult start in August 1919, in the days after the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. In the 31-1 August league opener, a new boy, György Orth, is in charge of MTK in the No. 9 jersey (Schaffer has stayed in Germany). The unprepared team beats BAK 2-0, but in the third round the golden team is already in action: they finish 12-2 against NSC, Orth scoring 5 goals. MTK are winning their matches almost in stride, only UTE managed to steal a point (1-1) and their big opponent FTC won 1:0 on Ullői út. In the end, MTK won the title with an impressive goal difference of 113:17 and a 10-point advantage, and Orth was the blue and white team's pillar in all 28 matches. On the scorers' list: Orth (MTK) 28 goals, Winkler (MTK) 24, Eisenhoffer (KAC) 19, Braun (MTK) 18, Priboj (UTE) 16, Schlosser (MTK) 16.

The same was the case in the next championship, 1920-1921. This time the ageing warrior Schlosser came second. It's also worth mentioning the MTK's goal difference that year, which was 82:9 in 24 games played. Top scorers in 1920-1921: Orth (MTK) 21 goals, Schlosser (MTK) 17, Nikolsburger (FTC) 16, Molnár (MTK) 15, Schwarcz (FTC) 15.

These were blue and white years in Hungarian football, in 1921-1922 MTK were again the champions (although they only managed to beat FTC by one point), and the tradition of MTK forwards topping the scoring charts is still alive and well. Once again, MTK had two on top, this time the two Gyuri (Orth and Molnár) finished on top. It was a varied battle between the two good friends. The battle was neck and neck for a long time. After an 11-0 scoreline against Zugló on 19 March 1922, Orth climbed up the scoring charts, but Orth played his last game on 7 May, and Molnár could have improved his scoring in the league games that lasted until 25 June. The last two games were 0-0 against VAC and UTE, and Molnár could not improve in the game against FTC. Let's just look at the finishers! The top scorers in 1921-1922: Orth (MTK) 26 goals, Molnár (MTK) 24, Priboj (UTE) 18, Pataki (FTC) 16, Schwarcz (FTC) 16.

This performance made Orth a three-time goalscoring champion. At the peak of his form he played in the 1924-1925 championship. True, that year, the other Gyuri, the blue-and-white forward Molnár, was the top scorer, Orth was only third on the goalscorer list, but he was among the best in the league and national team matches.

On 8 September 1925, MTK played in Vienna against Amateur (later F.K. Austria). In the 81st minute of the match, Orth made an unstoppable run at the Vienna goal when he was caught by full-back Tandler and kicked from behind. This kick broke the career of a great personality in Hungarian football in two. He recovered, but was never able to regain his old form for long. He spent two more seasons at Hungária (MTK), then tried his hand at Budai 11 and Bocskai in Debrecen, but Tandler's entry ruined everything... After three decades of wandering and coaching abroad, he was preparing to return home — to retire — in vain.

To say that he was a great footballer is like saying that Leonardo da Vinci painted — that's how someone praised his footballing art.


See also: István Novák: Following the goal scorers
See also: The forward line of MTK Aranycsapat
See also: Orth, the centre-forward