The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History. - The Footballer who Defied the Nazis? The Myth of Matthias Sindelar, and the Myth of Austrian Victimhood

The Footballer who Defied the Nazis? The Myth of Matthias Sindelar, and the Myth of Austrian Victimhood

10/16/23 • 81 min

The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History.

Matthias Sindelar was, and is, the most famous Austrian footballer between World Wars 1 and 2. Known for his elegant style of play during a period when Austrian soccer was admired as an innovative model, he defined Austria’s national team, known as the "miracle team," and his club, Austria Vienna. Austria joined Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945. And when it arose as an independent nation again, Sindelar's legacy was more than that of a footballer: he became a myth - the elegant Austrian who defied the Nazis. This version of Sindelar has reached a wide international audience, from Italian graphic novels and Latin American books to articles in well-known English-speaking newspapers, complete with the story of how Sindelar celebrated a goal “by dancing in front of a directors' box packed with high-ranking Nazis."

Until recently, no historian has attempted to probe these stories. The story of the elegant footballer who defied the Nazis was too endearing for antifascist football fans worldwide - and for Austrians, who wanted to see themselves as victims of the Nazis.

As far as the international, English-speaking discussion is concerned, this episode is a first. David Forster, a historian from Vienna, has published research in German into Sindelar’s life and death that offers a pathbreaking counter-narrative to the story of Sindelar, the resister, and Austria, the victim. We will journey from 1903 to 1938, but ask many hard questions of today along the way, about truth, about the nature of history, about collective forgetfulness, and about our responsibility as fans of and storytellers about the beautiful game today.
HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
David Forster, Georg Spitaler, Jakob Rosenberg, "Fussball unterm Hakenkreuz in der Ostmark" (book, website in German)

David Forster, Viennese Football and the German Wehrmacht (academic article in English, via JSTOR)
WBUR Radio, “Dancing Before The Nazis: A Soccer Star's (Supposed) Act Of Defiance” (Interview with Georg Spitaler)
Matthias Sindelar - the Footballer Who Defied the Nazis (popular YouTube video that tells the heroic story of Sindelar)
"The P

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Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind
Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/

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Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
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Previous Episode

The Shirt: A Material History of Soccer, from Rags to Fashion and Cotton to Polyester

Soccer jerseys, kits, football shirts - whatever the name, there is no shortage of opinions about them. Pretty or ugly, traditional or not, brands, costs, sponsors; whether to own only those we have connections to, or buy them for style, or collect them...
We’ll cut through all that today, with the help of Alex Ireland, author of the very recently published book Pretty Poly: The History of the Football Shirt. This episode is a short material history of the beautiful game - through the lens of various fabrics, in various colors, we’ll trace football from the beginnings to today.
For a little table of contents, here is what we talked about: 1. the origins: why did teams start to wear the same jerseys anyways, when did colors come in? 2. crests, badges, numbers etc. - what stories do they tell? 3. fabrics, especially the switch from cotton to various plastics, and the opportunities that opened up. And 4., today’s landscape: brands, internationalization, TV, the collector market. All with plenty of concrete examples along the way. Get dressed! And please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE.
HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

Alex Ireland, Pretty Poly: The History of the Football Shirt (Pitch Publishing, 2023)

Alex Ireland on X/Twitter

John Devlin, True Colors - books and website

Football Kit Archive

TSV Hartberg shirt (yes, it says that)

MUSIC SNIPPETS FROM THIS EPISODE:

Donovan - I Love My Shirt (YouTube)

Oasis - The Girl in the Dirty Shirt (YouTube)

Ken Dodd and the Diddymen - Where’s My Shirt (YouTube)

Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Green Shirt (YouTube)

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Next Episode

Cooler Little Sisters: The Graz Derby in Austria, Sturm vs. GAK

On Thursday, November 2nd, the second largest city of Austria, Graz, will see its second soccer derby in the last 16 years, in the Austrian cup tournament. Sturm Graz, currently leaders of the Austrian Bundesliga and Europa League starters, face GAK (Graz Athletic Sports Club), the city's oldest club, its first one to win a national title, and currently on the verge of returning to the 1st tier.

This episode hits close to home: 20 years ago, in elementary school, I attended my first Sturm Graz game. Sturm was fighting relegation that season. My dad, a life long fan, took me. I went in as a neutral, and went out mesmerized - not only by the game, but even more so by what went on in the stands, the sights, the smells, the language and the social and cultural prism in the old, crammed Sturm ground. Last Fall, the first derby in 15 years was on, again in the cup. I was in Austria at the time, and gathered at Sturm’s old ground before the game, with thousands of fellow supporters and one of today's guests. You can find some photos here. (We won the actual derby 1-0 )

Two guests will help me walk through the history of both clubs, especially the drama and bankruptcies of the last 20 years, the culture and vibe that each club has, the rivalry, and also what they share in common. Fabio Schaupp is a soccer professional. A lifelong GAK fan and former player, he is currently the sporting director of Austrian 3rd league team FC Weiz. Peter K. Wagner is the chief editor of Graz’s street newspaper, the Megaphon, also a football journalist, and a lifelong fan of Sturm. Together, they produce a wonderful and funny and insightful weekly podcast on the vibe of the Austrian 1st league.
HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Graz Derby 2022, fans in action (Youtube)
Sturm Fans compilation (Youtube)
GAK Fans in the 3rd league (Youtube)
Graz Derby statistics, German Wikipedia
Graz Tourism: book your soccer vacation now ;)

The Guardian (2016), “Why Avant Garde Graz is Vienna’s Cooler Little

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Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.