1. "Znamya Truda" (Orekhovo-Zuevo)
One of the oldest football clubs in Russia, founded on November 16, 1909 by workers of the manufactory from Morozovsk. He became the champion of Moscow 4 times in a row (1910-1913). Changed its name 9 times. The best achievement was the passage to the USSR Cup final in 1962. since 2007 he has been playing in the second division - first in the "Center" zone, and now in the "West" zone and has not yet risen above 12th place there.
2. CSKA (Moscow)
Founded on August 27, 1911 as a society of ski lovers. 7 times changed its name. It became known as CSKA only in 1960. Since Soviet times, he has become 13 times the champion, 12 times the owner of the national cup, won the UEFA Cup and took the Russian Super Cup 6 times. CSKA became the first Russian club to keep the originals of all trophies. Over the past 16 seasons, he has not dropped below fifth place in the championship.
3. FC Kolomna
Football club "Kolomna" from the town of the same name was founded back in 1906 as a gymnastic society at an engineering plant. In general, initially such a team did not exist, but in 1997 the government of Kolomna decided to unite two football clubs - Avangard, founded in 1906 and Oka, created in 1923. In the modern history of the club, no particular success has been observed. Kolomna spent only 3 seasons in the West zone of the second division and never rose above 13th place.
4. "Chernomorets" (Novorossiysk)
The football club from Novorossiysk with an unremarkable emblem is also one of the oldest in Russia. It dates back to 1907. During this time, it changed its name 9 times. The first performance in the USSR championship dates back to 1960. In 1988 he became the champion and owner of the RSFSR Cup. He played 8 times in the Championship of Russia, where he took 6th place 2 times. Since 2012, he has been playing in the South zone of the second division and is fighting well to get into the FNL.
5. Zenit (Penza)
Penza football club next year will celebrate a round date - 100 years. Has many achievements, but, however, within the framework of its region. It changed its name as many as 15 times (for 12 years it was even called "Spartak"). The club has never played in the top league of the country and did not advance in the cup beyond the 1/32 stage. For the last 7 years he has been playing in the Center zone of the second division and is playing very unpredictably - he occupied both fifth and fourteenth places. In the ended season, he stopped at the 11th line of the standings.
What was the very first football club in Russia that now exists? It seems that football statisticians, passionate football fans and ordinary fans sometimes seriously asked this question, perhaps coming to different conclusions. This time we also studied this topic, identifying the three most worthy candidates.
Kolomna - founded in 1906 (108 years old)
FC Kolomna from the city of the same name in the Moscow region, currently playing in the West zone of the second division of the PFL, is de facto the oldest existing professional and even amateur football clubs in Russia.
The history of Kolomna football began in 1906, when the first football team was created at the Struve brothers' machine-building plant (hereinafter referred to as) - KGO, “Kolomna Gymnastics Society”.
Even in the pre-revolutionary period, the team was admitted to the Moscow Football League (IFL) and the Football League of Summer Clubs (FLDC). In 1911, the Kolomna Football League (CFL) appeared in the city.
And after the revolution, in 1923, the Kolomna team took part in the first USSR championship, held in Moscow as part of the first all-Union holiday of physical culture. In it, the Kolomentians reached the semifinals, being in the four strongest teams in the country.
In the post-war years, Kolomna was first represented in the All-Union arena in 1948 by the Dzerzhinets team. The "steam locomotives" spent two seasons in the second group, occupying respectively ninth and tenth places among 14 participants. Then "Dzerzhinets" played for 11 years only in the championships of the Moscow region and his society.
But in 1960, the team of the Avangard diesel locomotive plant returned to the all-Union level, where it spent eight seasons in class B (from 1960 to 1969 with a break in 1961/1962). The best performance during this period was fourth place in 1964.
After the reform of the football economy of the USSR in 1970 (when class B was eliminated), "diesel locomotives" lost their place in all-Union competitions. The team again began to play for the championship of the Moscow region in the highest group, but soon dropped to the second.
At this time, the team of the Oka Heavy Machine Tool Plant (ZTS), founded in 1923, took the leading positions in the city. Throughout its history, "machine tool builders" have become five-time champions of the Moscow region and five-time regional Cup winners.
In 1988, "Oka" became the winner of the zonal tournament of the championship of physical culture teams (KFK) and 20 years later returned big football to the city, making its debut in the second union league in 1989.
And in 1990, a revival began. The confrontation between the two Kolomna teams led to the fact that in the first Russian championship in 1992, both clubs started in the same zone of the second league and finished next door (in eighth and ninth positions). In four more Russian championships Kolomna was represented by both of these teams, and the best result of the performances was the second place of Avangard in the fourth zone in 1993.
Before the start of the 1997 season, the Kolomna municipal football club was created in Kolomna, which united Avangard and Oka. And before the start of the 1998 season, FC Kolomna teamed up with the Voskresensk Gigant team, the 1997 Russian champion among amateurs.
Kolomna's last major achievement came in 1999, when it finished second in the Center zone of the second division. This was followed by the decline of the team: in 2000 - 12th place; in 2001 - the penultimate 19th place (she was supposed to leave professional football, but by the decision of the PFL she was left in the "Center" zone); in 2002 - 18th place out of 20 (the club lost its place in the second division and was forced to play in the amateur championship).
The club spent 10 seasons in the third division, where the best result was sixth place (2008 and 2011/12) and reaching the final of the Moscow Region Cup (2011/12 and 2012). However, in 2012, in the Moscow Region LFL zone, Kolomna took first place in a one-round tournament and, according to a sporting principle, returned to the second division, where in the 2013/14 season in the West zone it took 13th place out of 17.
History of name changes: 1906-1919 - KGO (Kolomna Gymnastics Society), 1919-1923 - Golutvinskaya SFK (Physical Culture Section), 1923-1936 - KFK (Physical Culture Circle), 1936-1942 - "Dzerzhinets", 1942-1945 - "Tractor" , 1945-1952 - "Dzerzhinets", 1953-1993 - "Avangard", 1993 - "Victor-Avangard", 1994-1997 - "Avangard-Cortek", since 1997 - FC "Kolomna".
Highest achievements: third place in the USSR Championship (1923), 1/32 finals of the USSR Cup (1936), 1/2 finals of the RSFSR Cup (1990), second place in the zone of the second league / division (1993 and 1999), 1/16 finals of the Russian Cup (1992/93), winner of the Moscow Region amateur zone of the third division (2012), finalist of the Moscow Region Cup (2011/2012 and 2012).
"Chernomorets" Novorossiysk - 1907/1960 years of foundation (107 years / 54 years)
It is also one of the oldest Russian football clubs: it was originally founded in the port city in 1907, disbanded in 1917 and restored in 1960. From then until 1978 he played in class B of the USSR championship, and until the collapse of the USSR he continued to play in the second league.
The main heyday of the club from the city of Novorossiysk began in the post-Soviet period. During the formation of the first Russian championship, the team got the opportunity to play in the first league, where it became the winner of the western zone at the end of the second season, but could not enter the top three in the transitional tournament.
In 1994, the Novorossiysk team again became the triumphants of the unified first league and won the right to play in the elite of Russian football. In the top division Chornomorets played continuously until 2001. Twice he managed to get into the top six, which allowed the club to debut in European competitions.
However, already in the first round of the 2001/02 Cup, the “sailors” lost both times to the Spanish “Valencia” (0: 1 at home and 0: 5 away). In the 2001 Russian Championship, they also played unsuccessfully, ending the season in last 16th place.
The following year, Chornomorets won the first division tournament again, and in the 2003 season it again could not stay in the Premier League, but reached the final of the RFPL Cup. In 2005, after a difficult season in the first division, the club lost its professional license.
Renamed FC Novorossiysk, he played in the amateur league, where he won in the South zone, and then in the final tournament and moved up to the South zone of the second division. Since then, Novorossiysk people have been unable to get rid of the status of an elevator team.
So, in 2007, Chornomorets took first place there and returned to the first division, from where they dropped out again in 2009. In 2010, the club secured a return to the top ahead of schedule, and also won the PFL Cup among the winners of the second division zones. However, in the 2011/12 season, he again could not resist in the FNL.
In the offseason, the team was headed by the famous and the most successful coach in its history, who managed to create a new team, which at the end of the 2012/13 season only by additional indicators (with equal points) yielded leadership in the South zone to Angusht Nazran.
In the previous championship-2013/14, Chornomorets remained on the second line of the standings after Volgar Astrakhan. Well, this season, the "sailors" are seen as the main favorites of the southern zone, divided into two groups after the inclusion of three Crimean clubs.
History of name changes: 1907-1930 - Olympia, 1931-1941 - Dynamo, 1945-1957 - Builder, 1960-1969 and 1978-1991 - Cement, 1970 - Trud, 1992-1993 - Hekris , 1993-2004 and since 2006 - "Chernomorets", 2005 - "Novorossiysk".
Highest achievements: champion of the RSFSR (1988), winner of the RSFSR Cup (1988), winner of the zones of the second union league (1969, 1988 and 1989), 1/16 finals of the USSR Cup (1989/90 and 1991/92), sixth place in the major league / division (1997 and 2000), 1/4 finals of the Russian Cup (1993/94), finalist of the Premier League Cup (2003), 1/64 finals of the UEFA Cup (2001/02), winner of the first league (1993, in the western zone and 1994) ), second (2002, advancement to the top division) and third (1992, in the western zone) places in the first division / league, PFL Cup winner (2010), winner (2007 and 2010), second (2012/13 and 2013/14 ) and third (2006) place in the South zone of the second division, champion of the LFL and the South zone (2005).
"Banner of Labor" - founded in 1909 (105 years)
The team from the city of Orekhovo-Zuev, Moscow Region, for many years was officially considered the oldest football club in Russia, at least not an amateur one.
The first football match took place in the city at all in 1888. According to researcher Vladimir Lizunov, this date is based on the memoirs of the director of the Morozov factory - Englishman Harry Garsfield (Andrey Vasilyevich) Charnock, who invited foreign specialists who can play football to work in Russia.
And in 1909, on the initiative of the Charnock brothers, the workers of the Morozov manufactory officially created and registered the charter of the Orekhovo Sports Club (KSO), which is why the team later received the nickname "Morozovtsy". Before the 1917 revolution, adult and children's football leagues were organized in Orekhovo.
At the same time, KSO was the first and subsequently four-time winner of the Moscow Football League. In Soviet times, Znamya Truda shone with the fact that in 1962 it reached the final of the USSR Cup, in which, however, it lost to Donetsk Shakhtar with a score of 0: 2.
In the Russian championships, the team from Orekhovo-Zuev twice made it to the first league / division, but failed to gain a foothold there for more than one year. And after the 2003 season, the club lost its professional status for four years. In 2007, the team returned to the Center zone of the second division, and from the 2011/12 season began to play in the West zone.
History of name changes: 1909-1935 - KSO (Sports Club "Orekhovo") "Morozovtsy", TsPKFK (Central Proletarian Club of Physical Culture), "Orekhovo-Zuevo", "Krasnoe Orekhovo", "Krasny Tekstilshchik", 1936-1937 - "Red Banner" , 1938-1945 - "Star", 1946-1957 - "Red Banner", 1958-1991 and from 2003 - "Banner of Labor", 1992 (up to the 12th round) - "Sly Foxes", 1993-1996 - "Orekhovo ", 1997-2002 -" Spartak-Orekhovo ".
Highest achievements: champion of Moscow (1910, 1911, 1912 and 1913), finalist of the USSR Cup (1962), winner of the zone of the second league / division (1992 and 1998), winner of the third division (1996 and 2006 in the amateur zone "Moscow Region").
Finally, it should be added that the most "elderly" Moscow club is considered to be CSKA, which dates back to 1911, that is, the moment of the formation of the Society of Ski Lovers (OLLS).
12 years later, the society was reformatted into the Vsevobuch Experimental Demonstration Site (OPPV), in 1928 the team became known as CDKA (Central House of the Red Army), in 1951 - CDSA (the same, but already Soviet), in 1957 - CSK MO (Central Sports Club), and finally, since 1960 - the Central Sports Club of the Army.
In St. Petersburg, the oldest football club is Dynamo, founded in 1922 (by the way, a year earlier than the Moscow one), even despite several renames (to Trudovye Rezervy in the 1950s or Petrotrest in the 2000s) or the same disbandment of the team (in 1953, 1999, in 2003 and 2010).
And, according to the official version of the club, it appeared only in 1925, and initially under the name "Stalinist" (then he defended the honor of the Stalin Metal Plant in the city of Leningrad), which he wore until 1940.
Other news, materials and statistics can be viewed on the Russian Football Championship.
Football was brought to our country by the British along with the Blackburn Rovers uniform.
RIA Novosti visited the town of Orekhovo-Zuevo near Moscow and learned how the club's footballers fight in the Professional Football League, not forgetting about their British roots.
A separate village was built for the British
Football came to Russia at the end of the 19th century. It is generally accepted that the first official game took place in St. Petersburg, but this is not entirely true. It is true that in 1897 a match took place in which the "Sport" team lost to the "Vasileostrovskiy Society of Football Players" with a score of 0: 6. But 10 years before that, they had already played in Orekhovo near Moscow (the union with the village of Zuevo will take place after the October Revolution in 1917). The British brought new fun for the local residents, who were workers at a manufactory for a major philanthropist.
In order to learn more about the history of the oldest club, I went to the local history museum in Orekhovo-Zuevo itself, where the workers explained how a whole English quarter appeared a hundred kilometers from Moscow.
"In 1840 England lifted the embargo on the use of textile equipment," says the guide Olga Krasnova. from England, who brought an interesting and unknown game. "
The English specialists lived comfortably, with all amenities and behind high fences. For them, a village was built, which is popularly called the "Englishwoman". The houses stood for a very long time, the last one, according to Krasnova's recollections, burned down in 2006. There was a tuberculosis center there.
The British gradually began to form teams, in which at first only their own, and then local Russian workers were invited. By the way, the Old Believers did not take the game seriously: football was something unusual for them, but over time, public opinion changed.
Through the efforts of the Charnok brothers, the first professional football team, the Orekhovo Sports Club, was created in 1909. Harry Charnock, who always introduced himself as Andrei Vasilyevich in the Russian manner and headed a small Morozov factory, became chairman and then president of the new team, his brother Clement was a member of the Moscow Football League committee.
The Znamya Truda stadium, like the football club, is the oldest currently operating stadium in the country. It was here that the current general director of the club, Igor Mayorov, brought me.
"There were wooden stands, a wooden undressing room. On the eastern stand there was such a symbolic cannon, and it fired with blue ribbons. Father read a prayer, and the stadium was opened," Mayorov says to the sound of a hammer and a drill. The fact is that the arena is now undergoing reconstruction.
The construction of the first stadium in Tsarist Russia began after 1912. The opening took place two years later: on April 7, 1914, the Orekhovskaya team hosted the student team of the University of London.
"Do I understand correctly that the blue ribbons from that cannon were in honor of Blackburn Rovers?" I ask.
Yes, - Mayorov answers. - Employees were invited from there, that's why there were such colors.
- Now the team is playing some home games in blue?
Harry and Clement Charnocky were fans of this particular English club. Blue T-shirts were ordered from Britain. However, the shorts were ordered to be sewn by the players themselves. True, no one has indicated what size they should be. Some footballers took to the field in shorts almost to the ankles.
One of the first legionnaires in Russian football wanted to overthrow the Soviet regime
The British were here over 100 years ago. Now, if Znamya Truda wants to acquire legionnaires, according to the PFL regulations, this will not work. But in the summer, the founders of football could still be here: the oldest of the existing clubs in the world, English “Sheffield” organized a tour in Russia.
Initially, the Orekhovo-Zuevskaya team was one of the participants in the mini-tournament, the gendir even made an agreement with the hotel and allocated a bus for the brothers in history, but at the last moment Sheffield stopped communicating and preferred to play with the amateur team in Ramenskoye.
Continuing the conversation about ties with Blackburn, Mayorov said that he would not mind finding contact with the leaders of Rovers. Later I made a request to the British club. You never know, they could have supplemented the history of the appearance of football in Russia with some other interesting fact, but I never received an answer.
A week after my visit to Orekhovo-Zuevo, I contacted Sergei Bondar, a former footballer and coach of Znamya Truda, now he works as the sports director of the FNL. According to the players, Bondar is an expert on the history of Orekhovskoy football.
“This is an industrial region where teams were formed at every factory. Even the Communist Party had its own team. Morozov's strike a little earlier. People were not very willing to play, because (there was) a massive crowd of people, "Bondar shared his story.
In addition to the communist team, an English spy also played in Orekhovo. Robert Lockhart was considered one of the best CSR players. True, a year later, when the First World War began, many Englishmen either left for their homeland or went to the front. Lockhart remained, and later it turned out that he had prepared a conspiracy against Soviet power, revealed in August 1918 by the Cheka.
"Lockhart is a military attaché who played in Orekhovo-Zuevo. He was a fairly good footballer. Robert was the brother of the England football player, which won the Olympic Games (1912 - ed.), So he used this surname," Sergei said. "At the same time, he was an intelligence officer. He collected information. This is how we had the first legionnaires in Russia (laughs). Subsequently, he was one of the most important participants in the conspiracy of diplomats."
"I wanted to kill Lenin and establish a dictatorship in Moscow. This is a serious event (laughs). I wrote later in my memoirs," the ex-trainer added.
Football players live in the stadium - and that's good
Despite the low attendance of Znamia Truda in the PFL (about 300-400 people per match), the club has a fan movement. One of the founders of the "Meeting of Workers" Pavel Korolyov explained who supports the team.
We have such a movement of the working class, as it should be for the "Banner of Labor". People of age, family and mostly from working niches. Yes, there are no such sold-out 30-thousandths, but there is also a romance of its own. And how I would also root for Lokomotiv since childhood, but at some point I realized that it is even more interesting for myself here. And the boys-football players are chopped on the field, because they don't get millions, - he reflected.
- Tell us, are your performances somehow connected with the history of the club?
It hasn’t come to that yet. The traffic is not that big, there are not so many participants. Here it is not even possible to always go to the exit, you have to take the bus, nevertheless, it is unprofitable for the money.
- Do you have a banner with the English flag and the club emblem?
There are British roots, of course, with Blackburn. We want to embody this too, maybe to make some kind of friendship.
This season Znamya Truda plays at the Torpedo reserve stadium. There is also the office of the general director, the accounting department is located and ... football players live. Small rooms for two and four people.
“Football players live in the stadium - and that's good. There are cars where you can wash, there is a canteen where they are fed. This is not the worst option. You can play and achieve results,” says head coach Anatol Kertoaca.
The coach himself lives separately in the hotel, but the players have no questions about the accommodation. All points are discussed before signing the contract. "When they came, they agreed to such conditions, they knew everything. Before inviting, I explain everything to them: what will be the food, what will be the salary. Three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. An agreement has been signed with the canteen near the station, we go there, "added Kertoake.
They received 19 thousand from us, they offered 70
The question of money in the second league is acute. Players get no more than supermarket sellers, and some get less. But the gendir and the coach are against the players to earn extra money after training.
I will react negatively to this, to be honest, - the coach answers the question about the additional earnings of the players. - First of all, he is a football player. This is a professional club. I also have one job and he has one. He must give himself completely to her. He will be scattered, there can be no talk about this. You need to develop yourself, and, please, you will be invited to another club, and the salary there will be higher.
- What place does Znamya Truda take in the PFL in terms of salaries?
I will not be mistaken, probably, if I say that the first place is from the end. The guys who played last year got noticed (by other clubs). They paid attention to the team, and then they began to invite them separately.
- Did the footballers ask to let them go?
I understand them. They came up to me: "Vasilich, everything suits us here, but if the salary were a little more ... We would have stayed." They did not name exorbitant prices, such were the conversations. If they received 19 thousand from us, they were offered 70. Is there a difference? One received 26 from us, and he was offered 50. There is a twofold difference, they went there, and that's it. We could not keep them in any way.
The goalkeeper and team captain Vitaly Chilyushkin is one of those who have an income outside the club. He is a coach at a children's school.
- Where can a second league footballer go on vacation?
It depends on the player whether he has a family and children. It's hard to put something off somewhere. And if a young man lives at the base, we have food here. You can save almost your entire salary. My family and I fly to Turkey in November for the third year in a row. Turkey in November and Turkey in summer are completely different price categories.
- If there is enough for Turkey, that's good.
And this despite the fact that my wife works.
- Sorry for the question, which of you earns more?
- (Laughs) My wife, by the way, makes good money for Orekhovo-Zuevo, but since I have two jobs, I still succeed better.
"On the right there were live players, on the right - dead. They all smiled."
On May 27, 2004 "Znamya Truda" went to the next championship game (then the team played in the amateur league - ed.). I had to go to the town of Shchelkovo near Moscow, where the match was to begin at 17 o'clock. At about 15:00, the team's bus had an accident that killed nine players and club employees.
Bus of FC "Znamya Truda". Archive photo
At the site of the accident, the road has now been widened, so there is no memorial plaque left there. There is a monument in the city - a soccer ball and a temple in memory of the dead football players.
“The guys played here, and there was such a terrible tragedy. They were buried right from here (from the stadium). There were nine coffins here. Then they were transported to the cemeteries. The memory should be here. No need to bring people to the track, where there will be another accident. we were leaving, the bus is on the road, "Mayorov said.
Andrey Shagarov, one of the survivors of that terrible accident, agreed to tell me about what happened 15 years ago. Now he works as a coach at a children's school in Kurovsky (Orekhovo-Zuevo). He also enjoys painting and paints in his spare time.
On May 27, on a sunny day, we drove off in Pazik. You know, I'll tell you this - there is a God. He ordered that someone was taken away, and someone was left alive. Dimka Svitavsky, a Tambov boy (then 21 years old), now he is disabled. He had nine cerebral hemorrhages after the accident. The day before the accident, he was called back to "Tambov", I told him: "Of course, we have to go, they are interested in you, what are you going to do here." Days passed, went with us on the bus. Pashka Sukhov, late team captain. He was offered to go to the game in the car, but he refused - I would sit with the team.
According to the official version, a container ship with a cargo of chemicals was moving towards Nizhny Novgorod, a football team bus was driving towards them. One of the traffic participants cut off the truck, after which the truck found itself in the oncoming lane, where a collision with the bus occurred.
© Photo: Regional newspaper "Orekhovo-Zuevskaya Pravda".Bus of FC "Znamya Truda". Archive photo
© Photo: Regional newspaper "Orekhovo-Zuevskaya Pravda".
Just a century ago, the now popular football was far from the most famous sport. At least in Russia, it was only at the beginning of the 20th century that he made his way, and, surprisingly, became a reality both as a sport for the "upper circles" of society, and as entertainment for the proletarians - the so-called "wild" football.
You can learn how different classes perceived football in different ways and how the British diaspora in Russia played it, from the book by Sergei Arkadiev "Another football is possible." VATNIKSTAN publishes an excerpt from his work, published last year by Pulp Fiction.
“Kashnin showed football. Playing the ball with your feet. We split into two camps. Each camp had a gate. At the gate of the watchman. The essence of the game: to break through with the ball into the opponent's goal. And do not touch the ball with your hands at all. But the temptation is to grab the ball, throw it and win! But this is impossible! "
(Newspaper "Otkliki Kavkaza", Armavir, No. 5, October 3, 1909)
Today we can only guess when they first started playing football on the territory of modern Russia. The Russian Football Union uses October 24, 1897 as a starting point - the day when the match between the teams of the Vasileostrovsky Society of Football Players and the Circle of Sports Fans took place in St. Petersburg. The meeting came to the attention of the press of that time. A special zest was given to it by the fact that the composition of the Vasileostrovites, who won with a score of 6–0, consisted entirely of the British, while the Russians also played in the KLS (or simply - “Sport”).
Overseas fun
Europeans, especially the British, played leading roles in Russian football in the next decade. In the first unofficial Cup tournament of St. Petersburg, held in 1901, the English and Scottish teams fought in the final. In Moscow, the British Sports Club, which did not know defeat, dominated. Its chairman was the director of the stearic plant in Lefortovo Godfrey, and only British subjects were taken as participants, and there was no end to them. By 1910, the club numbered as many as 180.
Young Russian capitalism needed energetic foreign managers. The directors of the newly opened enterprises were occupied by guests from Western Europe. Together with them came specialists, engineers, accountants, clerks who served at the same enterprises, and after work played football, a popular game in their homeland.
Match between the national teams of St. Petersburg and Stockholm. St. Petersburg, April-May 1913
They say that a certain magazine "Samokat" wrote about such games of the colonists back in 1868. Nikolai Travkin in his "Anthology of Football of the Russian Empire" refers to the "Yearbook of the All-Russian Football Union for 1912", which said that in 1878 in Odessa matches were held between the team of the Odessa British Athletic Club with the teams of British ships, port officials and Romanian club "Galati". In 1879, the Charter and Rules of the English St. Petersburg Football Club were published. Mentions about "respectable-looking" Englishmen who played football on the field near the machine-building plant "V.Ya. Gopper and Co ”, are found in the Moscow press for 1895. But all these were publications from the series "their morals". English and German colonists lived separately in Russia, and therefore the game remained popular only in their circles.
The fourth, after Moscow, St. Petersburg and Odessa, the center of the origin of football in Russia was the village of Orekhovo and its environs (the territory of the modern city of Orekhovo-Zuevo), which at the end of the 19th century belonged to the Vladimir province. In a village with strong Old Believer traditions, manufactories of the Morozov family were opened. The business manager - Englishman James Charnock, a former member of FC Blackburn Rovers, and his brother Harry tried to organize a football club in Orekhovo back in 1887. However, the Orekhovo sports club was officially formed much later - in 1908. By that time, there were already several dozen registered teams in Russia. Football was played in Kherson, Nikolaev, Kharkov, Riga, Tver, Saratov, Astrakhan, Blagoveshchensk and Port Arthur.
The first steps
The first journalistic review of a football match, as mentioned above, was published in the capital's press in 1897. The author of "Petersburg newspaper", justifying the Russian players, wrote that their rivals - the English team "Vasileostrovtsy" - have been playing together for 6 years. At the turn of the century, football in the city on the Neva developed rapidly. In 1901, a league founded by the Englishman Ivan Richardson began to operate in St. Petersburg.
The first official Moscow club was the Sokolnichesky Sports Club, organized in 1905. Several years earlier, an international group of enthusiasts, led by Roman Fulda, had begun gathering at Thornton's dacha in Sokolniki to hone their ball game skills. Until his emigration to Germany in 1922, Fulda played a colossal role in the history of the development of football in Russia, was the first to translate the rules of the game into Russian, donated his money to the cup for the Moscow championship, and even was the second coach of the national team at the Olympic Games in 1912. Fulda, along with his associates, became a member of the commission for the arrangement of outdoor games at the Moscow Hygienic Society and begged for the opportunity to hold matches in Sokolniki.
Soon the games moved to the neighboring Shiryaevo field, which gave the team a second unofficial name. No one had any equipment. The soccer balls were ordered from the UK. Andrey Savin in his book Football Moscow: People. Events. Facts ”cites the recollections of one of the pioneers of Russian football Leonid Smirnov about how it all began: “We, the first footballers, had no idea about sports shorts, T-shirts and boots. We played in our everyday costume: long trousers, in simple boots, and some even in boots ... Many years passed until we got to panties, boots and T-shirts. None of us dared to bare our knees for a long time. Such was the time then, the customs were completely different! "
It is curious that the first team to put on a football uniform was the Bykovo children's club, which eventually became, in modern terms, a farm club for Sokolniki. Team "Bykovo" got its name from the suburban area in which it was located. The Shiryaeva Pole players came here to have a rest for the summer, continuing their training. In order to have someone to practice with, Shiryaevites taught the game to local youth. The parents of young football players, who felt that it was too expensive to buy another set of trousers for playing football for children, decided to sew them a short (so as not to tear) uniforms themselves.
But it was not the uniform and not the equipment that were the most expensive. A football club membership card cost a lot of money. For example, in SCS, a one-time entrance fee was equal to 20 rubles, and the annual membership fee was 30 rubles. For comparison, 20 rubles at that time was the average salary of a factory worker or a minor employee. Football clubs united the elite of society, children of wealthy families. Many teams refused on principle to add commoners to their ranks. The Orekhovo club became, in fact, the first team to play for the workers: the grimy Orekhovskaya men who occupied their seats at the team's home stadium were very different from the specious gentlemen who attended football "parties" in the capitals. But the liberal owners of the Nikolskaya Manufactory also preferred to look for players on the side, even advertised in the English newspaper The Times that the company needed workers who could play football well. The foreigners who arrived, by the way, then were enough for two teams. But Russian hard workers began to "get infected" with football quickly enough and eventually began to make their way into the teams.
In the summer, many players went to their dachas, where they continued playing football, from time to time making voyages to other dacha sites: Bykovo - to Tarasovka, or Losiny Ostrov - to Mamontovka. There were often not enough players, and the players were looking for strong guys from local villagers, artisans and workers. Summer was coming to an end, the summer residents were leaving, and the locals who had gained experience taught their other fellow countrymen to a new game, many of whom then went to work in the cities.
Call of the people
Over the years, football has become more widespread and popular. Long-distance and international friendly matches were held in Russia. They played not only on large football fields, of which more and more were opening in the two capitals, but also in the courtyards of educational institutions, and at the factory walls.
"Young" football was a tough sport. "The game passed without any misunderstandings, which happens very rarely at football matches,"- wrote one of the reporters of the time. There were fights between rivals, between spectators and players, beatings of referees, attacks on football players outside football fields. One can judge about the relationship of the representatives of the working class who were included in the official teams with the noble persons who formed the basis of the clubs, if only by the fact that in the agenda of the constituent meeting of the Moscow Football League, held on June 12, 1910 in the Hermitage restaurant touched on the problems of morality in football. “Teams can gather people from different classes - rich and poor, noble family and bourgeoisie, business owners and workers, intellectuals and commoners. But coming to a training session or a game, everyone should forget about their origin. To forget sincerely, with all my soul, so that it does not manifest itself in the little things, in the tone, in the manner of speaking ”,- recalls the decision of IFL functionaries Mikhail Sushkov, a famous Moscow footballer who was present at that evening.
Match "Morozovtsy" - "British" on August 26, 1912 Nevertheless, the bourgeoisie and the nobility continued to jealously guard football as "their" game. Few of the workers' footballers, as physically more developed, were even offered to be considered professionals and, on this basis, prohibited from playing in the formally amateur Moscow and St. Petersburg leagues. In the meantime, an alternative movement of "wild" teams flourished in the cities.
“In the working-class districts of the city outskirts there have long existed many football clubs, which included workers, office workers, students who were not able to pay the rather high membership and entrance fees provided for by the statutes of registered clubs, acquire expensive sports uniforms and equipment, and which did not have influential acquaintances. who could give the necessary recommendations for entry ",- Andrei Savin writes in the book “Football Moscow: People. Events. Facts".
"Wild" occupied wastelands, constructing rods from sticks or crumpled caps. Instead of soccer balls ordered from Europe, they used rags stuffed with paper, sometimes the balls were made of leather, in which case a bull's bubble played the role of a camera. Legendary Soviet footballer and coach Andrei Starostin recalled that he himself began to play on the Khodynskoye field, which was one of the centers of Moscow's "informal" football. "All the" stars "of the early generations of our football have gone through the school of education in" wild "football",- wrote the player in his book "Football Flagship".
Permanently acting "wild" teams were gradually formed, with their own form, their own history, their own "stars". Teams were formed mainly on a territorial and professional basis. What is even worth the name of the strongest Moscow team in 1912 - "House No. 44"! The names were invented without the pathos and officialdom of "big" colleagues. So, for example, in Kharkov there was a football team "Tsap-Tsarap".
The politicization of these amateur associations is an unexplored question. Researchers usually emphasize the apolitical nature and heterogeneity of “wild” teams. But how apolitical could their participants have been in the period between the revolution of 1905 and the strikes of 1910-1912? Class antagonism was felt even in the context of street play. Anyone who claims that football was specially instilled in the proletariat in order to distract it from politics and the struggle for their rights should have a couple of points in mind. Illegal games on makeshift fields were repeatedly dispersed by the police, who were wary of any meetings of proletarians outside of working hours, and representatives of official clubs from the upper strata of society tried to put a spoke in the wheels of the “savages”, in every possible way hindering their development. The judges were forbidden to judge the games of the plebeians, and the membership and admission fees of the leagues were constantly overestimated in order to prevent representatives of the new wave from entering their society.
"Chesnokovtsy"
But there were enthusiasts who were ready to invest in the development of working football. In 1912, the Zamoskvoretsk League of Wild Teams appeared in Moscow. It was organized by the judge Allenov, and the events of the championship were regularly covered by the print edition "K Sportu", thanks to the player and chronicler Boris Chesnokov who worked there. His brief biography is presented in the excellent book of the American sports historian Robert Edelman “Moscow Spartak. The history of the people's team in the country of workers. "
Chesnokov was born into the family of a railroad employee. As a child, he often moved from city to city with his family because of his father's work. Boris was fond of various sports and at a very young age, being a student of the Moscow 4th gymnasium, he first tried himself on the football field. Falling in love with the game with all his heart, he continued to play with friends in the yard, and later on cleared and self-equipped fields. Boris and his two brothers - Ivan and Sergei - organized meetings of amateur workers' teams, subsequently formalizing the emerging society into the Rogozh Sports Circle (RCC). This is how the first workers' sports club in Russia appeared.
It existed until 1915 and was dispersed by the police. By destroying the community, the repressive authorities were unable to destroy the passion for the game, which covered more and more working circles. Yes, and Chesnokov did not give up, continuing to support working football. In 1916, he became the chairman of the citywide Moscow Football League of Wild Teams. Working in the editorial office of the magazine "K Sportu", he not only covered the news from the fields of unrecognized championships, but also appealed to the official football structures of Moscow, urging them to take a step towards the "wild". Thanks to his acquaintances, Chesnokov added the main RKS players, including himself, to the Novogireevo football club. After that, the club twice became the champion of the city, moreover, the first champion to play without foreign legionnaires. Even the formidable "Morozovites" remained behind them. In 1917, Boris Chesnokov suffered a leg injury and was forced to end his football career. He continued to write his sports notes and eventually became the first sports columnist for the Pravda newspaper.
Football team of the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky. 1913 year As can be seen from the chronology, neither during the First World War, nor during the days of the revolution and the Civil War in Russia did they stop playing football. But time left its mark. In 1914, all German players of Russian teams (at that time the Russian championship was already being held) were exiled to the Vyatka province according to the law of wartime. The English masters soon also preferred to return to their homeland, but this could not affect the popularity of the game. The matches of the national team stopped and they were replaced by games of soldiers with prisoners of war.
In the first post-revolutionary months there was a real "boom" of "wild" football. Unprecedented opportunities opened up before the players who once kicked homemade rag balls, and many of them became famous football players in the future. Since 1918, teams began to appear in the Moscow Football League, whose participation in the championship in the tsarist years was simply impossible, for example, the Jewish sports club "Maccabi". Football has survived on the ruins of the empire, still holding onto the shoulders of enthusiasts. But before its full adoption by the new Soviet government, there were still about 10 years left.
Football of Russia
October 24, 1897 - the first football match in Russia took place in St. Petersburg. At first, this game, which was called "English air play" or "foot ball", was perceived as fun for the public.
At the end of the 1890s, there were three teams in St. Petersburg - "Nevsky Club", "Nevka" and "Victoria". And they were composed mainly of the British, who "brought" football to Russia at the end of the 19th century. But gradually the "football virus" also infected the Russians. The first teams were created, the championships of St. Petersburg and Moscow were held, and even the first international matches.
The first football team, which consisted only of Russian players, was created in 1897 in St. Petersburg at the “Circle of Sports Fans” (later it became known as “Sport”). And the first real football match took place on October 24 (12 according to the old style), 1897.
On that day, on the parade ground of the First Cadet Corps, the teams of the Vasileostrovsky Society of Football Players (VOF) and the "Circle of Sports Fans" met. The latter lost with a large score 0: 6. The Vasileostrovskoe Society of Football Players had already existed for 6 years by that time. Therefore, this team consisted mainly of the British, who played much better than the Russians at that time.
By the way, football was not yet attractive enough to the public at that time. Perhaps that is why history has not preserved for us either the authors of the goals scored, or the number of spectators present at this first match. But the press did not ignore this game. Petersburg journalists wrote about the last match: "The British were distinguished by teamwork and technicality, and the Russians - dedication." According to the condition, the competition was supposed to last an hour and a half with one break.
The newspaper Listok Petersburg described the meeting as follows: “Vasileostrovites, dressed in blue, put five skirmishers on the fore-line. They had three on the second line. These were sentry posts. In front of the city, or rather, its gates, there were two "beks". Finally, his defender stood in the city itself. "
If we talk about the rules, then the matches of that time were distinguished by extraordinary cruelty. The players fought knee-deep in the mud, played almost without rules. Therefore, football players often left the field without teeth, with broken arms and legs. And the game was not like modern football. For example, the ball rarely stayed on the ground, flying through the air from player to player and from goal to goal. And the defenders tried to hit the ball as high as possible. And the tallest "candle" even drew approving applause from the audience.
Goalkeepers rarely caught balls, trying to just beat them off with their hands, and grassroots - with their feet, not trying to properly fall to the ground. At the same time, it was considered a special chic to hit a flying ball with a fist somewhere to the center of the field or by hitting the ball from above with a ricochet from the ground to “light a candle”. This is what caused the stormy delight of the stands.
As for the forwards, it was considered the highest valor for the striker to push the ball into the goal along with the goalkeeper. Football referees turned a blind eye to pushing, jabbing, kicking, running, and even grabbing from the rugby arsenal, as it was considered a manifestation of true sporting character, courage and athleticism.
The international debut of the footballers of the Russian Empire took place in October 1910, when the Czech team "Corinthians" (Prague) visited the country. In 1911, the first attempt was made in Russia to create a football team from several cities. The reason for this was the arrival of the Olympic champions of that time - the British team (in Russia it played under the name "English Wanderers"). Until that day, the teams of Moscow and St. Petersburg had experience of international meetings, but it was extremely insignificant, and the national team of another country had never played with us.
And suddenly, at the invitation of the British living in St. Petersburg, the founders of football themselves come. The newspapers wrote about the first of these matches: “Long before the start of the game, the audience began to gather, and by five o'clock in the afternoon all the stands were overcrowded. There is lively conversation in the audience about the upcoming game. Nobody talks about the possibility of winning the match by the Russians, but only about the results at which Russia will be beaten. "
It is problematic to say unequivocally how many games were played. There are two opinions on this score. First, the matches that took place on August 20, 21 and 22, 1911 in St. Petersburg, ended in crushing defeats for the Russians - 0:14, 0: 7 and 0:11, respectively. Second - on August 22, 1911, the Russian national team played its first international match, which was a friendly with the England national team. This meeting was not included in the registers of the Russian Football Union and the International Football Federation - in the list of official matches of the Russian national team. And its result is unknown.
The country's first football championship took place only in 1912. At the same time, the All-Russian Football Union was formed, which in the same year was admitted to FIFA. In 1913, the All-Russian Football Union united football leagues from 33 cities and 155 clubs with a total of about 8 thousand football players.
And then the First World War began, and somehow they forgot about football in our country. But they remembered about him after the Revolution and the Civil War. In 1923, the RSFSR national team made a victorious tour of Scandinavia, beating the best football players in Sweden and Norway. Then our teams met with the strongest athletes of Turkey many times. And they invariably won.
1930-40s - the time of the first fights with some of the best teams from Czechoslovakia, France, Spain and Bulgaria. And here our masters showed that Soviet football is not inferior to advanced European. Goalkeeper Anatoly Akimov, defender Alexander Starostin, midfielders Fedor Selin and Andrey Starostin, forwards Vasily Pavlov, Mikhail Butusov, Mikhail Yakushin, Sergei Ilyin, Grigory Fedotov, Pyotr Dementyev, admittedly, were ranked among the strongest in Europe.
And in 1956 the USSR national team won Olympic gold. But this, as they say, is a completely different story ...