World War Two and its aftermath led to an
incredible movement of people around Europe as borders were drawn and redrawn.
The next three articles in this series will focus on three men who despite
being uprooted from their home, ended up having a lasting impact in the country
where they ended up.
My first subject is Ergi Erbstein, a Hungarian Jew
who created Il Grande Torino side which tragically perished in the Superga air
disaster. Born in 1898, Erbstein was a Hungarian army officer in World War One who spent most of his playing career with Budapesti AK but also had short spells in
Italy and the USA. Following retirement in 1928 he returned to Italy as a
manager of several clubs including Bari and Lucchese before arriving at Torino.
His time in Turin was cut short by World War Two but he returned post war and
alongside Leslie Lievesley with unprecedented success.
He first came to prominence whilst at Lucchese in
the mid 1930s, taking the club from the regional leagues to Serie A and a still
best ever finish of seventh. His success was due to a holistic approach to
management which encompassed scouting, tactics, technical skill, physical
fitness and motivation.
This led to a move to Torino in 1938 but
Mussolini’s race laws led to his decision to leave Italy, and after being stopped
by the SS he was deported with to Hungary where Jews faced similar oppression
to that in Nazi Germany. Inevitably Erbstein ended up in a concentration camp
but along with Bela Guttman (MWMMF #13), he escaped by jumping from a train
whilst being transported.
Following the end of the war Erbstein returned to
Torino to finish what he had started. His football philosophy utilised a
scouting network ensuring the opposition were thoroughly analysed and players
signed to suit his style of play which evolved from swift counter attacking
using long diagonal balls to crisp short passing.
With ten Torino players starting for Italy in,
appropriately, a match against Hungary, his team were at the peak of their
powers when he took them to Benfica for a friendly in the spring of 1949.
Tragically the plane crashed against the Superga
cliff-side monastery on its return flight killing Erbstein, Lievesley and the
squad. Only able to field a youth team for their remaining league fixtures,
Torino’s opponents did likewise and they won a fifth consecutive Scudetto at
the end of the season, a fitting tribute to Erbstein and his groundbreaking
team.
You can read about his amazing life in more detail in the
recently published Erbstein: football's forgotten pioneer by Dominic Bliss
which is available from www.theblizzard.co.uk
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