Egon Pollak and the Palestine Football Team of 1939

Palestine Soccer Team, 10 July 1939.
Back row: G.Arazi (manager), S.Ginzburg, L.Fuks, A.Schneider, F.Neufeld, S.Viner, G.Machlis, E.Pollak (coach).
2nd row: A.Alembik, A.Resnik (captain), M.Mirimovitz, L.Werner, A.Greenberg, J.Lieberman.
Front row: J.Sidi, B.Mizrahi
PXE 789, vol. 45, no. 65.

I have been trying to find out more about this photo of a Palestine football (soccer) team that played in Australia in 1939. The photo is part of the incredible Sam Hood collection at the State Library of New South Wales. It's an awesome collection, but often the details are very sketchy. Seems this team was detained in Australia at the outbreak of World War II. The coach, Egon Pollak, had played in the legendary Hakoah team from Vienna, and later played for the New York Giants soccer team in the American Soccer League. Egon is in the back row, far right in this photo.

Using Trove Newspapers, I found a terrific article about Egon’s enforced stay in Australia (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78976051). He was an esteemed singer, and he refused to sing any songs in German after the war broke out. Later he became coach of the first Israeli national team. 

Definitely worthy of more research!

The Fightback

http://chrishoggthefightback.blogspot.com

Chris Fogg is an Inverness Caledonian Thistle player who had a horrific collision in a Scottish Premier League match against Dundee United last weekend. Fogg is coming to terms with the thought of being sidelined for a very, very long time.

Fogg has just created a blog in which he intends reporting his feelings as the long rehabilitation begins.

He's laying all his emotions bare for everyone to see.

Harrowing, gripping stuff.

Belfast Celtic

In this post, I'd like to champion the efforts of the Belfast Celtic Society. This is an organisation dedicated to preserving the memory of a great Irish football (soccer) club that folded in 1949.

Founded in 1891, Belfast Celtic FC provided a focal point for Catholics in the city of Belfast. Like its sister club in Glasgow, Belfast Celtic was not exclusively for Catholics. Non-Catholic players, managers and supporters were always more than welcome to join the club. The club became an icon in Ireland and was highly successful. Many of its players went on to glittering footballing careers in England and Scotland. But circumstances conspired against the club, and after violent encounters on and off the pitch, it was decided to pull the plug in 1949, after a very successful preseason tour of north America.

The Belfast Celtic Society formed in 2003 to raise awareness of a long-lost football club. The society has hosted seminars and public programmes on the club, and collected a vast range of archival material relating to Belfast Celtic. This includes the only two pieces of film footage of the team in action that are known to exist.

On 3 July 2010, a museum devoted to Belfast Celtic opened in the Park Centre, the shopping centre built on the site of the old Celtic Park. The opening was a huge success, and even Celtic's old rivals, Linfield, were there for the opening. Congratulations to all!