Jewish Soccer Lives On In Austria

Some good news coming out of Vienna, giving us a reason to pause and pay respects to SC Hakoah Wien, champions of Austria in 1925. Hakoah, a team made up entirely of Jewish players, was founded in 1909 after Jews were prohibited from becoming members of Austrian sports clubs. The club's glory days were in the 1920s and 1930s. Besides the championship season, Hakoah also were the first continental side to beat an English club in England, 5-1 winners over a reserve West Ham side in 1923.

At its height, Hakoah had 30,000 members, many of whom excelled in wrestling, fencing, water polo, and swimming. The 2004 documentary Watermarks chronicles the women's swim team and how one of them refused to go to Hitler's Berlin Olympics in 1936.

In 1938, after the Nazis annexed Austria into Greater Germany, the German FA banned the club and nullified their games. Their stadium was appropriated and given to the Austrian Nazi party. After the war, the club resumed limited activities. Today, the club has about 400 members and its soccer team plays in one of Austria's lower divisions under the name SC Maccabi Wien.

Vienna's Jewish Sports Club, Smashed by Nazis, Gets New Life [Bloomberg]

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