1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

ed to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association to sendfour teams to the competition, the Federation considers it most suitablethat each nation should send only one”, a wish which was compliedwith by all the nations competing, as the regulation allowing each nationto enter four teams had been made merely to permit the English, Irish,Scotch and Welsh Football Associations to enter separate teams for theGames if they so desired.One of the most important questions to be settled was that of thegrounds where the football-matches were to be held. According tothe agreement entered into by the Swedish Football Association andthe Swedish Olympic Committee, all the matches in the Olympiccompetition, with the exception, possibly, of the final, were to takeplace at the Råsunda athletic grounds, belonging to the Swedish Associationand the Viking Football Club. It was seen, however, thatit would be impossible to get all the matches in the competition andin the consolation-series finished in time, unless some other footballgroundscould be used too, and so, in February 1912, it was found necessaryto draw up a fresh agreement respecting the places where thematches were to be played, this new arrangement being made betweenthe Swedish Olympic Committee, the Swedish Football Association, theRåsunda Athletic Grounds and the Djurgården Athletic Club, and placingat the disposal of the Football Committee a total of three grounds,viz., those at the Stadium, Råsunda and Traneberg.But to put the athletic-grounds at Råsunda and Traneberg in firstclassorder it was found necessary to carry out some extensive reconstructionsand improvements, in addition to erecting extra stands. Forthis purpose the Swedish Olympic Committee gave a sum of Kr. 33,600(£ 1,860 : $ 9,300) to the Football Committee, and the work wascarried out under the superintendence of Mr. Charles Bunyan, a retiredprofessional footballer who was then acting as trainer to the Swedishplayers for the Olympic Games. As a result of the work carried out,the grounds, Råsunda especially, were put into quite first-class order.As regards that at the Stadium, however, it turned out that the dimensionsof this ground did not reach the minimum figures mentioned inthe official invitation to participation in the football competitions, sothat on the 27th June, 1912, it was considered advisable to requestall the nations taking part in the competition in question to sign anagreement by which they bound themselves not to base any protestagainst a match in consequence of the minimum measures for theOlympic Football grounds being too small, but on the understandingthat the grounds used would measure at least 105 metres x 65 metres,the dimensions of that at the Stadium.Concerning the teams representing the various nations, it was determinedthat 22 reserves might be entered, in addition to the II menforming the team, a step that caused the German football authoritiesto inquire whether this proposed number of reserves ought not to bereduced to 11; the memorandum, however, did not influence thedetermination already come to by the Football Committee.482