Corinthian-Casuals vs Merstham Matchday Programme

How Corinthian-
Casuals became
European champions
Captured in 11 seconds of beautifully
fuzzy footage – fitting, really, for a DIY
competition – the winning goal at the
Egri Erbstein tournament said a lot about the
occasion.
After some mazy wing play and a ball across the
box which finds Corinthian-Casuals striker Harry
Ottaway, his slammed finish into the roof of the
net sparks wild celebrations. As his teammates
punch the air their opponents, Testveriseg SE,
either crumple flat on the turf or fold at the hips
with exhaustion.
In the 91st minute, there was no way back for the
side from the Hungarian fourth tier. “It shows you
how seriously the players took it,” says Dominic
Bliss, one of the tournament’s principal organisers.
“It was pretty close to perfect in the way it went
off. We couldn’t really have asked for much more.”
The Egri Erbstein tournament came into being
through a combination of happy coincidence
and grassroots enthusiasm. As author of Erbstein:
The triumph and tragedy of football’s forgotten
pioneer, Bliss knows more about the life of Erno
Egri Erbstein than most. One of the game’s
great innovators and an icon among the Jewish
Hungarian ‘coffee house’ managers, Erbstein was
a decent footballer in his day but is best known
for coaching ‘Il Grande Torino’. Having helped
to shape the side which won five consecutive
Italian championships in the 1940s, he and the
vast majority of his players were killed in 1949
when the plane carrying them home from a
friendly against Benfica crashed into the Basilica of
22 - CORINTHIAN-CASUALS MATCHDAY PROGRAMME