Smyrna F.C.
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (September 2011) |
 Smyrna FC 1894 | ||
| Full name | Smyrna Football Club or Bournabat Football and Rugby Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1894 | |
| Ground | Punta Çayırı | |
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Smyrna FC or Bournabat Football and Rugby Club was a sports club of Smyrna (present-day İzmir), Ottoman Empire.[1] The emblem of the club was a Cross pattée.
History[edit]
Back in 1809 Liverpool-born Charlton Whitall, the great-grandfather of eight members of the 1906 Olympic football team, went to Smyrna, a major sea port in Western Ottoman Emire]], on behalf of the Liverpool trading company he worked for, aged 18. Two years later he established his own trading company, C.Whittall & Co, and they exported Turkish produce to England. Over the years his family was established and grew in Smyrna, becoming part of the Levantine community, consisting predominantly of Westerners (mostly British, French, Dutch and Italian) who settled long term or permanently in the Ottoman Empire.
Smyrna FC or Bournabat Football and Rugby Club was founded by his Englishmen descendants in 1894.[2] In 1906 the club won the Olympic tournament of Smyrna against Apollon Smyrnis and Panionios and its players the city in the 1906 Olympics in Athens.
Smyrna FC had five members of the Whittall family that won the 1906 Olympic football silver medal. Herbert Whittall, his cousins Albert, Edward, Godfrey and Donald Whittall, along with two other cousins, Jacques and Edmund Giraud and Percy la Fontiane made up the majority of the Smyrna team. Hebert Octavius was at one time the ‘manager’ of the Rugby & Football team in its early days.
The club was one of the powerful in Smyrna competing with Greek and Armenian teams. All of its players, as most of the Levantine clubs had a Greek NOC for travel purposes.
The Matches[edit]
| Smyrna FC | 10–20 | Royal Navy Crew |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) |
| Smyrna FC | 3–1 | Galatasaray SK |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) |
| Smyrna FC | 1–2 | Galatasaray SK |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) |
| Smyrna FC | 1–4 | Fenerbahçe SK |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) |
| Smyrna FC | 0–2 | Istanbul Team (6 Fenerbahçe players and 5 Galatasaray players) |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) |
Notable players[edit]
Percy La Fontaine- Edward Whittall
- Albert Whittall
- Edwin Charnaud
- Herbert Whittall [3]
Jim Giraud- Edmund Giraud
Notable managers[edit]
- Herbert Octavius Whittall (b.1858 - died 1929)
Honours[edit]
- Olympic tournament of Smyrna:
- Winners: 1906
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ FUTBOLUN TARİHÇESİ (in Turkish) Archived 2007-09-12 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Levantine Heritage
- ^ Herbert Whittall
Sources[edit]
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