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(From the book Futbol Belorussii by D.M. Boldyrev and A.I. Kostrov)
The question "When and where did football appear in Byelorussia?"
there is a definite answer: in the beginning of the century, in regional
centers and large local towns. Not in the workers' boroughs, not in villages
and small towns, where everyday concerns about making a living did not
allow young people make time to go into sports.
So where then and when? In the late 50's, one of the oldest Byelorussian athletes, a native of Gomel - Vsevolod Kublitskiy published a couple of articles-memoirs about the birth of football in his native city. And accurately noted the time - 1910, June - when students usually completed their final examinations.
Once in July young Seva (short for Vsevolod) Kublitskiy with his friends solved the "mystery" that had been torturing them for the last couple of weeks. The thing was that on the streets of the town they often met a young man with something in his hands, that looked like a ball, but for some reason made of leather and with stiches on it. No, they weren't so naive not to know that there are balls to play football, but nobody knew what they looked like. The owner of the mysterious object appeared to be one of the best football players from the South of Russia - A. Libman, who was transfered to the Gomel' divisino of the Orlov Bank.
"The next Sunday, early in the morning," - Kublitskiy recalls - "we crossed the river Sozh. That day for the first time Gomel heard the stroke on the football. For the first time in the town, they were ... playing football. But what football it was! All of the participants in agitation, ran in packs after the ball trying to hit it, however they could". Kublitskiy remembers how the first team was organized - "First Gimnasia Football Team" (PGFK). Libman became the first captain. They began training in the school yard. The rumors of a new game distributed very quickly among the young people of the town. Besides the team, a lot of people gathered to "kick the football around". After all, the ball was the only one in the whole town. Very soon the practices moved from a small school yard to a huge "waste ground".
After "PGFK" a few new teams apeared very soon - "Victoria", "Nadezhda", "Unitas", but no balls, no uniforms, or appropriate footware was available.
Enthusiasts did not dispair. On their feet they wore whatever they could find. Trunks were made out of canvas uniform pants, and a kid's rubber ball replaced the leather one. Later, with the help of Libman's friends, collected money bought eight real balls in Kiev.
A year later new teams appeared in Gomel - "Stella", "Okraina" (railroad workers) and "Yunost" from Novobelitsa. Teams were formed in nearby country sides, Chenki and Klenki. During the summer 1911 the first Gomel football championship took place. PGFK won the tournament. The games were given attention in the local newspaper "Gomelskaya Kopeika".
During summer 1912, football teams from Gomel took part in the first intercity matches. They visited Dobrush, Novozybkov, Zlynka and Klintsy. As usual, "Sport" (that was the new name for the PGFK team) won most of the games. But in Klintsy, the local team appeared to be better. They won 5:2. But in the next game, in Gomel, "Sport" got their revenge, beating the team from Klintsy 4:0.
On July 8th and 9th, "Sport" met twice with a team with the same name from Kiev. The first game ended in a tie - 1:1, the second - 4:0 to the team from Kiev. The names of the "Sport" players from 1912 are known. They are: goalkeeper - Vagner; defenders - Trusevich, Frenkel, Kaminskiy, Gotgal'f, Plesskiy; forwards - Shanovich, Kublitskiy, Shtutin (most probably the greatgrandfather of yours truly!), Ginzburg, Medvedev.
Gomel players played against teams from Kremenchug, Kiev, Chernigov, Novozybkov, Libava and other cities. In March 1914, at the captain's meeting, the schedule was confirmed for the upcoming city championship and intercity games. The best in Gomel came out to be "Sport" and "Lyubitely Sporta". In the final game between them the city champion of 1914 was determined. "Sport" triumphed.
And so, in Gomel, football made it's first steps in 1910. But it was only a regional center with only one more or less significant venture - match-making factory "Vezuviy". Besides, Gomel only joined Byelorussian SSR in 1926. Maybe football appeared earlier in Minsk, Vitebsk or Mogilev?
Only in May 1913, "Minsk paper" posted the first announcement that 'the city government made a decision about creating a ground for playing football in Minsk on Kosharskaya Square'. Speaking of which, Kosharskaya Square in pre-revolutionary times was located on the territory of the nowadays S.M. Kirov machinebuilding plant. And in the end of June posters appeared in the city, announcing that "June 29th, on Kosharskaya Square, in case of good weather, the FIRST football match will take place, between a student team "Olymp" and the team "Macobi". To the notice of the respectable public: the start of the game is at 4 hours after noon. Prior to the game and during the break, The Minsk Fire Department Orchestra will perform".
In the same paper for June 30, a report on the first football game:
"Yesterday, on the football ground of Kosharskaya Square in
front of significant audience, which was placed on specifically
made benches, a match between the teams "Olymp" and "Macobi" took
place. The final result was 3:0 to "Olymp".
Mr. Solonevich kindly agreed to referee the match. On his whistle
teams took the field. "Olymp" players wore red shirts and blue
trunks, while "Macobi" played in white shirts and black trunks.
Players wore gaiters and the special footware for the game. A
cointoss decided the ball posession and the side of the field.
Maccabi won the cointoss.
In the first half, as soon as the game began, "Olymp" forward
Shaikevich, skillfully receiving a pass from forward Malibin,
scores the first goal. In the second half, "Olymp" captain and
the centreforward Myshalov scores two more goals with powerful
shots.
Ladies present at the match awarded flowers to the winners,
and the orchestra gave them the "drumroll".
Apparently, that official match wasn't the first one in Minsk, as juding
by the described in the report pre-game procedure, people in Minsk were
aquainted with the rules pretty well, and the players themselves already
had uniforms, and posessed the technical skills of the game.
By the way, the archives kept "The Rules of the Game" for football, published in 1911 in Mogilev, and printed in the printing plant of the local regional government. In that edition, which made it different from the Moscow and Petersburg editions, there was no international terminology, which made the rules understandable for everyone. For example, a right was reserved for the referee to examine not the cleats of the players, but the boots of the players. And really, where could one buy football cleats during this years, and could even the middle class football players afford them? Some other paragraphs are also interesting. For example, a goal scored is called "the capture of the town" and is explained that in case if the crossbar falls off during "the capture of the town", that the referee has the right to determined whether the ball had gone under or over the bar. It's obvious that during that time in Byelorussia there were no stable goals on the fields, that's why those explanations were also included.
So, "The Rules of the Game" are published in Mogilev in 1911. No doubt that it was the initiative of the enthusiasts, who were not only aware of football, but played in their native town much earlier then the rules appeared. That conclusion confirms the press announcement that the Mogilev football championship took place in 1911, and consisted of five teams: "Society to aide the physical development of the secondary school students", two male gymnasias, and two trade schools. The footballers of the Gymnasia #1, coached by a football propagandist F.I. Stanchel, became the first city champions. They were awarded a trophy with a galloping horse on the top - the present of the local horse race lover.
Football developed in other cities of the North-Eastern part of Russia as well. It is known that in 1913, the players of the of the Baranovichi Technical School (team "Orion") challenged "Olimp" from Minsk to a competition. The game took place on July 15th in Ratomka. The team from Minsk prevailed 2:1.
In the beginning of 1913 the director of the Borisov gimnasia P.I. Ivanov, who arrived to work in this town from Mogilev, organized a club "School Sport" and with the help of the students turned a a part of a picturesque location on the outback of Borisov into a football field, a tennis court and a cricket field. A year later Borisov already had four football teams: "Gorodskaya", "Gimnazicheskaya", "Pervaya Novoborisovskaya" and "Vtoraya Novorisovskaya". Twice a year the "Silver Cup" was played out, established by "School Sport".
The World War I slowed down the development of sports in Byelorussia, and football as well. The article in magazine "K sportu", written by a Minsk football player V. Yanzkevich, gives a good picture: "The sports life in Minsk is flowing very slowly, it is very quiet. There are very little football games, and that’s why our players rarely get to play a good game".
In 1919, the republic newspaper "Zvyazda" announced that the
highest sports governing body - Presidium of sports organizations - was
created. It united the amateur sports organizations that appeared by that
time: "Sokol", "Krasniy Molodnyak", The United Byciclist
society (more then 100 people), a football team "Sanitas" ("Health"),
the rail road football team.
These were the first sports organizations of the Soviet Byelorussia. In most of the cities (Minsk, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev) gimnastics clubs were created, which popularized such sports as wrestling, weight training, volleyball, track and field and of course football. The mass sports was being brought to life.
To be continued...
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