{"id":3818,"date":"2023-06-04T12:53:29","date_gmt":"2023-06-04T11:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=3818"},"modified":"2023-06-04T12:55:40","modified_gmt":"2023-06-04T11:55:40","slug":"to-discourage-the-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2023\/06\/04\/to-discourage-the-others\/","title":{"rendered":"To Discourage the\u00a0Others"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
FIFA President Gianni Infantino<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

by Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (June 4th<\/sup> 2014)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s Note<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is 9 years since we first published this article. It details the judicial murder of a talented footballer \u2013 he was talented enough to have become one of the Mighty Magyars had he lived long enough.  This was a clear case of politics interfering with football, yet five years later when other members of that great Hungary side of the 1950s, including the late great legend, Ferenc Pusk\u00e1s fled Hungary, they, and not the occupier regime that caused them to flee were banned by FIFA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

72 years ago today S\u00e1ndor Sz\u0171cs was judicially murdered in Hungary. His trial and execution have been condemned for the travesty that they were. He was awarded a strange tribute \u2013 the club he graced, \u00dajpest was a police club and they could not honour him without posthumously making him a police officer. Lieutentant-Colonel Sz\u0171cs was honoured in 1991 four decades after the travesty that cost him his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Infamous<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today (June 4th<\/sup>) is a day that will for ever be infamous to anyone who cares about football. Why? It was on this day 63 years ago that a 29-year-old defender, good enough to play for the Mighty Magyars, on their way to greatness was sacrificed \u2013 literally. S\u00e1ndor Sz\u0171cs holds the dubious distinction to be the only footballer to have been judicially murdered for treason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sz\u0171cs was a very talented defender who began his career aged just 17 for Szolnoki M\u00c1V. During World War II, and indeed beyond, Sz\u0171cs excelled. In 1944 he was transferred to \u00dajpest FC. He played 19 times for his country. He played alongside some of his nation\u2019s sporting icons including the great Ferenc Pusk\u00e1s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being a very talented defender, he was deemed expendable. After World War II the Communist Party of Hungary \u2013 a puppet of the USSR\u2019s dictator seized power in that country. Power was wielded in name at least by M\u00e1ty\u00e1s R\u00e1kosi. He was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of Hungary in 1945 and was to all intents and purposes the leader of Hungary by 1949. It is inconceivable that the crime against justice and humanity that befell Sz\u0171cs could have happened without R\u00e1kosi\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Crime Against Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sz\u0171cs was deemed expendable. Hungary boasted a new generation of innovative coaches at the time. M\u00e1rton Bukavi, the fiery B\u00e9la Guttmann and the genius behind the rise of the Mighty Magyars Gust\u00e1v Sebes. Why, the government thought, should they invest in sporting prowess with all the advantages that brought to \u00e9lite players if they were free to walk out and reap the benefits of that investment for themselves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They decided to create an example \u2013 one that would break the spirit of the footballers \u2013 one that would make the players afraid to even try to leave. One of them would be deemed expendable to discourage the others. A mixture of blackmail and inducements entrapped the unfortunate Sz\u0171cs into trying to flee. It was a trap. He was arrested and judicially murdered on June 4<\/sup>th 1951.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of the Mighty Magyars tried to flee again until 1956 and Guttmann\u2019s fantastic Honv\u00e9d team were already out of the country \u2013 they refused to return. The judicial murder of this player had served its purpose. It was not until Hungary broke free of the party yoke in 1989 that Sz\u0171cs\u2019 story emerged again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is now considered to have been the victim of a shameful injustice. A youth competition has been named in his honour. The death sentence and trial were condemned for the travesty of justice that they were and the verdict was set aside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But perhaps the most ironic tribute of all is this. Sz\u0171cs was posthumously awarded the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the police in 1991 because \u00dajpest was a police club and they could not honour him as intended without him being made into a police officer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legendary Team-mates<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He rubbed shoulders on the pitch with some of the greats of football for his club and indeed country. Those greats include Ferenc Szusa and Gyula Zsengell\u00e9r \u2013 the latter being a legend of Hungarian football. Zsengell\u00e9r is not only a Hungarian legend who played in the other World Cup Final Hungary reached \u2013 everyone knows about 1954, but Hungary was a powerhouse of European and world football before, which excelled in that competition. The original Mighty Magyars were built around the striking prowess of Zsengell\u00e9r. Brasilian great Le\u00f4nidas da Silva was the top scorer in the 1938 World Cup. Zsengell\u00e9r was second to him, having played a pivotal role in a campaign that fell just short as Italy retained the trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sz\u0171cs last played for Hungary in 1948, having made his d\u00e9but in 1941. His last match for \u00dajpest was in the year of his judicial murder. He bridged the generations of Hungary\u2019s great teams \u2013 sadly by-gone eras of magical football from Zsengell\u00e9r to Pusk\u00e1s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time football properly honoured its forgotten son \u2013 a footballing martyr. All matches played on June 4th<\/sup> should begin with a minute\u2019s silence or applause and all players and officials should wear black armbands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is they very least that football owes to the memory of S\u00e1ndor Sz\u0171cs and to justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (June 4th 2014) Editor\u2019s Note It is 9 years since we first published this article. It details the judicial murder of a [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,14],"tags":[231,467,477,473,39,482,474,472,230,277,476,478,471,481,480,468,483,475,479,469,466,470],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3818"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3821,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818\/revisions\/3821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}