Elemer Hirsch (14 May 1895 – 17 May 1953) was a Romanian lawyer, figure skater, ice hockey player and a football defender, manager and referee.[2][3][4][5]
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Personal information | |||
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Date of birth | (1895-05-14)14 May 1895[1] | ||
Place of birth | Ceanu Mare, Austria-Hungary[1] | ||
Date of death | 17 May 1953(1953-05-17) (aged 58)[1] | ||
Place of death | Baia Mare, Romania[2] | ||
Position(s) | Defender[2] | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1921–1923 | CA Cluj | ||
1924–1925 | Universitatea Cluj | ||
National team | |||
1922–1924 | Romania | 5 | (0) |
Teams managed | |||
1947–1948 | CFR Cluj | ||
1950–1953 | Armata Cluj | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Elemer Hirsch came from a wealthy Jewish family who owned large portions of land in Beclean.[2] He studied law school in Budapest and Vienna, starting to work as a lawyer at age 24.[2] He started playing football at CA Cluj.[3] Several years later he moved to Universitatea Cluj, where he also played ice hockey.[3][5] Hirsch also competed in figure skating competitions, managing to win three Romanian national titles in 1924, 1925 and 1927, also becoming an international figure skating judge.[2][3][5] After he retired from playing football, he became a football referee, including arbitrating in a Romanian top-division Divizia A match.[3][6] In the 1940s following the Second Vienna Award, due to his Jewish origin, the Hungarian authorities prohibited him from working as a lawyer and deprived him of his property which was later nationalized by the Romanian communist regime.[2][4][7] He managed to escape from Cluj when the authorities wanted to send him to a Holocaust extermination camp.[2][4] After the end of World War II he returned to Cluj and started his coaching career at CFR.[3][8] Between 1947 and 1948 he was the federal captain of Romania's national team.[3] In 1950 he became coach at Armata Cluj.[2] In May 1953 after the end of a match in Baia Mare he collapsed on his way to the team bus, the goalkeeper Nicolae Szoboszlay tried to give him first aid but Hirsch died in his arms.[2]
Elemer Hirsch played in the first official match of Romania's national team at the 1922 King Alexander's Cup, against Yugoslavia.[2][9][10] Hirsch bought Romania's equipment for that match from his own money.[2][9] He was also part of Romania's 1924 Summer Olympics squad.[3][11]
International appearances | ||||||
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App | Date | Venue | Opponent | Result | Competition | |
1. | 8 June 1922 | Belgrade, Yugoslavia | ![]() | 2–1 | Friendly | |
2. | 3 September 1922 | Chernivtsi, Romania | ![]() | 1–1 | Friendly | |
3. | 1 July 1923 | Cluj, Romania | ![]() | 0–6 | Friendly | |
4. | 2 September 1923 | Lviv, Poland | ![]() | 1–1 | Friendly | |
5. | 20 May 1924 | Vienna, Austria | ![]() | 1–4 | Friendly | |
Romania squad – 1924 Summer Olympics | ||
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