Towards the end of January 1926, leading Austrian team Florids-dorfer Vienna arrived in Malta to play a series of matches against local teams. Floriana, Sliema Wanderers, St George’s, the Pick Navy and the Army were chosen to play against the visitors.
Floridsdorfer Atlethiksport Club were founded in 1904 in the 21st Vienna district of Floridsdorf.
Their first games were played on the Birnerplatz.
On October 14, 1906 the club moved into a new ground in North Bridge. The club’s early years were tough but by 1915 its fortunes had improved so much that Florids-dorfer won the unofficial Austrian cup after beating SK Admira Wien 3-1 in the title match.
In 1917-18, they won the Austrian Cup again but by the time they toured Malta they still had to win another major honour.
Floridsdorfer were meant to open their tourney on February 6, 1926 against Sliema but, since the game was scheduled to be played a few days away from the Wanderers’ league match against St George’s, the Blues objected.
When the MFA refused to change the dates, Sliema withdrew from the tournament.
In the absence of the Wanderers, the tourney kicked off on January 31, 1926 when the Austrian visitors took on Floriana.
The Greens drew first blood when Carmelo Cauchi headed past the Austrian goalkeeper but his goal was quickly neutralised by the Florids.
Five minutes from time the Florids scored the winning goal with a glorious screw-shot which completely deceived Floriana goalkeeper Azzopardi.
The Florids XI showed that they were a balanced combination and, although they were not as stylish as the Hajduks, they possessed a sound idea of excellent defensive tactics and a mixture of short passes and crossfield play.
The match against the Army was next on their list. The Army had one of their best teams for many years and gave the Florids a very good game. They took the lead but the visitors scored twice before the end of the first half to go in for half-time 2-1 ahead.
The second half was very even, with the Army perhaps a shade better.
Towards the end of the game, Pleant equalised for the Army and a couple of minutes later Walstow missed a glorious opportunity to earn his side a prestigious victory when he missed a penalty.
One of the best crowds of the tourney was at the Empire on February 6, 1926 to watch the game between Floridsdorfer Vienna and St George’s.
In the first half, the Saints enjoyed the better of the exchanges and goalkeeper Hofer was kept busy as he effected a string of crucial saves.
Two minutes before the end of the first half, however, Xuereb hit a goal that shook the foundation of the posts.
The second half was only 10 minutes old when Rohrenfacer surprised the Saints’ goalkeeper with a soft shot to level matters and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.
When the Navy met Florids on February 9, the sailors wasted so many scoring chances that they deserved to be punished for their carelessness.
Florids scored the only goal of the game after 10 minutes through their inside-left Trunner and defended their slender lead for the rest of the game.
The Navy forwards gave the Florids defence a hard time but Hofer was simply unbeatable.
To make matters worse for the sailors, they missed a penalty.
Sliema row
The last game of the tourney should have been against the MFA XI but Sliema Wanderers refused to release their players for the national team and the MFA was forced to cancel the fixture.
HMS Malaya, the Navy League winners, were selected to fill the void left by the Malta FA XI in the programme.
The game was played on a Tuesday afternoon and, although the attendance was fairly good, the turnout would surely have been better had the game been played at the weekend.
Those who stayed away, however, missed the best game of the tourney.
Both teams were anxious to live up to their reputation and desperatley tried to win the game.
The result was a memorable football duel.
In the end, the Malaya team emerged winners by a single goal.
The winner was scored by Odley from the penalty spot 12 minutes into the second half.