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Atanasie Protopopesco

Atanasie or Tase Protopopescu, known professionally as Protopopesco (8 April 1900 – 22 February 1991), was a Romanian athlete and sports official, primarily noted for his achievements in association football (as both a defender and a referee), rugby union, and boxing. His first recorded participation in sports came during the 1910s: as an adolescent in Dobruja, he was involved with the amateur football club, Victoria of Constanța. Upon the end of World War I, young Protopopesco set up another such venue, Tricolor Constanța, and remained its occasional player into the late 1920s. Mostly based in Bucharest from 1921 to 1927, he played rugby for Sportul Studențesc, and football for Tricolorul București, which became Unirea Tricolor under his chairmanship. He made his international debut in football during unofficial matches for team Bucharest, which was facing a similar squad representing Belgrade; meanwhile, he took at least one challenge cup with his rugby team.

Atanasie Protopopesco
Personal information
Birth name Atanasie "Tase" Protopopescu
Date of birth (1900-04-08)8 April 1900
Place of birth Bucharest,
Kingdom of Romania
Date of death 22 February 1991(1991-02-22) (aged 90)
Position Defender
Youth career
1914–? Victoria Constanța
1919–1921 Tricolor Constanța
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1921–1926 Tricolor București
1926–1927 Unirea Tricolor București
1927–1928 FC Politehnica Timișoara
1928–? Dragoș Vodă Cernăuți
International career
1923 Romania 1 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Protopopesco's one match for the national football team was also Turkey's first-ever friendly (October 1923). He also had a stint on the Olympic squad for the 1924 Summer games—the only man on that team to have been born in the "Old Kingdom". In 1927, Protopopesco ended his affiliation with Unirea Tricolor, and played in regional leagues for FC Politehnica Timișoara and Dragoș Vodă. He made Cernăuți his permanent home, and the base for his activities as a referee. During the 1930s, he became involved in organizing boxing matches and training boxing referees.

Protopopesco returned to Bucharest during World War II; a staunch critic of the Romanian Football Federation and its educational system, he was validated in 1943, when he was made chairman of the Commission of Referees. He returned as a pundit during the communist era, stating his views on developments at the national squad. At the time of his death in 1991, he was the oldest-lived former Romanian international.

Early life

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Born on 8 April 1900,[1][2] Protopopesco grew up playing a variety of sports, including rugby union, competitive swimming, and oină.[3] The International Olympic Committee indicates his birthplace as Bucharest,[1] though his debut in football ocurred on the Black Sea, at Constanța. By his own account, in 1914 he set up the city's first local amateur club, Victoria (not directly related to the interwar Victoria Constanța).[4] This claim is partly contradicted by football historian Gogu Cojocaru, who reports that Victoria was created in 1913 by Dan Alecu.[5] Protopopesco was still present in the city after World War I. According to his own notes, he set up a new club, Tricolor, in 1919, serving as its chairman for the next two years.[4]

In 1921, Protopopesco left for Bucharest, being appointed secretary of the athletics club Sportul Studențesc—where he played rugby. He was not registered with the sister football team, being instead co-opted by Tricolor București; throughout that period, his Constanța teammates continued to regard him as their honorary chairman.[4] His story is again contrasted by Cojocaru's research: while he agrees that Protopopesco founded and chaired Tricolor Constanța, he sees the club as only existing from 1922.[5]

In 1922–1923, Protopopesco appeared in unofficial friendlies opposing a Bucharest representative team to a similar squad from Belgrade. By his own account, these were "brilliant matches",[4] as well as being the first international football events to be allowed after the war. The first took place on 9 April 1922 on the home ground, dubbed "La Șosea", drawing in some 6,000[6] to 7,000 spectators.[2][7] It ended in a 2–2 draw, but, as Protopopesco observed, the Bucharest team was made up of substitutes from Tricolor, Colțea, Prahova, and Romcomit.[7] The first squad had been composed mostly of FC Venus athletes, but they had quit after disputes with management.[2][7] According to his fellow defender Nicolae Secăreanu (later famous as an opera singer), a rematch followed shortly after, with Belgrade winning 0–9.[6]

Football international

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From May 1922, Protopopesco was secretary of the Sportul Studențesc association, under chairman Mihail Ghermănescu.[8] In June, the Bucharest team, with Protopopesco and Secăreanu as the two defenders, traveled to Belgrade; they won the subsequent match 2–1, taking a golden Friendship Cup, presented by Alexander Karađorđević.[6] In August, Protopopesco returned to Constanța and played briefly for its all-star team, facing his colleagues at Tricolor București in a 2–1 victory. The fixture was noted for the refusal of ethnic Greeks to play on the Constanța side.[9]

In October, Protopopesco reached national prominence in rugby, winning with Sportul the challenge cup against the Bucharest Tennis Club. A clear win (13–0), it led one Dimineața journalist to proclaim him an "exquisite kicker".[10] He was similarly praised by Rampa as "an admirable center-half" upon his return to the Bucharest Football League in March 1923.[11] On 20 August, he and Tricolor won the Crețulescu–Ioniță Challenge Cup, defeating Elpis Constanța 2–3, and scoring one of the goals.[12]

September 1923 came with another Bucharest–Belgrade friendly, though this time around the respective teams were clearly identified as Tricolor and BSK. Protopopesco was again praised in Rampa, which noted his "real progress", in that he no longer shot on sight, and collaborated better with midfielders.[13] Protopopesco believed that his performances against the Belgrade squads made him worthy of the Romania national football team.[4] He reportedly carried one of the earliest certificates as an international footballer, being registered therein as No 1.[2][14] He was simultaneously a referee, and on 21 October appeared as such at a Constanța match between city clubs Săgeata and Elpis.[15]

Protopopesco was a left-back in one official game for Romania. This was an October 1923 friendly against Turkey, for which he traveled to Istanbul; ending 2–2, the game was especially significant for the Turkish side, which was debuting internationally.[3] He was soon after replaced on that roaster by Attila Molnár, himself replaced within months by Ioan Krieshofer.[16] In late May 1924, Protopopesco was made captain of Romania's Olympic football squad, which was preparing for the Summer games.[17] As Protopopesco himself noted, he was the only player fielded to have been born in the "Old Kingdom", rather than in regions that had previously been under foreign rule[4] (he was also implicitly the first Constanța-based footballer to play for any national squad).[5] The same issue was discussed in a 1938 reportage by Silviu Herescu and M. Silvian, who further noted that all other players came from Timișoara (formerly in Austria-Hungary) and were generally not ethnic Romanians. Herescu and Silvian also propose that Protopopesco was only included for his Romanian-sounding surname, as he was otherwise inferior to his new colleagues.[18]

The departure was mired in controversy, after rumors that manager Adrian Suciu had wanted to withdraw the squad from the competition, and had been labeled a national traitor by various Bucharest papers.[19] After a 6–0 loss to The Netherlands, Protopopesco had his own dispute with Suciu, whom he regarded as incompetent.[20]

Unirea Tricolor and relocations

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Like all his Olympic teammates, Protopopesco paid for his trip to and from Paris out of his own pocket. Part of the money came from an additional fixture arranged by Suciu in Vienna, where the Romanians were defeated 4–0 by Austria.[20] In late July 1924, he traveled with Săgeata into the Kingdom of Bulgaria. At Varna, the visiting team had a 4–0 loss to Diana. He covered this encounter in an article for Dobrogea Jună, expressing his concerns about the overall mediocrity of Romanian football.[21] Despite his Bucharest affiliation, he continued to be fielded by Tricolor Constanța: in July 1925, they played against another Tricolor, of Călărași.[22]

In 1925–1926, Protopopesco was chairman of Tricolor București, in which capacity he oversaw its merger with another local squad, Unirea, producing the consolidated Unirea Tricolor.[4] During October 1927, he was again playing for Tricolor Constanța, and unable to prevent its 8–0 defeat by the new Victoria, in what had become a Dobrujan derby for the Brătoianu Cup.[23] He had by then taken up semi-professional boxing, and was training at Popovici Hall.[24] In December, while still registered at Unirea Tricolor, he made guest appearances in the Timiș-Torontal County league, at FC Politehnica Timișoara.[25] By April 1928, he had signed an exclusive deal with Politehnica, appearing as its left-back.[26]

In October 1928, Protopopesco moved to Cernăuți, signing for Dragoș Vodă.[27] He made occasional trips to Constanța where, in August 1929, he was coach of the city squad.[28] It was in Cernăuți that, in April 1932, he was admitted into the national squad selection committee of the Romanian Football Federation (FRF), as a corresponding member.[29] In February 1934, he and other FRF officials received the Meritul Cultural medal, awarded to them by the Romanian king, Carol II; Protopopesco was granted its second-class version.[30]

Protopopesco stayed in Cernăuți, where he worked as a schoolteacher after his retirement from football.[31] In September 1934, he was a FRF observer at the Divizia A match between Jahn and Stadiul Bacăoan Bacău.[32] A year later, Bucharest's Gazeta Sporturilor hosted his critique of football in Greater Romania. He argued therein that, having been torn apart by various internal influences and schools (especially including the style of play favored by Hungarians), Romanian football education had never managed to produce a style that "would fit our temperament."[31]

National-level organizer

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By March 1937, Protopopesco had been included on the referee board of the Romanian Eastern League, revamped with the addition of an all-Cernăuți team. He and his colleagues were praised by Gazeta Sporturilor as an infusion of professionalism.[4] He refereed both official league matches and international friendlies: in September, he was on call for the international match between Dragoș Vodă and the visiting Pogoń Lwów.[33] By November, he had joined the Bukovina regional committee of the Romanian Boxing Federation, drafting plans for a Cernăuți school of boxing referees.[24]

On 2 January 1938, Protopopesco was set to preside over a regional boxing competition.[34] During March, he organized and judged the All-Romanian Amateur Boxing Championship, held at the Cernăuți Modern Circus.[35] In his parallel career in football, he oversaw the national youth final, won by CFR București against Dovbuș Cernăuți. As observed by the Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, his refereeing there was subpar.[36] In August, Protopopesco threatened to resign from the Eastern referee board, after a conflict with the FRF, but was persuaded by central officials to reconsider his move.[37] On 22 October, he was voted in as chairman of the board.[38] He and all of his colleagues stepped down on 1 April 1940, declaring that none of their proposals had been enacted by the FRF.[39]

Weeks after this incident, Romania responded to a Soviet ultimatum and evacuated Cernăuți, which was annexed to the Ukrainian SSR. At the height of World War II, Protopopesco resurfaced in Bucharest, where, in May 1942, he refereed a Romanian Cup match between Carmen and FC Brăila.[40] The lost areas of Bukovina had by then been retaken by Romania, which participated on the Eastern Front as a German ally; a Bukovina Governorate was established. Protopopesco revisited Cernăuți in October 1942, as part of a squad of Bucharest referees that played against their local colleagues, and with Governor Corneliu Calotescu as a supervisor.[41]

On 15 November 1943, Protopopesco was elected to the five-man Central Commission of Referees (CCA).[42] Around the time of the anti-fascist coup of August 1944, he was clerking at the Bucharest Black Sector revenue service. In November, as Sportul Studențesc's rugby team was celebrating its silver jubilee, he asked former players to contact him at his office, announcing that he was organizing a feast.[43] In March 1945, he was serving as CCA chairman.[44]

Final decades

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Protopopesco remained active as a football pundit in his post-retirement decades, most of which (1948–1989) were spent under a communist regime. By the late 1970s, he was living outside Cișmigiu Gardens, on Rosmarin Street, at either No 10[45] or No 11.[2] On 9 April 1972, Sportul daily featured his anniversary article on the Bucharest–Belgrade match; it mentioned his hope that his example would inspire the Romanian squad.[7]

In November 1977, Protopopesco sent a letter to Scînteia newspaper, with which he commented on the overall decline of Romanian football. Therein, he advocated for expanding the youth program and for exposing juniors to the rigors of "modern football".[14] During a 1978 debate about the national team's physical fitness, he criticized the FRF for its high expectations in that field, noting that star player Nicolae Dobrin was at risk of being left out. Writer Ion Băieșu published Protopopesco's musings on this topic, but ultimately sided with the FRF.[45] In April 1982, as he was celebrating both his 82nd birthday and the 60th anniversary of his debut against Belgrade, he received in his home the sports journalist Mihai Ionescu. In the subsequent interview, he argued that, while football was more dynamic and technical than in 1922, it had lost its enthusiasm.[2]

In advanced old age, Protopopesco witnessed the end of Romanian communism. He died on 22 February 1991[1] at the age of 90, being at the time the longest-living Romanian international (only surpassed in this respect by Rudolf Wetzer, who died later).[46] Nicolae Secăreanu, who remained the only survivor of the 1922 Belgrade friendlies, noted in a June 1992 interview with Sportul Românesc that his colleague "has recently died, the poor fella".[6] In August, Mihai Ionescu mistakenly thought that Protopopesco was still alive. In the same newspaper, he argued that his absence from scheduled player reunions was due to his being "non-transportable, at age 92".[47]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 Atanasie Protopopesco, Olympedia entry
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mihai Ionescu, "60 de ani de la primul meci internațional la București. Relatări ale octogenarului Tase Protopopescu, internațional în anul 1922", in Sportul, 10 April 1982, p. 2
  3. 1 2 Radu Ciprian Pop, "Vom fi 16. Turcia", in Renașterea Bănățeană, 24 January 2000, p. 3
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Evenimente – fapte – Comentarii din provincie. Tase Protopopescu – vechiu internațional ne vorbește despre trecutul d-sale sportiv. Și despre programul comisiei de arbitri din Cernăuți", in Gazeta Sporturilor, 27 March 1937, p. 2
  5. 1 2 3 Gogu Cojocaru, "Sport. Istoria sportului constănțean / Fotbal (I). Cine a fost primul jucător selecționat în Naționala României", in Ziua de Constanța, 10 December 2012, p. 6
  6. 1 2 3 4 Nicolae Secăreanu, "70 de ani de viață, 70 de ani de serviciu. Amintirile unui artist", in Sportul Românesc, 8 June 1992, p. 3
  7. 1 2 3 4 Tase Protopopescu, "File din istoria fotbalului nostru. 9 aprilie 1922: primul joc internațional la București, după primul război mondial", in Sportul, 9 April 1972, p. 2
  8. ↑ "Dimineața Sportivă. Din țară", in Dimineața, 18 May 1922, p. 6
  9. ↑ "Dimineața Sportivă. Foot-ball asociație. Constanța", in Dimineața, 31 August 1922, p. 6
  10. ↑ John Gar, "Dimineața Sportivă. Foot-ball asociație. Constanța", in Dimineața, 9 October 1922, p. 8
  11. ↑ "Sportul în aer liber. Football-Asociație. Ziua de deschidere a sesiunei din primăvară", in Rampa, 30 March 1923, p. 4
  12. ↑ C. S., "Sportive", in Dacia Constanța, 2 September 1923, p. 2
  13. ↑ "Rampa-Sport. Viața în aer liber. Beogradski–Tricolorul", in Rampa, 27 September 1923, p. 8
  14. 1 2 G. Mitroi, "Din scrisorile primite la redacție: Cititorii despre revitalizarea fotbalului", in Scînteia, 20 November 1977, p. 5
  15. ↑ "Buletin periodic. Sport. Foot-Ball", in Dobrogea Jună, 20 October 1923, p. 1
  16. ↑ Herodot, "Zece ani de activitate internațională. Footballul românesc intre 1922–1931", in Gazeta Sporturilor, 19 January 1932, p. 3
  17. ↑ "Informații", in Dobrogea Jună, 20 May 1924, p. 2
  18. ↑ Silviu Herescu, M. Silvian, "Tribulațiile cu haz și fără ale echipei naționale de football. Primul 'trial' a avut ca rezultat un 0–6 la Paris, în cadrul Olympiadei!... Primul match de selecție — prima înfrângere serioasă", in Gazeta Sporturilor, 30 December 1938, p. 2
  19. ↑ "Sport. Méltatlan támadás Suciu nemzetiszövetségi kapitány ellen", in Brassói Lapok, 19 May 1924, p. 4
  20. 1 2 Radu Ciprian Pop, "Ramura de măslin a Olimpiadei. Primele prezențe românești", in Renașterea Bănățeană, 10 April 2000, p. 7
  21. ↑ Tase Protopopescu, "Sport. 'Săgeata' din Constanța la Varna", in Dobrogea Jună, 25 July 1924, p. 1
  22. ↑ "Dimineața Sportivă. Călărași", in Dimineața, 25 July 1925, p. 4
  23. ↑ "Cronica Sportivă. Campionatul pentru cupa General Brătoianu. Victoria–Tricolor 8–0", in Dobrogea Jună, 19 October 1927, p. 1
  24. 1 2 "Box. O importantă ședință a Comitetului F.R. Box Bucovina", in Gazeta Sporturilor, 29 November 1937, p. 2
  25. ↑ "Dimineața Sportivă. Rezultatele din țară. Timișoara", in Dimineața, 14 December 1927, p. 6
  26. ↑ "Dimineața Sportivă. Football-asociațiune. Matchurile de azi", in Dimineața, 9 April 1928, p. 6
  27. ↑ "Rampa Sport. Cronica", in Rampa, 20 October 1928, p. 3
  28. ↑ "Cronica sportivă", in Dobrogea Jună, 14 August 1929, p. 1
  29. ↑ "ROMBOL. Buletin Oficial al Federației Române de Futbol Asociație. Comisiunea de selecționare a echipei naționale", in Gazeta Sporturilor, 7 April 1932, p. 4
  30. ↑ "Sport. Distrucțiuni sportive. Lista decoraților de la F.R.F.A.", in Curentul, 20 February 1934, p. 3
  31. 1 2 Tase Protopopescu, "Stilul românesc în football?", in Gazeta Sporturilor, 19 October 1935, p. 1
  32. ↑ "Viața sportivă. Delegații federali ai matchurilor divizionare de Sâmbătă și Duminică", in Zorile, 20 September 1935, p. 2
  33. ↑ "Football. Match internațional. Pogon din Lwow susține două matchuri la Cernăuți. Echipa polonă va întâlnipe Wawel și Dragoș Vodă", in Sportul Capitalei, 12 September 1937, p. 2
  34. ↑ "Toate sporturile. Duminică, la Cernăuți, o reuniune de box amator", in Gazeta. Cotidian Independent de Seară, 31 December 1937, p. 5
  35. ↑ "Landesmeisterschaft der Amateur-Boxer", in Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, 6 March 1938, p. 6
  36. ↑ "Sport-Allgemeine. O zi de lupte mari. C.F.R. — campion al Juniorilor", in Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, 24 May 1938, p. 7
  37. ↑ "Sport-Allgemeine. Campionatul în plină desfășurare. Demisia n'a fost primită", in Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, 31 August 1938, p. 7
  38. ↑ "Sport-Allgemeine. Adunarea generala a arbitrilor", in Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, 26 October 1938, p. 7
  39. ↑ "Football. Demisia în bloc a arbitrilor cernăuțeni. Cum va soluționa acest caz unic C.C.A.?", in Universul Sport, 4 April 1940, p. 2
  40. ↑ "Cronica sporturilor. Football. Pe Stadionul Giulești Carmen se întâlnește în Cupa României cu F. C. Brăila. Un joc echilibrat in perspectivă", in Universul, 15 May 1942, p. 2
  41. ↑ "Matchul dintre arbitrii bucureșteni și cernăuțeni va fi patronat de d. G-ral Calofescu, guvernatorul Bucovinei", in Gazeta Sporturilor, 24 October 1942, p. 3
  42. ↑ "Știri și reportagii. Noile comisii centrale F.R.F.A. au fost alcătuite. — In general, au fost menținuți mulți din vechii membri", in Gazeta Sporturilor, 18 November 1943, p. 4
  43. ↑ "Cronica sporturilor. Informații sportive", in Universul, 14 November 1944, p. 4
  44. ↑ "Știri și reportagii. In câteva rânduri", in Gazeta Sporturilor, 10 March 1945, p. 4
  45. 1 2 Ion Băieșu, "Poșta rotundă", in Magazin, Vol. XXII, Issue 1068, March 1978, p. 12
  46. ↑ "Aproape 700 de fotbaliști au jucat în naționala României. Liderul prezențelor în echipa tricoloră este Gică Hagi, care, într-o carieră de 18 ani la lot, a jucat 125 de meciuri", in Transilvania Jurnal, 8 January 2001, p. 5
  47. ↑ Mihai Ionescu, "Tunelul timpului: Veteranii gazonului", in Sportul Românesc, 1 August 1992, p. 2
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