Matt Clough - Match of the Century: England, Hungary, and the Game that Changed Football Forever

First published 2022

The History Press

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Gloucestershire, GL50 3QB

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

Matt Clough, 2022

The right of Matt Clough to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 8039 9227 3

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The past is never dead. Its not even past.

William Faulkner

Spanning the glittering, aquamarine waters of the Danube, in the shadow of the imposing Hungarian Parliament in the beating heart of Budapest, there stands a bridge. Amid the Hungarian capitals architectural splendour, the Szchenyi Chain Bridge stands alone in its alchemy between form and function. Not only a connection between the ancient conurbations of Buda and Pest either side of the Danube, the Chain Bridge, flanked at either end by a pair of formidable stone lions, is a work of art. It owes its almost two centuries of existence principally to two men.

In many respects, William Tierney Clark and Count Istvn Szchenyi were unlikely bedfellows, sharing little aside from a relatively close proximity in age. Clark, from Bristol, lost his father early in childhood and by the age of 12 was apprenticed to a millwright so he could learn a trade and begin providing for his family. Through hard work and some star-crossed meetings, Clark found himself rising swiftly through the ranks at West Middlesex Water Works.

In eras past, the destiny for those like Clark, forced from education in order to provide, was generally a life of drudgery, of little ambition beyond scrabbling to make ends meet. However, he was the personification of the rising tide of industrial prowess sweeping Britain in the early to mid-nineteenth century. After centuries of a strict class system, the promise of the Industrial Revolution went some way to finally breaking down barriers. Britain needed innovators and brilliant minds to help push boundaries, and quickly found that the lower classes were every bit as likely to produce them as the upper classes were. It was a time of nearly unprecedented opportunity in Britains history to that point, and men like Clark were the chief beneficiaries.

Before long, his brilliant mechanical mind was focused upon the singular problem with which he would make his name bridges. His crowning achievement in Britain was Hammersmith Suspension Bridge, the first suspension bridge to span the Thames, which melded engineering brilliance with artistic flair, thanks to a neoclassical design. This meeting of style and substance was typical of many of the Industrial Revolutions greatest achievements and, combined with the vast news-spreading capabilities of the British Empire, played a critical role in making Britain not only the workshop of the world, but the envy of much of it too.

By the completion of Hammersmith Bridge, Clarks appearance was replete with many of the features that have come to be associated with his time. Typically clad in black, he boasted bristling sideburns that helped bring some volume to an otherwise sallow, almost sickly face that was well accustomed to an austere expression.

Szchenyi, who arrived in Britain in 1832 on a fact-finding mission, hoping to learn all he could from Britains sudden explosion of industrial vigour, did not possess such an unassuming appearance. A receding hairline of jet-black hair was accompanied by a chinstrap beard that brought to mind a Jacobian ruff. An impressive moustache sat atop his lip. Remarkably, none of these features were his most notable; that accolade went to a pair of mesmerically thick eyebrows which lent him an air of sombre wisdom.

It was a striking appearance that befitted a striking man. Born into enormous wealth and privilege, Szchenyi, the youngest of five children, could have easily lived out his life in opulent indolence. Instead, he joined the army at 17 and conducted himself with distinction during the Napoleonic Wars before travelling through Europe to glean insights into how he could help to modernise and improve life in his homeland of Hungary. He would ultimately be instrumental in the introduction of everything from critical railway infrastructure and steam navigation to milling and even horse racing.

He was fanatical about bringing British innovations home, but few stoked his imagination as Clarks Hammersmith Bridge did. Szchenyi rhapsodised that the bridge was far more than just a solution to a problem; it was, in fact, a creation of astounding appearance, a construction with the capability to overwhelm the senses, and to deprive man of his judgement. At the time, the vast River Danube rolled between two cities, Buda and Pest, and no permanent structure connected the two metropolises. Gazing upon Clarks structure across the Thames, Szchenyi knew he had found the solution for spanning the river and laying the foundations for modern-day Budapest.

Szchenyi and Clark began liaising frequently and before long a plot was hatched. Szchenyi set about persuading the Hungarian Parliament of the projects merits, while Clark busied himself with designing his masterpiece. After years of carefully navigating bureaucratic channels more treacherous than the ice flows that drifted down the Danube in winter, ground was finally broken in 1840, and the bridge opened nine years later. Appropriately for such a grand tour de force, the final stages of the bridges construction coincided with a tumultuous epoch in Hungarys history, as they fought for independence from Austria and the Habsburg Empire. At several points, the almost-finished bridge was threatened, never more so than when Austrian troops attempted to destroy it in order to halt the advancing Hungarian forces, only for the officer charged with demolishing the bridge to accidentally use the explosives on himself. The survival and completion of the bridge, denoting as it did a huge symbolic step towards modernity for Hungary, served as an apt metaphor for the revolution. Though the Hungarians were eventually defeated, the groundwork had been laid for the spirit of Hungarian nationalism which would play a critical role in the countrys future.

The Szchenyi Chain Bridge remains as a timeless reminder of the relationship between Hungary and Britain and a core difference between the national characters of the two nations. For Hungary, there was no shame at all in seeking help from others in order to advance their personal cause; gleaning advice from outside could help to avoid long and often painful learning curves. At the same time, as the British Empires diaspora was spreading the gospel of Britain and her innumerable innovations far and wide, a more insidious aspect was being ingrained within the national psyche at home: a stubbornness, an assumption of unending supremacy, an arrogance that lent itself to an unwillingness to learn from elsewhere. The British Empire was unrivalled in expanse and power what could anyone else possibly have to offer it?