Bournabat Club
 Bournabat FC in 1894 | ||
| Full name | Bournabat Football and Rugby Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1880s | |
| Ground | Bornova Stadium, Bornova, Smyrna | |
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| ||
Bournabat Football and Rugby Club (Greek: Αθλητικός Όμιλος Μπουρνόβα) was a sports club of Bornova, Smyrna (present-day İzmir), Ottoman Empire.[1] Bournabat FC was consisted of Levantine players and is considered as the first football club ever in Turkey. The club's colours were red and black. It was dissolved after the Burning of Smyrna in 1922 as most of the Levantines fled the country.
History[edit]
Background[edit]
Back in 1809 Liverpool-born Charlton Whitall, the great-grandfather of eight members of the 1906 Olympic football team, went to Smyrna, a major sea port in Western Ottoman Empire, on behalf of the Liverpool trading company he worked for, aged 18. Two years later he established his own trading company, C.Whittall & Co, and they exported Turkish produce to England. Over the years his family was established and grew in Smyrna, becoming part of the Levantine community, consisting predominantly of Westerners (mostly British, French, Dutch and Italian) who settled long term or permanently in the Ottoman Empire.
First years[edit]
Bournabat Football and Rugby Club was founded by his Englishmen descendants in Bornova, an upscale suburb of Smyrna, inhabited mainly by Greeks and Levantines, in late 1880s.[2] The club's players also competed in other sports as every year at St George celebrations, Panionios in cooperation with the English and Greeks of Bornova was organizing 2-day competitions, the Panionian Games at the Bornova Stadium, and which many spectators were coming also from Smyrna.Godfrey Whittall excelled at long distance tracks and his cousin Herbert on short distances. The club co-existed in Bornova with other sports clubs, the Bournabat Junior Athletical Association (B.J.A.A.), consisiting of young athletes, and Athletic Union of Bornova, at the time.
The first recorded match in the Smyrna area was between Bournabat and Smyrna FC in 1894 at the Bornova meadow. Bournabat FC was the strongest team in Smyrna in the 1890s. This team consisted of: MJ Whithall, Ed. Charnaud, Percy Joly, Jim. R. Giraud, Pelcoc Whithall, AJ Whithall, Herbert Joly, AE La Fontaine, Edmund Giraud, Jim Gout, Hav. Joly, Th. Tarrazzi, Herbert Whithall, D. Whithall, Eddie Whithall, G. Whithall, J. Whithall.[3]
In 1889 Bournabat played against Constantinople FC and there is a report from that historical match, according to historian Mehmet Yüce from 2012:
| Constantinople Football Club | 3-0 | Bournabat FRC |
|---|---|---|
| Ernt Thompson (2), John Thompson (1) |
The squads were:
Bournabat Football Club: Walter E. Lawson, Charles Wilkinson, Edgar Giraud, Harry Giraud, Charles Giraud, J. Wilkinson, Richard Whittall Junior, Horald Lawson, Reginald Lawson, Louis Senn, Francis Barker, F. Le Bailly, James Joly, Godfrey Barker, Robert Wakeford.
Constantinople Football Club: Biliniski (defenders) – Ernest Thomson, Edwin Whittall, Frank Barker (midfielders) – Willie Whitall and Mountain (defensive midfielders) – J. Thomson, Fitzmaurice, Osman, Hampson, John Thomson, Reggie Whitall, H. Barker, B. Bond and Sellar (forwards).
1906 Olympics squad[edit]
In 1906 the club won the Olympic tournament of Smyrna against Apollon Smyrnis and Panionios and its players the city in the 1906 Olympics in Athens. Bournabat FC had five members of the Whittall family that won the 1906 Olympic football silver medal. Herbert Whittall, his cousins Albert, Edward, Godfrey and Donald Whittall, along with two other cousins, Jacques and Edmund Giraud and Percy la Fontiane made up the majority of the Smyrna team. Hebert Octavius was at one time the ‘manager’ of the Rugby & Football team in its early days.
The club's squad reperesented Smyrna XI in the 1906 Olympics in Athens.[4]
| No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DF |  Edmund Giraud
|
29 November 1880 (aged 25) |  Bournabat FC
| |
| MF | Jim Giraud
|
14 May 1882 (aged 23) | Bournabat FC
| |
| MF | Henri Joly
|
Bournabat FC
| ||
| GK |  Edwin Charnaud
|
0 December 1886 (aged 20) | Bournabat FC
| |
| MF | Percy La Fontaine
|
0 December 1888 (aged 18) | Bournabat FC
| |
| FW | Albert Whittall
|
14 June 1879 (aged 26) | Bournabat FC
| |
| FW | Donald Whittall
|
25 February 1881 (aged 25) | Bournabat FC
| |
| FW | Edward Whittall
|
5 May 1888 (aged 17) | Smyrna FC
| |
| FW | Godfrey Whittall
|
24 December 1882 (aged 23) | Bournabat FC
| |
| FW | Herbert Whittall
|
0 December 1884 (aged 22) | Bournabat FC
| |
| DF | Zareh Couyoumdjian
|
0 December 1883 (aged 23) | Bournabat FC
|
Later years[edit]
In 1907 and 1908 two more clubs were founded in Bornova, Ermis and Thiseas, both of Greek background, but none was as dominant as Bournabat FC. The club was one of the most powerful in Smyrna during the 1910s competing with Greek and Armenian teams. No team from the area of Smyrna had ever beated the club until 1914, when it lost to turkish club Altay S.K. by 3-1 in a friendly. Following the next years until 1922, the club changed its name to Barbarian and competed in the Smyrna football league sanctioned by the Hellenic Athletics Federation.
Accoring to Greek historian Nikos Kararas, main players of the last years of the Bournabat Club, were real sportmen personalities with high technical ability, not only for our region but for all the South-Eastern Europe: Jim Giraud, Charlton Whittall, Edward Charnaud, Donald Whittall, Albert Whittall, Herbert Whittall, Havelock Joly, Godfrey Whittall, Raymond Giraud, Noel Giraud, Walter Whittall, Cecil La Fontaine, Tony Matheis.
All of the club's players, as most of the Levantine clubs had a Greek NOC for travel purposes.
Smyrna XI Matches[edit]
Smyrna XI consisted of players from the Smyrna area (Apollon Smyrnis, Panionios, Maccabi etc) palying friendlies in Greece and Constantinople and representing th city in the Olympics. Most of the Smyrna XI players were from Bournabat FC. The emblem of the Smyrna XI was a Cross pattée.
| Smyrna XI | 2–1 | Moda FC |
|---|---|---|
| Smyrna XI | 10–20 | Royal Navy Crew |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) |
| Smyrna XI | 3–1 | Galatasaray SK |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) |
| Smyrna XI | 1–2 | Galatasaray SK |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) |
| Smyrna XI | 1–4 | Fenerbahçe SK |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) |
| Smyrna XI | 0–2 | Istanbul Team (6 Fenerbahçe players and 5 Galatasaray players) |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) |
_monument.jpg)
Notable players[edit]
- Percy La Fontaine
- Edward Whittall
- Albert Whittall
- Edwin Charnaud
- Donald Whittall
- Herbert Whittall [5]
- Jim Giraud
- Edmund Giraud
Mamakos (defender)
Notable managers[edit]
- Herbert Octavius Whittall (b.1858 - died 1929)
Honours[edit]
- Olympic tournament of Smyrna:
- Winners: 1906
- Bornova tournament:
- Winners: 1894, 1897
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ FUTBOLUN TARİHÇESİ Script error: The function "in_lang" does not exist. Archived 2007-09-12 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Levantine Heritage
- ↑ From the 19th to the 20th Century in the Ottoman Empire (In Turkish)
- ↑ "Football at the 1906 Athina Summer Games". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2018. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Herbert Whittall
Sources[edit]
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