'The Paper Man' remembered

Austria's Pelé
"Sindelar is to the Austrians what Pelé is to the Brazilians, something more than a footballer," said historian Wolfgang Maderthaner of the son of a working class, Czech immigrant family, whose slight build belied a great gift for football. "His importance transcended the game, made him a legend and a symbol and few ever achieve that."

Wien calling
Born on 10 January 1903 in Vienna, when his father died in the first world war, the young Sindelar took over as head of the family, working as a mechanic. However, his talent for football had been spotted and he was signed by Amateure Wien - later renamed FK Austria Wien - in 1924.

Extraordinary style
A knee injury nearly ended his career before it had begun, but Sindelar's acute fear of further knocks and waif-like appearance were to prove pivotal to his style of football. 'The Paper Man', as one of the few surviving players to have faced him on the field, 85-year-old Paul Pongratz remembered, was a stunning player.

'A chess master'
"He was technically the best player of all," said Pongratz. "He would dance lightly around other players, avoiding confrontation. He could read the game like a chess master and it was him who created the tactical game they called the 'Vienna school of football'."

International fame
With Wien taking two Mitropa Cups - the precursor to the UEFA Champions League - in the 1930s, Sindelar was soon co-opted into a fine Austria-Hungary side which he led to a period of extraordinary success before his career was ruined by the rise of fascism.

'A real sportsman'
"A lot of people think that his popularity made it difficult for him later, when the Germans came," remembered Friedrich Docekal who was raised in the same Favoriten district of Vienna that Sindelar called home. "He was a real sportsman, the Nazi system didn't suit him. It was no secret that he disliked their politics, that he had Jewish friends."

Political football
His sensibilities were demonstrated by his performance in a match to mark Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria in March 1938. Insisting that the Austrian side to take on Germany wore their national colours - red and white - for one last time, his display was legendary.

'The Germans were humiliated'
"There were rumours in the crowd that the Germans ordered the Austrians not to score," remembered Pongratz. "Sindelar missed chances on purpose, time and time again, almost at the goal. The Germans were humiliated, until, in the second half, he finally scored with a long shot. The crowd went wild."

Mysterious end
Offered the chance of playing for the Greater Germany side, Sindelar refused, retiring at the age of 36 to run a café in Vienna. Tragedy soon struck, with official sources claiming poisonous fumes from a faulty stove had overwhelmed Sindelar in bed. 15,000 supporters attended his funeral, and successive generations lay flowers on the marble football that marks his grave to this day.

Enduring memories
Maderthaner believes that Sindelar's quiet example provided some comfort to the Viennese as they came to terms with the horror of the second world war. "In Sindelar they found a positive figure they could identify with, a great athlete and a man who in that terrible time remained decent and who might have paid for it with his life," he said.