Thread by @Paperclip_In

A thread on a sportsman who dared to take on an oppressive invader: On 30th Jan, 1933, Adolf Hitler was sworn in as the Chancellor of the German state and the rise of the Third Reich began (1/n)

Hyper-nationalism was the fundamental basis for Hitler's party and establishing supremacy in sports was thus very important to the regime. Mismatch of expectation & reality presented a problem though (2/n)

The German national football side was ordinary at best and pretty much the whipping boys of European football. But a readymade solution was at hand. The football team of neighboring Austria were enthralling fans at the time (3/n)

Dubbed "Wunderteam", in 1934, they held a stunning 31/3 W/L record in international games. This included two matches with Germany where the hapless Germans conceded 11 goals. Dark days now lay ahead for the Wunderteam (4/n)

In 1938, Germany annexed Austria. The Austrian national football team was disbanded and the best players were ordered to join the German side. Many complied happily, others out of fear. But one man had different ideas (5/n)

The lynchpin of the Wunderteam was Matthias Sindelar - lovingly called "Die Papierne" (Paper Man) for his slight build. On the field, Sindelar's silky skills left fans in awe. But Sindelar's appeal wasn't limited to the field alone (6/n)

Hailing from an ordinary background, he was a working class, common man's hero for all Austrians. And Sindelar wasn't happy with what was happening to his land. To start off, he announced he was hanging up his boots citing advancing age (7/n)

It didn't go down well with the new regime. Meanwhile, Jewish sports club owners, officials and players were being hounded all over Austria. One of them was Dr. Schwartz, former president of FK Vienna. Players were ordered not to talk to him (8/n)

Everyone complied barring Sindelar. But he had more defiance left in him. In April, 1938, a unification match was announced between Austria & Germany. It was intended to be a grand show of brotherhood (9/n)

Sindelar demanded that Austrian players be allowed to wear their old jersey & be referred to as Austria. It was allowed. The authorities had let it be known that a low scoring draw was the preferred result (10/n)

The match became a farce as the superior Austrians toyed with the Germans but spoiled their own moves in advanced positions. But in the 70th minute, Sindelar scored, stunning the authorities and sending the home crowd into delirium (11/n)

The Austrians won 2-0. After the final whistle, Sindelar ran to the box where the Nazi leadership was seated and broke into an impromptu dance. Soon, eight of his former teammates would turn out for unified Germany in 1938 World Cup (12/n)

Sindelar continued to be a thorn in the regime's flesh so much that the Gestapo now maintained a file on him. All over Vienna, Jewish businesses were targeted & their owners were being forced to sell to Germans at very low rates (13/n)

When Sindelar came to know of such plight of a Jewish owner of the café he frequented, he promptly went and bought it off at an above-market rate, much to the chagrin of the Nazis. He also refused to join the new sports administration (14/n)

On 23rd Jan, 1939, a friend broke into Sindelar's apartment to find him dead along with his girlfriend. Official cause of death was poisoning from a faulty gas pipe that leaked during the night. For Sindelar's friends, the real reason wasn't in doubt (15/n)

Sindelar was 18 days short of his 36th birthday. More than 20,000 joined his funeral procession, many in tears. It was termed as Vienna's final act of defiance against Nazi hegemony. In life & death, Matthias Sindelar remained a hero (16/n)

Photo acknowledgements: history.com, thesportslegends.com, Invisigoth67 (commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?cu…)