The reduction of First Division was most likely a result of uncomfortable reality: export of top players greatly impoverished the league. Whoever kicked the ball even half-decently was aiming to get a transfer abroad, but new talent was scarce. Even the big Budapest clubs had difficulty finding enough strong players now – MTK-VM was the prime and ugliest example. From aside, this season marked significant change of power, but also testified for ongoing crisis, which shifted traditional leadership without establishing truly powerful clubs. It was nice to see provincial teams challenging the big Budapest clubs, but the parity was more or less a result from lower class of the traditional favourites. And the bottom of the league was a strong argument in itself for reduction of the top division. Three hopeless outsiders…
Ózdi Kohasz – last with 19 points.
SZEOL-AK – 17th with 20 points.
Volan SC – 16th with 21 points. The three relegated teams – but nobody else trembled with fear this season.
Nyíregyháza was 15th with 28 points. Plain nothing as a team, yet far superior to those bellow.
Diósgyőr – 14th with 29 points.
ZTE – 13th with 32 points.
Vasas – 12th with 32 points. A strong example of inevitable decline: the aging stars of the 1970s were transferred abroad and the club immediately dropped down to insignificance.
DMVSC – 11th with 34 points.
Bekescsaba – 10th with 35 points.
Haladas VSE – 9th with 35 points.
Pecsi MSC – 8th with 35 points.
Csepel SC – 7th with 36 points.
Honved – 6th with 39 points. Theoretically, should have been a title contender, but – no. Instead of growing stronger, it looked like that Garaba, Gujdar, and Pinter were just going through the motions until getting a foreign contract. And not much around them…
Same with Ujpesti Dosza – 5th with 40 points.
Videoton – 4th with 41 points. Still among the top teams, still promising, and still not really able to become a title contender. A bright good news after 1975, but… years went one after another and now Videoton appeared somewhat stuck – the reached the highest section of the league and stayed there somewhat unable to make the final step.
Wonderful season for Tatabanya – 3rd with 43 points. Great for them only – one of their best season ever, but nobody saw them as a potentially strong team. Rather, a one-time wonder thanks to the weakness of others. Including Ferencvaros.
Yes, still full of easily recognizable names, national team players, and the greatest Hungarian star of this period, but Ferencvaros clinched silver medals by one point, barely prevailing over modest Tatabanya and that was their best this season. And it was crystal clear… Tibor Nyilasi would leave the club any minute to play abroad. It was not a case of reinforcing the team around him, but a near future without him. And not only without him.
Ferencvaros was outpaced by a club seemingly coming out of the blue: Raba ETO finished with 21 wins, 7 ties, losing only 6 matches on the way. 49 points in total, which left Ferencvaros 5 points behind. Astonishing goal-difference – 102-50. This record explained the victory, but about that a bit later. Fantastic scoring, though.
The new champions hailed from the city of Gyor and were one of the most successful provincial clubs, having won 1 title and 4 Cups (1965,1966, 1967, 1979). However, their sole title was covered with dust – it was won in 1963, when the club was named Gyori Vasas ETO. Since their greatest period was also in the distant 1960s, nobody imagined them champions again – they finished 11th in the 1980-81 season. Yes, they had some outstanding players, but so far have been mid-table club for years.
Well, the second title was a surprise, especially abroad – the club was hardly known outside Hungary, so the old name appeared with their picture even in neighboring Czechoslovakia and could blame the neighbours? It was a club frequently changing names. To a point, their success, however overwhelming, was a testimony to the general poverty of Hungarian football – the big clubs were losing aging stars to export and there was not enough fresh talent to recruit. There was already noticed change under such circumstances: provincial clubs (Videoton and Raba ETO) were able to match Budapest financially. What helped the decline of talent – good players were often seen no better than the ones Budapest clubs had, so they did not hunt them heavily and many preferred to be big fish in a small pond when money were the same or better. Thus, aging Tibor Onhausz, no longer needed in Ferencvaros, found provincial Gyor satisfying, but if his case was typical for aging stars, it was not the case for the two big stars of the club. Peter Hannich and Lazar Szentes lead the team, obviously having no reason to move to Budapest – or perhaps Budapest was not very interested in them. But here they shined, reached the national team, and eventually triumphed as champions. And they were not alone – Csonka, Hajszan, Pocsik were of the same ilk. With 5-6 strong players Raba ETO was suddenly equal to the big clubs, which depended on pretty much same number of stars. The rest depended on detail – Jozsef Verebes (b. 1941), who coached Videoton in the previous years, was hired in the summer of 1981. As a player, he had been nothing – his highest achievement was at the start of his career, back in the 1961-62, when he played 3 matches for Ferencvaros. After that it was playing for insignificant second and third division clubs. Thus, he stayed in obscurity when he moved to coaching as well – so far, he managed to climb up to Videoton and, like his new players, Budapest clubs did not think him good enough for them, so he joined Raba ETO. It was perfect move: he employed ‘Dutch style’ football fitting for his new team. ‘Dutch style’ was a strange name, applied because ‘total football’ already evolved into something not entirely plausible: most elements of the original total football remained a must, but it was more physical game based on effort and workmanship instead of free creativity. It boiled down to endless running and pressuring of opposition, but kept the attacking age – more or less, it was simple philosophy: to outscore the opposition. Raba ETO proved perfect for that task: their defense was leaky (50 goals), but they answered with 2 goals to every goal their opponents scored (102). Hannich was wonderful scorer for such approach, everything clicked, and Verebes became a legend, immediately nicknamed ‘the Magician’. Raba ETO did not look like one-time wonder at all – they had enough good players, still relatively young to be sold abroad – unlike the players Budapest clubs had. From outside point of view, Raba ETO was not a great team, but were good enough to stay on top in Hungary. At home – the boys were instant legends. And rightly so.
The captain of Ujpesti Dosza Laszlo Nagy shows the trophy to adoring fans.
It was too bad Videoton lost – if not for anything else, at least to have such an exotic player as their goalkeeper Disztl running wild with the trophy around the stadium. But it was one more evidence of the sad truth: Videoton established itself among the best Hungarian teams, coming very close to success, yet unable to conquer the peak. Second best at best.
On the surface, one can shrug – what was new? Who else, but Ujpesti Dosza. They failed in the championship, but compensated with the Cup. But under that the picture was very different – nothing was left from arguably the last great Hungarian team (Kolar was the last survivor of it). The current squad was quite pedestrian and not different from provincial teams. In a single match the boys were still able to muster enough strength and outplay fairly equal squads, but the long run was not up to them . Experience, rather then class, was the driving force. And there was something strange: one automatically think that Ujpesti Dosza was constant winner – that was true for championships, but they won the Cup only 3 times so far. They were lagging behind provincial Raba ETO, which had 4 Cups, and even won their first Cup after Raba ETO already had 3 – in 1969. So the trophy was actually very desirable, especially when Ujpesti Dosza won it for the last time in 1975. Now they got their hands on it again, making it their 4th Cup victory. Well done.
