Ferdinand Isler (26 December 1866 – 14 December 1951) was a professor at the canton school in
Frauenfeld
Frauenfeld (Alemannic: ''Frauefäld'') is the capital of the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.
The official language of Frauenfeld is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Sw ...
. He was founder member of
FC Basel
Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...
and became the team’s first captain. He later became actuary of the club. He was a great propagandist. He wrote brochures about the football game and translated the English rules of the game into German. He was one of the first sports journalists.
Football career
Isler studied philosophy at the
University of Zurich
The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...
, graduation with certificate on 22 July 1885. He then moved to
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, was member of the Basel rowing club and during a visit to England he had seen the new football game. After a newspaper advert, there was a meeting on 15 November 1893 and the Fussball Club Basel was founded. Among the participants of the founders meeting was Ferdinand Isler and he joined the team that evening. Isler trained with the team and they played an internal match between two ad hoc FCB teams. At the club’s second meeting
Roland Geldner
Carl Maria 'Roland' Geldner (23 May 1870 – 1905) was a Swiss businessman and founder member of FC Basel. He was the club's first chairman. He was a well-known personality in the city and long-time player with the first team from the early days ...
was elected as the club's first chairman and Isler named as the team's first captain.
The first football match that the club held was on 10 December against the football team of the club RTV/Realschüler-Turnverein (secondary school student gymnastics club). Isler played in that match, which the FCB won two goals to nil.
On 21 October 1894 Basel played their first game in
Zürich
Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
, the city on the
Limmat
The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, after 35 km reaching the river Aare. The confluenc ...
, against
Grasshopper Club Zürich
Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...
, which was very positively commentated by GC in the local newspaper: ''It really deserves credit for the fact that they dare to travel so far, despite their short existence. Our colleagues in Basel have the same principles as we do. They find that one can only learn the game properly through playing many matches and possibly suffering defeats. Therefore, we pay the highest appreciation to the young club, that has to make significant sacrifices in order to achieve this aim.'' Despite all expressions of respect, the game on the Zurich swamp-like underground ended with a 0–4 defeat for Basel. After the heated fight between the two teams, the guests were entertained and then accompanied by the hosts to an evening drink and finally to the train station. Because of this, the FCB players looked forward to the return match against GC two weeks later. Over a dozen members gathered at the train station in Basel to accompany the guests through the city and to have a "morning pint" before the match. The spectators were shown an attractive game, which FCB only lost 0–3, they had improved compared to the first leg. It was noteworthy that Basel put the ball in the opponents’ goal twice before half time, but the both goals fell from an offside position. Isler played in both matches. As in Zürich two weeks earlier, in Basel too, after the game they treated themselves to a dinner and the opponents were also accompanied back to the train station.
Isler played for the team for three years, his last match with the team was in the away game on 26 April 1896 as Basel won 3–2 against FC Excelsior Zürich.
In his three years with the team Isler played a total of at least 17 games for Basel.
Private life
In 1893, Isler set himself the task of devoting himself to the rules of football, as these did not yet exist in Switzerland at the time. Isler ordered the rules in English, translated them and published articles about the "football game" in various newspapers.
Isler stayed with the club as non-playing functiontier, he also became actuary of the club. He was a publicist and wrote brochures about the football game. He was one of the first sports journalists and later was also a professor at the canton school in
Frauenfeld
Frauenfeld (Alemannic: ''Frauefäld'') is the capital of the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.
The official language of Frauenfeld is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Sw ...
.
Notes
Footnotes
References
Sources
* Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2017/2018. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG.
* Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isler, Ferdinand
FC Basel players
Swiss footballers
Association football defenders
FC Basel non-playing staff
1866 births
1951 deaths