“Who was the first footballer to be worth their weight in gold?” tweets tresdessert.
Ah, if ever there was a question to make us lament the misplacement of all those gold valuation charts we’ve collected over the years. Thankfully, there were a couple of readers in possession of the Midas touch to make this section shine.
“Gareth Bale weighs 74kg according to Google – a quantity of gold that you could buy for a little under £2.1m at today’s prices,” begins Steve Hyde. “If there’s a poorly written ‘his weight in gold’ release clause in his contract, potential transfer suitors should get on that right away. Figuring out the first player to be worth his weight in gold requires us to look at the football transfer record across the years, the history of the price of gold, the dollars-to-pounds sterling exchange rate (since the price of gold is most typically expressed in US dollars per ounce, while transfer records are easier to come by in British pounds or Euros) and, of course, the weight of the players involved at the time that they were signed. The last of these four variables is nearly impossible to come by with any level of accuracy, but the rest of the figures are widely available on the internet.
“From these you can figure out that, in 1951, £34,500 would have bought Sheffield Wednesday either 78kg of gold, or John ‘Jackie’ Sewell from Notts County, who must have been somewhere around that mark. Since then, elite footballers have increased in price at a pace that vastly outstrips the price of gold – every record signing since has been worth considerably more than their weight in gold. For the record, it appears that Gianluigi Lentini was the first footballer to cost the same as a solid gold statue of himself – £13m would have bought you just over 100 cubic metres of gold in 1992, more than enough for a Lentini statue assuming he was roughly the same weight as Bale and of similar density to water.”
But perhaps Sam Dumble is the man on the money as he takes us back even further in history, while also shaming us with his presentation skills and attention to detail. “Since I obviously have nothing better to do I can tell you that the first time a footballer was worth their weight in gold was at some point between 1928 and 1932. You can make a good case for either Bernabé Ferreryra or David Jack (or even someone else). I’ve even done you some graphs showing the increase in the global transfer record over time alongside the approximate cost of 60kg and 105kg of gold. Reliable rolling weight data for all players is obviously hard to come by, hence why I’ve built in that margin of error into the graphs – going approximately from one ‘Alan Wright’ of gold up to one ‘Adebayo Akinfenwa’ of gold since they were the smallest and largest players I could think of.
“I’ve sourced the historical gold prices from kitco.com and USD to GBP conversion rates from measuringworth.com. Ferreryra’s transfer fee of £23,000 from Tigre to River Plate in 1932 means that, at the average market rates, the only way he would not have been worth his weight in gold is if he weighed more than 111kg. Given he looks pretty average sized in all pictures I would estimate one gold Bernabé Ferreryra would have set you back £15,000-16,000 at 1932 prices so he comfortably qualifies as being worth more than his weight in gold. The previous record transfer in 1928, of Jack from Bolton to Arsenal, is right on the borderlin; £10,890 could have bought you 73kg of gold, (or one ‘Kyle Walker’). I can find a source suggesting that Jack’s weight in 1930 was 11st 10lbs – 74kg; meaning he just misses out – the transfer fee was £360 short of his weight in gold. But his weight could easily have changed by a single kilo between 1928 and 1930 (plus who knows how reliable that figure from 1930 really is) – so there is a definite possibility that he may well have been sold for his weight in gold.
“However … come 1931 and there seems to have been an unexpected decrease in the price of gold; £10,890 could now get you 82kg of gold (or one ‘Wayne Rooney’). So, barring any massive changes in his weight, one David Jack’s worth of in gold in 1931 would have now cost a mere £9,210 – considerably less than his transfer fee. Given that he ended the 1930-31 season with 34 goals for a title-winning Arsenal side I would suggest his value to the club was equal to or greater than the fee they had paid. That makes him my choice for the first player to be worth his weight in gold. But there is then the secret third option … that the first player to be worth their weight in gold was a player who was so valuable that they were never transferred. It would be a very brave person indeed to make the claim that Bale is currently worth more than Lionel Messi (I mean the actual Bale not a golden Bale, which would obviously be worth more since he is bigger). So you could argue the first player worth their weight in gold was probably whoever the best player in the world was circa 1928. I should probably do something more productive now.” No, have a rest Sam. You deserve it.
Any more for any more? Email knowledge@theguardian.com.
All in the genes
Last week, we looked at league title-winning fathers and sons in anticipation of Kasper Schmeichel perhaps joining his pops, Peter, in possessing a Premier League winners’ medal. But Hannah Skolnick went further and also asked whether any other goalkeeping father and son duo had won the same league as each other? Jon Lea was on hand with an answer.
“The Mihaylovs of Levski Sofia are three generations of goalkeepers (grandfather, father and son) who have all won the Bulgarian League title, all with Levski Sofia,” he notes. “Biser, the grandfather, has four league titles (1964-65, 1967-68, 1969-70, 1973-74), Borislav ‘Bobby’, the father, has three league titles (1983-84, 1984-85, 1987-88) and Nikolay, the son, has two league titles: 2005-06, 2006-07.” Amen. “For further reading, visit this Uefa page.” Thanks Jon.
Musical instrument team names
“With Finn Harps having been promoted to the Premier League in Ireland, I wondered how many clubs bearing the name of a musical instrument can be found in the top flight of football leagues around the world,” muses John Hone.
“Triangle United in Zimbabwe (though not even the best name in that league behind the champions, Chicken Inn),” offers SV Horn (“yes, real name”). “Although, not sure if East Fife have ever made it to the top in Scotland.” Indeed, East Fife did play in the top flight of Scottish football. They were promoted in 1948 and stayed their for 10 seasons. In total they’ve spent 14 seasons in the Scottish top flight. And for those wondering what a Fife looks like, here you go.
And Charlie Talbot trills in: “Of course, Fiorentina are known as Viola in Italy.”
Meanwhile, Jamie Shoesmith goes off on a musical tangent. “I thought I’d while away some time assembling a formidable musical XI instead. I’ll be sounding out the opposition in a 4-3-3, time signature formation.”
GK Alex Bass (Portsmouth); Defence Maximilian Drum (Wacker Burghausen), Jannes Kilian Horn (Wolfsburg), James Organ (Didcot Town), David Pipe (Forest Green Rovers); Midfield David Banjo (Berwick Rangers), Steven Bell (Stranraer), Luca Piano (Campobasso); Forwards Viola (Haro Deportivo), Maximillian Sax (Trenkwalder Admira), Mathieu Cornet (Antwerp)
Players scoring international goals for countries they’ve never been to (2)
We were inundated with suggestions of footballers playing but not scoring for nations they have never been to. It would be cruel if we didn’t include them. So here you are (plus one who did):
@TomBry @TheKnowledge_GU Jong Tae-Se aka the 'People's Rooney' scored 4 in his debut for N. Korea in Mongolia but hadn't been to DPRK before
— Bethnal Y and G (@BethnalYG) April 13, 2016
“Scott Arfield of Burnley recently received his first Canada cap in a 3-0 World Cup qualifying loss to Mexico despite never spending a minute in Canada before arriving for training. He obviously didn’t get a goal,” deadpans Robert Scobel.
“After reading about Chris Birchall in your article on footballers who have scored for a country that they have never been to, may I also suggest an honourable mention for former Port Vale man Anthony Griffith,” writes Chris Dale. “Despite being born and raised in Huddersfield the now retired midfielder was selected to not only play for but also captain his father’s home nation of Montserrat for a couple of World Cup qualifiers against Belize in 2011. Both games ended in defeat for Griffith’s team which is a pity as half the island was made into an exclusion zone after a volcanic eruption in the 1990s which forced two thirds of the population to flee so the remaining citizens could have done with some cheering up.”
“I cannot find any evidence of Joe Lapira having ever set foot in Ireland,” writes Jack Matthynssens. “He was an American amateur college player who somehow earned a call-up (on the recommendation of his Irish granny) to the Ireland team’s tour of the US in 2007 where he appeared in a friendly against Ecuador.” He may not have found his way to Ireland, Jack, but he did find his way to Europe, where he played for Nybergsund in the Norwegian second division. He had a spell in India too.
Knowledge archive
“While playing his first game for Southampton, Russian full-back Alexei Cherednik was rumoured to have rolled the ball into play instead of the conventional throw-in. If this is true, is it the most extreme case of a professional footballer’s ignorance of the game’s most basic rules?” enquired Will Champion in 2006
We couldn’t find any official confirmation of the Cherednik incident, Will, but we did unearth one report in which it was claimed that Barry Horne was called upon to give the Russian throw-in lessons. Nothing more substantial than that, we’re afraid. “Surely the best example involved that player from Zaire in the 1974 World Cup,” screamed dozens of readers (almost as many as those wondering whether the original questioner really was the Coldplay tub-thumper) regarding an incident etched firmly in the memory.
We left it to former England assistant manager Lawrie McMenemy – of all people – to recall exactly what happened, as he rated it his favourite World Cup moment. “I’ll always remember a player called Alunga Mwepu, from Zaire,” explains Lawrie. “He famously stood in the wall when Brazil were given a free-kick from 30 yards out. When the referee blew his whistle, Mwebu ran from the middle of the wall headlong towards the ball and, before the Brazilian [Rivelino] could take the kick, hoofed it as far as he could up the field. First of all everyone was baffled, then helpless with laughter. The ref only gave him a yellow card.”
For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the Knowledge archive.
Can you help?
“Leicester could potentially be going to Stamford Bridge on the last game of the season needing to get something out of the game to prevent Spurs from winning the league,” writes Andrew Chambers. “Given that Chelsea will have nothing to play for and the intense rivalry between Spurs and Chelsea, it’s not hard to imagine a stadium of 40,000 fans all cheering on the away side. Has this situation ever happened before? If so how did it affect the home players?”
“With Rangers facing Hibs in the Scottish Cup final, it got me thinking: has there ever been an example of two non-top flight teams contesting a national cup final before (maybe leaving out the likes of the League Cup)?” ponders Eoin Byrne. “I can’t see anything from a quick scan of Scottish Cup and FA Cup finals.”
“Has any team scored the most goals and conceded the fewest and not won the league, as may happen to Tottenham?” muses Adam Gray.
“The recent Champions League quarter-finals resulted in an aggregate score of 3-2 in every tie,” points out Archie Jones. “In this symmetrical spirit, can you find a larger single round of games (league or cup, aggregates allowed) that all record the same score?”
“What is the longest run of games that a team has been in position to win their respective league title, without winning it (by losing or drawing and not taking the required points to get over the line)?” enquires James Ross. “My dark side loves the idea of the league and the sponsors, over and again, being ready with the bunting and fireworks only having to pack it away again (mwah-ha-ha).”
“Next year will be Chelsea’s first season without Champions League football since the 2002-03 season,” sighs Nick Cotter. “That means we have had 13 straight seasons in the Champions League, plus our 1999-2000 campaign, making 14 in all. In all but one of those seasons we have always progressed to the knockout stages, have reached the final twice, semi-finals six times, the quarters on three occasions and the second round three times (if my memory serves). Strangely, we have never once played Real Madrid during this run. My question is: are there any two other teams that have been in the same competition, reaching the latter stages often that have consistently avoided one another?”
“Watching an old clip of Paolo Di Canio wrestling the ball from West Ham’s designated penalty taker Frank Lampard, while their manager and assistant manager (Frank’s uncle and his father no less) looked on in disgust, got me wondering: has a player ever been subbed to prevent them taking a penalty that wasn’t ‘theirs’? Or worse?” asks Dan Christmas.
“My team Cheltenham Town are on the verge of becoming the first team since Darlington in 1990 to be promoted as champions from the fifth tier back to the Football League at the first attempt,” brags Joe De Saulles. “My question relates to the opening day of the season where they drew 1-1 with Lincoln City and the entire starting XI were making their debuts for the club (also interestingly squad numbers 1-11). So, the question is: apart from the initial years of leagues’ conception, have any other team won their respective division having had 11 debutants in their first fixture of the season?”
Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com or get in touch via Twitter @TheKnowledge_GU
