It has recently been one hundred years since the birth in Vrdy (Central Bohemia, 12.12.1924) and 18 years since the death in Lausanne (11.12.2006) of Jiří Hanke, the only Czech footballer in the history of FC Barcelona. Hanke arrived in Spain in 1952 and played for the Blaugrana club until the end of 1955. A tough defender, a specialist in relentless marking, in Spanish football in the Ladislaus (Kubala), Pancho (Puskas) or Fernando (Daucik), Hanke was quickly renamed Jorge. In the Spanish League he lived his best sporting period, after beginning to excel at Slavia Prague, passing through Germany (Sankt Pauli), Colombia (Samarios, with whom he faced Di Stéfano’s Millonarios) and France (Lens).
A coincidence with Daucik and Kubala (Hanke was in Paris watching the 1952 Latin Cup final between Barça and Nice) opened the doors of Barcelona for him, although before that Samitier, who was not easily surprised, had him tested in some friendlies in which he lined up incognito, appearing as Fernandez in the lineups. He passed his first test in Granollers, on August 30, 1952, and his debut in the League came on November 16, in a Barça-Sevilla match in Les Corts.
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After playing in Colombia and France, Samitier had him tested as ‘Fernández’
But long before carving out an interesting football career, Hanke was a survivor. At the age of 20, in May 1945, he had to put down the ball and pick up a rifle to defend the surroundings of the Slavia stadium and collaborate in the battles to liberate Prague from the German occupation, in the last moments of the Second World War. Then he encountered the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia and was sought and captured for his alleged German origin.
His police file indicated that “Jiří Hanke is 178 cm tall. and weighs 83 kg. Slim build, dark hair, brown eyes, long face, prominent forehead. Straight eyebrows and nose, adjacent ears, symmetrical mouth, normal arms and legs, straight posture, no special signs, healthy teeth. The description of his clothing is unknown.” He fled Prague and began his globe-trotting ball career.
Already in Barcelona, Hanke surprised by his knowledge of Spanish (learned in Colombia), he specialized in marking the Real Madrid player Gento, and always left evidence of his corpulence and toughness. He defined himself like this: “I am not violent, but I am not afraid either.” In the historic Barça-Espanyol (2-1) on December 14, 1952, which ended the so-called Espanyol’s streak of oxygen, Hanke scored a goal and was then sent off for attacking the blue and white Vicente Balaguer Tasting another weapon to take. He lost two games. But much more controversial was the unexpected sanction he suffered after Barça-Madrid (5-1) on February 21, 1954 because he was not even sent off that day. The punishment was applied based on the report of an observer, a special delegate he was called, who sent the Spanish Federation to Les Corts to supervise Di Stéfano’s debut with the white shirt in front of the fans who thought one day that the Argentine would end up being theirs. . Without anything being recorded in any report of the match, the surprise was enormous when, days later, the list of Competition sanctions appeared: four matches for Hanke for attacking an opponent “behind the referee’s back.” The player was stunned: “I didn’t attack anyone, I call the 50,000 spectators as witnesses… If someone wanted to look for 5 to 1 justifications they could have chosen others more in line with the truth.” Then there was rectification and only He played two games.
Hanke fell from grace (see separate box) at the end of 1955, already with Francis Plattkó on the Barcelona bench, and after a long ostracism he was relegated to the Blaugrana subsidiary, Condal, where he barely participated in a game. He was almost 33 years old when he moved to Swiss club FC Biel, and he died in Lausanne one day before his 82nd birthday.
The punishment
Night of partying in Caldes
Hanke’s Blaugrana journey ended on December 18, 1955 after a defeat against Athletic Club (1-2) in Les Corts. After the game, the players gathered in Caldes de Montbui and a group of eight decided to take the night off. Hanke, with Kubala, Biosca and others, initially left the rally to go to the movies. They did it with the Barça tracksuit, since their street clothes were removed precisely to avoid these nocturnal adventures. Finally they ended up at a club at dawn and the scandal was huge. Kubala was stripped of his captaincy and Hanke fell from grace, punished by Plattkó. He never lined up again in official competition.
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