The
cup was won by Tatabanya. But this was not the Hungarian Cup – it
was the winter cup provided by the sports magazine Kepes Sport. A
novelty of that time – winter indoor tournaments were popular
around Europe, largely to provide some semi-competitive football
during the pause between fall and spring halves of the season, partly
to help preparations for the spring.
Here
are the winners – another feature of such tournaments was that
otherwise weak clubs often performed well. No wonder: reserves and
new players were tried and the rules varied. It was not futsal at
all. With time these tournaments faded away and practically
disappeared, so this note is mostly for the sake of history.
As
for the real Cup, Ferencvaros and Pecsi MSC reached the final. For
the 'peoples club' it was a chance to salvage the disastrous season.
For Pecsi MSC too... they were in decline for some time, sinking to
the lower half of the table. Once upon a time the club from Pecs was
stronger, but not in the 1970s – so a rare opportunity to win a
trophy, to restore pride. In the championship Pecsi MSC was worse
than Ferencvaros – they finished 13th
– and their squad was way weaker, but such things hardly matter at
finals. Stakes were high – the 'peoples club' had to come back
somewhat in a season dominated by the arch-enemies, the Army and the
Police. In the same time the 'provincials' really wanted the noses of
the hated big boys from the capital, robbing the provinces all the
time. Intriguing rivalries. Perhaps they were not just on paper,
perhaps the opponents were not all tha strong, but the final ended in
a tie. In the overtime Ferencvaros prevailed 4-2.
One
more Cup for Ferencvaros and season saved. Or may be not? The winners
look not too happy...
The
finalists did their best... and lost. Unfortunately, Pecs had no real
argument – apart from their goalkeeper Katzirz they had no classy
players. Ferencvaros had a very weak year, but still it was a squad
full of former and current national team players.
This
squad, led by Tibor Nyilasi, was good for a double. So the names
suggest... yet, it ended only with the Cup, and the trophy was won
with difficulties. It was better squad than Honved's and probably at
par with Ujpesti Dosza's, but... lucky just to salvage this season.
For some reason Ferencvaros never really soared in the 1970s. May be
they were psychologically weak. May be there was always some missing
key ingredient. At least they won the Cup – for the 14th
time! And a real Cup, not like Tatabanya's.