The Saturday we played for Ferencváros

Ferenc Rudas in 1949 at the UTE ground in Újpest, Budapest, speaking to reporter György Szepesi at the Hungary–Austria (6–1) international. The photo was not taken at the 1991 match. Photo: Fortepan / Kovács Márton Ernő · CC BY-SA 3.0

In the summer of 1991, a father, his 17-year-old son – then a youth player at Ferencváros – and four colleagues went to play a casual Saturday game on the pitch in Vajda Péter Street, next to Budapest's Népliget park. An elderly gentleman walked over and introduced himself: Ferenc Rudas, Ferencváros defender from 1938 to 1954, 276 league games for the club and 23 caps for Hungary. The Ferencváros veterans' team was about to play an international match against an Austrian side, and several of their players were late. All six of them started the game – the father at left-back, his son on the right wing. They won 5–0. The father played the whole match; the others were substituted at half-time when the regular players arrived. The club's officials and players thanked them warmly afterwards. "It was an honour to have played for Fradi once – in a winning match, together with my son and my colleagues."

The story as a song: Egy szombat, amikor a Fradiban játszottunk — DAI Studio73 (YouTube)

Based on the recorded recollection of János Szabó's father, with additions by János Szabó. The match details (date, score, line-up) come from family memory and have not been checked against an official match report. Career data for Ferenc Rudas: Wikipedia.