Rodolphe Seeldrayers
Encyclopedia
Rodolphe William Seeldrayers (December 16, 1876 - October 7, 1955 ) was the 4th President of FIFA, serving from 1954 to 1955. He was actively involved in the official associations of Belgian sports.
, soccer, aviation
, cricket
, field hockey
, golf
and, in a small measure, tennis
and swimming
— eight different sports in which he was involved — athletics and soccer being without any doubt his predilection. To begin with, he was the Belgian champion of the 110-meter hurdle
s in 1897, and he competed for ten years; secondly, he was the Belgian Division of honor champion with the Racing
-Club of Brussels' team in 1900, and captain of the university
team of Brussels in 1898 and 1899. All in all, he competed for 26 years.
As for other fields, their practice lasted an average of ten years and always at an elevated level of accomplishment, winning at least a championship: he had five years in the Regatta Club (Cercle des régates) of Brussels and the "Sunburn" team (Coup de Soleil), ten years of cricket in le Racing and the "Ango-Belgian Club" of Brussels, and was its three time champion of Belgium. He was captain, in 1924, of the national team which defeated France in Paris, ten years of hockey in the Racing-Club of Brussels, and in 1903, in the national team against France, in Paris; golf from 1919 onwards in the Waterloo Golf Club where he was captain for ten years.
Seeldrayers was a very accomplished sportsman, and as can be seen from the many sports in which he competed, he had preference for team sports, which agreed with his conception of sports, since, according to Seeldrayers, sports must be the playing-field of an apprenticeship
in the necessary values of life
and community
.
at the Université Libre de Bruxelles
(Free University of Brussels), where he began his sporting activities. At 19, he was one of the founders of the Union royale belge des Sociétés de football association (URBSFA), or Royal Belgian Union of the Football Association Societies, of which he was the treasurer
for four years and the Executive Counsel for 25 years. He was later elected member of honor. In 1914, the Union used his talents as an orator and named him delegate to FIFA, of which he was made Vice-President in 1927.
In 1899, Seeldrayers began a career as a sports journalist
with the magazine "La vie sportive", (Sporting life), writing a column under the pen name Spectator. Ten years later, he founded the National Committee for Physical Education which merged with the Belgian Olympic Committee. He became head of the committee beginning in 1946, succeeding Prince Albert de Ligne.
In 1920, he was Technical Secretary of the Olympic Games
at Anvers, and would be a member of the appeals jury for soccer at the Olympic games several times, most notably at the 1936 Summer Olympics
in Berlin, where an incident during the Peru
v Austria game provoked an appeals jury consultation. During the match spectators invaded the pitch. The Austrian Football Association
sent a complaint to the appeals committee which decided, after deliberation, to re-play the match "behind closed doors." Peru disagreed and their entire Olympic squad left the Games complaining of the 'crafty Berlin decision'. He also received the official Czechoslovak complaint following the abandoned 1920 Olympic Final which had been refereed by John Lewis
.
Inveterate founder of clubs and associations, the following organizations are to Seeldrayers' credit: the Waterloo
Golf-Club (1923), the Ixelles Football Club (which would be part of the merger with the Racing Club of Brussels) and the Anglo-Belgian Cricket Sporting Club. Selldrayers seemed to be well-received in English circles: up-to-date and to the point in matters of sport, he furthermore had perfectly mastered the English language. At the same time, Seeldrayers continued his journalistic activities and began a new collaboration with the publication "Sports Echo" (L'Écho des Sports), but it would end this aspect of his activities in 1935, while still continuing to publish articles and to make his opinions known in the columns of the Bulletins of the International Olympic Committee.
The Second World War slowed down his activities somewhat without stopping them: as a member of the Belgian Olympic Committee
during the Occupation, he stood up for the independence of Belgian sport. At the end of the War, he was one of the members of the International Olympic Committee
for the first post-war Games, in 1946.
At the beginning of 1955, the universally respected Frenchman Jules Rimet
resigned from FIFA and passed his authority to his Vice-President, R. W. Seeldrayers. This handing down of power, as well as the matches of the World Cup
of 1954 were shown on television for the first time. A great mutual respect existed between the two men, which translated, on the part of the Belgian, into a motion introduced on July 25, 1946 at a FIFA congress, to change the name of the World Cup
to the "Jules Rimet Cup." Under his Presidency, the Federation counted 85 members and celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.
For many years, the question of amateurism posed a problem. With the development of the sport, the phenomenon of professionalism began to bring into question the fundamentals of the conception of the Olympic Games as P. de Coubertin
wanted them to be. Debates raged, and a Commission on Amateurism was created, supported by the International Olympic Committee. Seeldrayers took part in it. In the end, the commission submitted its final report in 1947, at the session in Stockholm
. It included, among other things, a definition of amateurism, and required future participants in the Olympic Games to sign a declaration affirming that they were truly amateurs, and proposing the creation of a permanent commission, composed of three members of the International Olympic Committee and a delegate of each international federation. But the problem was not much forgotten.
Under his Presidency of FIFA, Seeldrayers faced another problem: FIFA was in fact reproached for having given permission for "false" amateurs to participate in a Helsinki
tournament, even though a definition of amateurism had been introduced in the FIFA bylaws by Seeldrayers himself, Vice President of the federation at the time. The problem is complex, with the decision of which games will participate in majors sports events at stake. It was also a time when regimes used sports as a means of propaganda.
Aware of the importance of this problem, Seeldrayers remained faithful to his view of sport. For him, "from a point of view strictly Olympic, sport is only possible, theoretically, when practiced by amateurs." His opinion didn't prevent him from respecting professional players who followed the spirit of the game with loyalty, sincerity, and fair-play. And even though he clearly saw the use of sports in communist propaganda, he understood and approved that phenomenon to a certain extent. In his opinion, sports were a key element of social organization. They must be integrated to the school curriculum on the same level that any other subject and are capital to youths' education.
Seeldrayers considered the spectators as flawed, and over time, his opinion didn't improve. He believed that it was the duty of the press to teach the spectator.
R.W. Seeldrayers died a year after his election as president of FIFA, on October 7, 1955 due to illness. He received semi-official funerals following a governmental decision. He was posthumously elected as member of the IOC (International Olympic Committee). It was then decided that this title would not be given posthumously again.
Body
Eight fields of Belgian sports have benefited from Seeldrayers' attentions: athleticsAthletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
, soccer, aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and, in a small measure, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
and swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
— eight different sports in which he was involved — athletics and soccer being without any doubt his predilection. To begin with, he was the Belgian champion of the 110-meter hurdle
Hurdling
Hurdling is a type of track and field race.- Distances :There are sprint hurdle races and long hurdle races. The standard sprint hurdle race is 110 meters for men and 100 meters for women. The standard long hurdle race is 400 meters for both men and women...
s in 1897, and he competed for ten years; secondly, he was the Belgian Division of honor champion with the Racing
Racing
A sport race is a competition of speed, against an objective criterion, usually a clock or to a specific point. The competitors in a race try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time...
-Club of Brussels' team in 1900, and captain of the university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
team of Brussels in 1898 and 1899. All in all, he competed for 26 years.
As for other fields, their practice lasted an average of ten years and always at an elevated level of accomplishment, winning at least a championship: he had five years in the Regatta Club (Cercle des régates) of Brussels and the "Sunburn" team (Coup de Soleil), ten years of cricket in le Racing and the "Ango-Belgian Club" of Brussels, and was its three time champion of Belgium. He was captain, in 1924, of the national team which defeated France in Paris, ten years of hockey in the Racing-Club of Brussels, and in 1903, in the national team against France, in Paris; golf from 1919 onwards in the Waterloo Golf Club where he was captain for ten years.
Seeldrayers was a very accomplished sportsman, and as can be seen from the many sports in which he competed, he had preference for team sports, which agreed with his conception of sports, since, according to Seeldrayers, sports must be the playing-field of an apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
in the necessary values of life
Life
Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate...
and community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
.
Spirit
Born in 1876 in Düsseldorf, Germany, R.W. Seeldrayers studied lawLaw
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
at the Université Libre de Bruxelles
Université Libre de Bruxelles
The Université libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has 21,000 students, 29% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.-Name:...
(Free University of Brussels), where he began his sporting activities. At 19, he was one of the founders of the Union royale belge des Sociétés de football association (URBSFA), or Royal Belgian Union of the Football Association Societies, of which he was the treasurer
Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The adjective for a treasurer is normally "tresorial". The adjective "treasurial" normally means pertaining to a treasury, rather than the treasurer.-Government:...
for four years and the Executive Counsel for 25 years. He was later elected member of honor. In 1914, the Union used his talents as an orator and named him delegate to FIFA, of which he was made Vice-President in 1927.
In 1899, Seeldrayers began a career as a sports journalist
Sports journalism
Sports journalism is a form of journalism that reports on sports topics and events.While the sports department within some newspapers has been mockingly called the toy department, because sports journalists do not concern themselves with the 'serious' topics covered by the news desk, sports...
with the magazine "La vie sportive", (Sporting life), writing a column under the pen name Spectator. Ten years later, he founded the National Committee for Physical Education which merged with the Belgian Olympic Committee. He became head of the committee beginning in 1946, succeeding Prince Albert de Ligne.
In 1920, he was Technical Secretary of the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
at Anvers, and would be a member of the appeals jury for soccer at the Olympic games several times, most notably at the 1936 Summer Olympics
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...
in Berlin, where an incident during the Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
v Austria game provoked an appeals jury consultation. During the match spectators invaded the pitch. The Austrian Football Association
Austrian Football Association
The Austrian Football Association is the governing body of football in Austria. It organizes the football league, Austrian Bundesliga, the Austrian Cup and the Austrian national team, as well as its female equivalent. It is based in Vienna....
sent a complaint to the appeals committee which decided, after deliberation, to re-play the match "behind closed doors." Peru disagreed and their entire Olympic squad left the Games complaining of the 'crafty Berlin decision'. He also received the official Czechoslovak complaint following the abandoned 1920 Olympic Final which had been refereed by John Lewis
John Lewis (referee)
John Lewis was an English football player, administrator and referee. He was born at Market Drayton, Shropshire, but lived most of his life in Lancashire and was primarily associated with Blackburn Rovers F.C...
.
Inveterate founder of clubs and associations, the following organizations are to Seeldrayers' credit: the Waterloo
Waterloo, Belgium
Waterloo is a Walloon municipality located in the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium. On December 31, 2009, Waterloo had a total population of 29,573. The total area is 21.03 km² which gives a population density of 1,407 inhabitants per km²...
Golf-Club (1923), the Ixelles Football Club (which would be part of the merger with the Racing Club of Brussels) and the Anglo-Belgian Cricket Sporting Club. Selldrayers seemed to be well-received in English circles: up-to-date and to the point in matters of sport, he furthermore had perfectly mastered the English language. At the same time, Seeldrayers continued his journalistic activities and began a new collaboration with the publication "Sports Echo" (L'Écho des Sports), but it would end this aspect of his activities in 1935, while still continuing to publish articles and to make his opinions known in the columns of the Bulletins of the International Olympic Committee.
The Second World War slowed down his activities somewhat without stopping them: as a member of the Belgian Olympic Committee
Belgian Olympic Committee
The Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee , abbreviated to COIB or BOIC, is the National Olympic Committee for Belgium. It was founded in 1906 and the administrative seat is located in Brussels.-List of presidents:...
during the Occupation, he stood up for the independence of Belgian sport. At the end of the War, he was one of the members of the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
for the first post-war Games, in 1946.
At the beginning of 1955, the universally respected Frenchman Jules Rimet
Jules Rimet
Jules Rimet was a French football administrator who was the 3rd President of FIFA, serving from 1921 to 1954. He was FIFA's longest serving president, having served for 33 years. He also served as the president of the French Football Federation from 1919 to 1946...
resigned from FIFA and passed his authority to his Vice-President, R. W. Seeldrayers. This handing down of power, as well as the matches of the World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
of 1954 were shown on television for the first time. A great mutual respect existed between the two men, which translated, on the part of the Belgian, into a motion introduced on July 25, 1946 at a FIFA congress, to change the name of the World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
to the "Jules Rimet Cup." Under his Presidency, the Federation counted 85 members and celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.
For many years, the question of amateurism posed a problem. With the development of the sport, the phenomenon of professionalism began to bring into question the fundamentals of the conception of the Olympic Games as P. de Coubertin
Pierre de Coubertin
Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin was a French educationalist and historian, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games...
wanted them to be. Debates raged, and a Commission on Amateurism was created, supported by the International Olympic Committee. Seeldrayers took part in it. In the end, the commission submitted its final report in 1947, at the session in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. It included, among other things, a definition of amateurism, and required future participants in the Olympic Games to sign a declaration affirming that they were truly amateurs, and proposing the creation of a permanent commission, composed of three members of the International Olympic Committee and a delegate of each international federation. But the problem was not much forgotten.
Under his Presidency of FIFA, Seeldrayers faced another problem: FIFA was in fact reproached for having given permission for "false" amateurs to participate in a Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
tournament, even though a definition of amateurism had been introduced in the FIFA bylaws by Seeldrayers himself, Vice President of the federation at the time. The problem is complex, with the decision of which games will participate in majors sports events at stake. It was also a time when regimes used sports as a means of propaganda.
Aware of the importance of this problem, Seeldrayers remained faithful to his view of sport. For him, "from a point of view strictly Olympic, sport is only possible, theoretically, when practiced by amateurs." His opinion didn't prevent him from respecting professional players who followed the spirit of the game with loyalty, sincerity, and fair-play. And even though he clearly saw the use of sports in communist propaganda, he understood and approved that phenomenon to a certain extent. In his opinion, sports were a key element of social organization. They must be integrated to the school curriculum on the same level that any other subject and are capital to youths' education.
Seeldrayers considered the spectators as flawed, and over time, his opinion didn't improve. He believed that it was the duty of the press to teach the spectator.
R.W. Seeldrayers died a year after his election as president of FIFA, on October 7, 1955 due to illness. He received semi-official funerals following a governmental decision. He was posthumously elected as member of the IOC (International Olympic Committee). It was then decided that this title would not be given posthumously again.