Hungary's oldest international József Raduly turns 93

József Raduly was born in Budapest on 6th May 1927, five weeks after Ferenc Puskás and five weeks before László Kubala. The three of them could have formed a formidable forward line, but life turned out differently.

József Raduly spent most of his childhood in Balatonszárszó, before joining Gamma and training there as well as with Ferencváros. He was conscripted to join the Hungarian SAS while working at the Dreher brewery but was then taken prisoner by the US Army, eventually being sent home rather than anything worse. However, Raduly was still on German territory when he was captured by Soviet soldiers. He was taken as a prisoner of war by the Soviets in May 1945 and was only released in December 1950. He spent the intervening time in the Caucasuses, starving and playing football with, amongst others, István Avar, the legendary Újpest striker of the twenties and thirties…

On his return - and after the ÁVH subsequently arrested and released him, it took Raduly three months to find a club - Szentlőrinci AC - but even there he was received with some suspicion. He played for a short time with the Fűszert works team (because he'd found a job there), but he was a much better footballer than at that level and so he found a place at league club Postás, previously known as SZAC. In February 1952, in the first match of that season (seasons ran from late winter until early winter in those days), Raduly played his first NB I match. Postás' forward line was as follows: Raduly, Szabó III, Csernai, Bihari, Majercsik, centre-forward Pál Csernai later coaching Bayern Munich to the European Cup final in 1982. Perhaps even more interestingly though, Postás’ coach was Lajos Baróti, the then fledgling coach guiding his team to a 3-2 away win. Raduly spent two seasons with Postás before Baróti signed him for his new club Vasas, where he played 133 matches in seven league seasons, scoring 21 goals. While playing for the club from Angyalföld in Budapest, he was a member of the club's first Hungarian Cup-winning team in 1955, their first league title-winning side in spring 1957 and the lineup which twice lifted the Central European Cup in 1956 and 1957. In that first Central European Cup final in 1956, Raduly scored two goals in the sensational replay which Vasas won 9-2 against Rapid Vienna.

Raduly made his Hungary international debut in 1955 and played twice, winning against both Switzerland and Sweden in that year. In 1959, a leg break ended his elite-level career although he did carry on at a lower level for a little longer. After his retirement, he coached in smaller clubs such as BKV Előre, Csepel Auto (where he also played a little), Égszöv and Szigetszentmiklós. He worked with Vasas's youth players, and even during the club's most recent Hungarian championship title in 1976–1977, he and Pál Berendy were Rudolf Illovszky's assistant coaches. In the meantime, he also dipped his toes into another profession, for a time working as a correspondent for leading sports daily 'Népsport'.