Josef
Cifka
Male
Czechoslovakia
1867-09-05
Praha (Prague), Bohemia
1948-01-08
Praha (Prague), Czechoslovakia
The following piece was translated and slightly adapted from the original article in Czech, which can be found here: http://docplayer.cz/18992936-Narodni-technicke-muzeum-archiv-pro-dejiny-techniky-a-prumyslu-cifka-josef-5-9-1867-8-1-1948-1886-1939.html
By Miroslav Balcar
Josef Cífka came from a wealthy business family, the Cífkas. The founder of the family wealth was Antonín Cífka, a Prague hotelier, businessman and entrepreneur, who in 1870 bought a plot of land at Kněží hora in Loděnica, established a vineyard there and built a mansion, originally called “Cífková villa”, later referred to as “The Vineyard”. Towards the end of his life, Antonín Cífka also began mining limestone in a nearby quarry and making lime.
In 1891, his son Jindřich took over the property, and continued to grow the family’s wealth, establishing a new limestone factory, which was connected to the shipyard by a railway siding and to the limestone quarries by a cable car. Josef Cífka grew up in the surroundings of a shipyard castle and as one of the fifteen children of Antonín Cífka.
Josef Cífka became the darling of the entire Czech nation. In addition to cycling, he also practised football, tennis, skating and running. After his three-year career and high school graduation (1889), Josef Cífka became an active soldier, a civil officer and, after the end of the First World War, attained the rank of colonel of the Czechoslovak Republic Armies. His status as a professional soldier made it impossible for him to actively engage in sports, but he remained active in three associations of fans and supporters of sports, especially cycling.
We find his name, for example, among the members of the construction committee of the “Družstva sportivnoho závodiště”/“racetrack teams”, which built a modern asphalt racetrack in Prague in 1893, and “he did not regret either the personal effort or heavy financial sacrifices made in order to support and elevate his beloved sport” (Josef Windpipe).
Even later and until the end of his life, he was a respected member and a frequent guest at the events held by the “Cyclists’ Circle of the Nineties”, which was founded in 1929. The two most important events held by the Circle were parties, in honour of the 70th birthday of masters Josef Kohout (1933) and Colonel Josef Cífka (November 27, 1937 at the “U Zlaté husy” hotel in Prague).
The following article was translated and adapted from the February 2014 edition of the magazine of the First Czech Lawn Tennis Club, which can be accessed here: https://files.cltk.cz/q5pqa3zbfc05/2_14_web.pdf
Josef Cífka remembers:
Jára Beček reproduces extracts from the records originally kept by Josef Cífka, one of the founders of the First Czech Lawn Tennis Club in Prague
Josef Cífka came from a rich wholesaler’s family and in his youth was not only a very good player and promoter of sports, especially tennis, but apparently also an excellent manager – all this while working as a professional soldier. In the records, from which I am quoting verbatim, he writes that he is fond of the new English game called lawn tennis:
“I had a tennis court set up for my sisters and nieces at our family resort in Loděnice near Beroun, and I diligently played with them during the holidays. After my service transfer to the regiment in Prague, I realized my long-standing intention to establish a Czech lawn tennis centre in Prague, since there was none here before. Therefore, I called on twelve well-known Czech athletes and formed a lawn tennis circle, with each member paying 100 zlotys each. Then I hired from the private corps of sharpshooters the entire shooting range and the adjacent ground floor rooms on Střelecký Island in Prague.”
The names of these founders were: Messrs Karel and Josef Cífka, Josef and Václav Kašpar, Karel and Hugo Goldschmid, Josef Hamerník, Dr John, Václav Volenec, Artur Pflanzer and Fr. and J. Marešová. Josef Cífka continues:
“Within a fortnight, three sand courts were set up, and nets, rackets and balls were provided. Me, my brother Karl, my sister Milada and several members took on the role of coaching lawn tennis. Although our circle did not do any advertising, forty members from the better classes of Czech society in Prague soon signed up with an annual contribution of 50 zlotys. The statutes of the newly formed First Czech Lawn Tennis Club were submitted and soon approved under the chairmanship of my brother Karel Cífka, a hotelier in Prague.
“As an active lieutenant, I could not officially accept any roles at the club. The membership of the club was increased by members of the family of Mr Josef Rössler, from Židovské Ostrov in Smíchov. The social life and dance parties on Strělecký Island were supplemented in the winter with diligent ice skating.
“In 1895, the spring season was very busy at the club and preparations were being made for the first international lawn tennis tournament to be organized by our club. Since the German Lawn Tennis Club in Prague, based on Židovský Ostrov, had its own international lawn tennis tournament in the summer featuring the Czech and Prague Singles Championships, we had to name our championship differently, namely the Czech Crown Lands Championship.
“During the spring training camp in the town of Kostelec nad Černými lesy, I discovered two excellent tennis players in the Rademacher brothers, and also won them over for our tournament in Prague. On that occasion, I organized an internal tournament in Kostelec and won three first prizes. At our first international lawn tennis tournament, for which we received honorary prizes from Prince Franz Anton von Thun und Hohenstein, the entry of ladies and gentlemen was quite respectable.
“Entrants from across the country included Schmid, Baroness Spensboden, the Pleschner brothers, the Rademacher brothers, Rössler, Dr John, J. Kašpar, Dr Mastný, Židlický, Volenec and others, while the ladies included Milada Cífková, the Rösslerová sisters, Olga von Rašín and others. The men’s singles title in the Championship of the Czech Crown Lands event was won by Karel Rademacher, while Milada Cífková won the women’s singles event. I was the organiser of this first Czech lawn tennis tournament.
“In 1896, the club held its second international lawn tennis tournament, in which the men’s singles title in the Championship of the Czech Crown Lands event was won by Mr Pleschner, whose pseudonym was Gantsch, while Milada Cífková again won the women’s singles title.
“As the interest in lawn tennis continued to grow, the number of new members at the club was also increasing, and the facilities at Strělecký Island were not large enough. The committee therefore decided to terminate the lease and move in the winter to the [sports company Druzhstva Sportovního Závodiště in Bubny], newly founded by me. Here the First Czech Lawn Tennis Club again had three lawn tennis courts as well as more spacious changing rooms.
“In 1897, several young players from the disbanded Sculling Circle joined the newly-moved club. These included the future champions the Hammer brothers, Ryba, Žemlov, Čistecký, Tahal and others. That year I organized the third international lawn tennis tournament, where the men’s singles championship was won by Rolf Kinzel and the ladies’ singles title by Baroness Spens-Bodenová from Pilsen.
“After the club’s four-year residence in Bubny, in 1901 it moved, under the chairmanship of the pharmacist Toman, to the Island of Velké Benátky (Štvanice) in Prague. Unfortunately, I have to state that the interest of the wider Czech public in other organized lawn tennis tournaments was small.”
1895 - 1898
0
4
0
Round 2
R. Friedrich 1 *
Josef Cifka
6-4
6-0
Round 1
Dr. Hall 1 *
Josef Cifka
5-7
8-6
7-5
Round 1
Baron Frantisek Seraph Joseph (Franz) Ringhoffer 1 *
Josef Cifka
6-3
6-3
Round 2
Hugo Voss 1 *
Josef Cifka
7-5
6-2