Grațian Sepi

Grațian Sepi

Rampa newspaper, 1936
Personal information
Date of birth	30 December 1910
Place of birth	Valkány, Austria-Hungary
Date of death	6 March 1977 (aged 67)
Place of death	Timișoara, Romania
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1922–1924	Politehnica Timișoara
1924–1925	Banatul Timișoara
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1925–1928	Politehnica Timișoara
1928–1929	Banatul Timișoara
1929–1930	România Cluj
1931	Universitatea Cluj	1	(7)
1932	Ripensia Timișoara
1932–1934	Universitatea Cluj	32	(33)
1934–1937	Venus București	39	(27)
1937–1939	Ripensia Timișoara	16	(7)
1939–1942	UM Cugir
Total		81	(58)
International career
1928–1937[1]	Romania	23	(14)
Managerial career
1940–1942	UM Cugir
	CFR Timișoara
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Grațian Sepi (30 December 1910 – 6 March 1977) was a Romanian footballer who played as a striker.

Club career

Grațian Sepi, nicknamed "The Tank from the Balkans" or "The Brunette Sindelar" was born on 30 December 1910 in Valkány, Austria-Hungary, being his parents second child of three boys.^[2][3][4][5] After spending the first few years in Valkány, his family moved to Timișoara where he grew up in the Mehala neighborhood.^[3][6] He started playing junior level football in 1922 at local club, Politehnica.^[2][3][4][6] In 1924 he moved to neighboring club, Banatul, then after a short while he returned to Politehnica where he played three seasons.^[2][3][4] In the 1928–29 season he played for Banatul, reaching the semi-finals of the national league where they were defeated with 3–0 by România Cluj, a team for whom he would play in the following season.^[2][3][4][7]

In 1931 he went to play for Universitatea Cluj where in his first season he scored seven goals in a 7–1 win over Haggibor Cluj from the regional championship.^[2][3][4][8] In the following season after playing for a while for Ripensia Timișoara, Sepi returned to "U" Cluj where he scored six goals against Haggibor in a 17–0 in the regional championship.^[4][9] In the 1932–33 season, The Red Caps reached the championship final which was lost in front of Ripensia Timișoara, Sepi managing to score a goal.^[2][4][10] Ripensia also defeated them in the 1934 Cupa României final but he did not play in it as he was injured badly in the semi-finals with UD Reșița.^[4]

Afterwards he was transferred from "U" Cluj to Venus București for a total fee of 140.000 Romanian lei where in the 1935–36 season he scored 18 goals which made him the second top-goalscorer of the league, having five goals less than CFR București's Ștefan Barbu.^[2][4][11] In the following season he helped the team win the title, scoring once in the six games coach Ferenc Plattkó used him.^{[2][3][4][12]} In 1937 he went to play for Ripensia Timișoara where in his first season coach Sepp Pojar used him in 10 matches in which he netted seven goals which helped the club win the title.^{[2][3][12][13]} On 14 May 1939 he made his last Divizia A appearance in Ripensia's 3–0 away loss in front of Sportul Studențesc București.^[2] Sepi ended his career in 1942 after playing in the Romanian lower leagues for UM Cugir.^[2][5]

International career

Grațian Sepi played 23 games of which in six he was captain and scored 14 goals at international level for Romania, making his debut on 15 April 1928 under coach Teofil Morariu in a 4–2 home win in a friendly over Turkey in which he scored a goal.^[14][15] As he was 17 years, three months and 16 days old at his debut, Sepi was the youngest debutant in history for Romania, a record held for 86 years until May 2014 when Cristian Manea broke his record.^{[14][3][4][16]}

He played four games and scored three goals in three victories against Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece at the successful 1929–31 Balkan Cup.^[14][17] In a friendly against Poland from August 1931, after scoring a brace in the 3–2 victory, Sepi was praised by the Gazeta Sporturilor newspaper:"Today, Gați is just as popular in Warsaw as he is in Cluj. The several hundred flowers received at the hotel where the Romanian team was staying, prove, abundantly, the Slavic exuberance of the Polish maidens, who will from now on caress their dreams with the face of the handsome captain of the Romanian national team".^[5][14] He won another tournament, the 1931–1934 Central European Cup for Amateurs in which he played four games and scored four times in a 5–1 over Hungary.^[14][18]

Sepi netted one goal in a 2–2 with Switzerland at the successful 1934 World Cup qualifiers, afterwards being selected by coaches Josef Uridil and Constantin Rădulescu to be part of the squad that went at the final tournament in Italy where he played all the minutes in the first round which was a 2–1 defeat to eventual finalists, Czechoslovakia.^[14][19] In the following years, Sepi played in two games at the 1935 Balkan Cup, making his last appearance for the national team on 8 July 1937 in friendly in which he was also captain, a 2–0 over Lithuania.^[14]

International goals

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sepi goal.^[14]

List of international goals scored by Grațian Sepi

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	15 April 1928	Stadionul Gloria CFR, Arad, Romania	Turkey	3–1	4–2	Friendly match
2	15 September 1929	Levski Field, Sofia, Bulgaria	Bulgaria	1–0	3–2	Friendly match
3	6 October 1929	Stadionul ANEF, Bucharest, Romania	Yugoslavia	1–0	2–1	1929–31 Balkan Cup
4	10 May 1931	Stadionul ANEF, Bucharest, Romania	Bulgaria	1–0	5–2	1929–31 Balkan Cup
5	23 August 1931	Stadion Wojska Polskiego, Warsaw, Poland	Poland	1–0	3–2	Friendly match
6				3–0
7	26 August 1931	LFLS Stadionas, Kaunas, Lithuania	Lithuania	3–2	4–2	Friendly match
8	29 November 1931	Leoforos Alexandras Stadium, Athens, Greece	Greece	3–2	4–2	1929–31 Balkan Cup
9	24 September 1933	Stadionul ANEF, Bucharest, Romania	Hungary	1–0	5–1	1931–1934 Central European Cup for Amateurs
10				2–0
11				3–1
12				5–1
13	29 October 1933	Wankdorf Stadium, Bern, Switzerland	Switzerland	2–0	2–2	1934 World Cup qualifiers
14	3 November 1935	Stadionul ANEF, Bucharest, Romania	Poland	4–1	4–1	Friendly match

Managerial career

Grațian Sepi started his coaching career in the Romanian lower leagues at UM Cugir in 1940 as a player-coach.^[3][5][19] He then worked at CFR Timișoara.^[3][5][19]

Style of play

In the book Ripensia – Nostalgii fotbalistice (Ripensia – Football nostalgia), author Cristian Alexe describes Grațian Sepi's style of play:"Sepi II was considered a technical player, who "tamed" the ball with ease. At the same time, he also managed to impose himself through physical force, which is where he got his nickname of "Tank from the Balkans". It seemed like the easiest thing in the world for him to pass the ball between five opponents, slip subtly to the front of the goal and from there hit the ball full and relentless".^[4]

Personal life

His brothers, Silviu and Valeriu were also footballers and they all played together in the 1920s for Politehnica Timișoara.^[3][4][19] Valeriu also won a league title with UD Reșița and was teammate with Grațian Sepi for one season at Universitatea Cluj.^[3][4]

Death

Grațian Sepi died on 6 March 1977 in Timișoara at age 67, after suffering from a brain tumor.^[2][3][4][5]

Honours

Universitatea Cluj

• Divizia A runner-up: 1932–33^[2][4]
• Cupa României runner-up: 1933–34^[4]

Venus București

• Divizia A: 1936–37^[2][12]

Ripensia Timișoara

• Divizia A: 1937–38, runner-up 1938–39^[2][12]

Romania

• Balkan Cup: 1929–31^[14][17]
• Central European International Cup: 1931–34^[14][18]

References

1. "Grațian Sepi - Goals in International Matches". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
2. Grațian Sepi at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
3. "Povestea fotbalistului Grațian Sepi. Cum a ajuns "Tancul din Balcani" cel mai tânăr căpitan al naționalei României din istorie" [The story of the footballer Grațian Sepi. How the "Tank from the Balkans" became the youngest captain of the Romanian national team in history] (in Romanian). Pressalert.ro. 22 July 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
4. "Grațian Sepi (II)" (in Romanian). 4everucluj.ro. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
5. "Grațian Sepi" (in Romanian). Ripensiatimisoara.ro. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
6. "Cartierul din Timișoara unde s-a scris istoria fotbalului românesc. Mehala, sursă de sportivi de geniu" [The neighborhood in Timișoara where the history of Romanian football was written. Mehala, source of genius athletes] (in Romanian). Pressalert.ro. 24 March 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
7. "1928–29 Divizia A" (in Romanian). Romaniansoccer.ro. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
8. "Universitatea Cluj 1930–31 season" (in Romanian). 4everucluj.ro.
9. "Universitatea Cluj 1931–32 season" (in Romanian). 4everucluj.ro.
10. "RETRO GSP. 87 de ani de când finala campionatului de fotbal a fost eclipsată de un derby de trap" [RETRO GSP. 87 years since the football championship final was overshadowed by a trot derby] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 9 July 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
11. "Top Scorers" (in Romanian). Romaniansoccer.ro. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
12. "Romania National Champions". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
13. "FOTBAL. Noua CAMPIOANA a ROMANIEI. Ce mai vuiet, ce mai larma..." [FOOTBALL. The new CHAMPION of ROMANIA. What a noise, what a noise ...] (in Romanian). Vechi.timisoaraexpress.ro. 14 May 2017. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
14. "Grațian Sepi". European Football. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
15. "Romania 4-2 Turkey". European Football. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
16. "Grațian D. Sepi la "Istoria fotbalului" (ep. 1)" [Grațian D. Sepi on "Football History" (ep. 1)] (in Romanian). Aspolitehnica.upt.ro. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
17. "Balkan Cup 1929–31". European Football. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
18. "1931–1934 Central European Cup for Amateurs". European Football. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
19. "Grațian D. Sepi la "Istoria fotbalului" (ep. 2)" [Grațian D. Sepi on "Football History" (ep. 1)] (in Romanian). Aspolitehnica.upt.ro. 5 May 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2024.

External links

• Grațian Sepi at WorldFootball.net
• Grațian Sepi at National-Football-Teams.com