Henryk Reyman

Henryk Tomasz Reyman (28 July 1897 in Kraków – 11 April 1963 in Kraków) was an attacking soccer player, sports official and military officer. He fought in World War I in the Austrian Army, then in the Polish Army in the Polish-Soviet War, and also participated in the Silesian Uprisings.

He came to Wisła in 1910 and remained with the club until his death. He made his debut in the first squad in 1914. When Reyman began his career in Wisła it was one of the oldest Polish football clubs but had no great sports success. By the end of his career in 1933 Wisła was already the champions team which year to year was said to prevail in the National Football League. It was him who led the team to great successes and conducted the exceptional and well-recognizable in Poland style of play of the ‘Reds’.

Reyman was the centre forwarder in Wisła. At the beginning he was a magnificent scorer, while as the time passed by he managed to combine these skills with the organization of the whole attack. The fans were mostly under the impression of his strikes and scored goals. He scored from free or penalty kicks, from solo dribble runs or from the passes of his co-players. He could strike with any allowable part of a body: from slightly disdained tips to headers. Experts underlined the power and the technique of his strikes.

One anecdote rendering in an appropriate way his dynamite in legs refers to the match against the Romanian club - Fulgerul. Reyman scored 4 goals while one strike was a volley kick on the run. That strike was so powerful that the Romanian goalkeeper went into the goal with the ball and fell unconscious for a couple of minutes. No wonder that goalkeepers quailed at the sight of him shooting.

His extraordinary effectiveness he showed during the National League seasons. The league verified value of players. He passed the exam with flying colours as the top scorer. His 37 goals in 23 official league matches in 1927 is still the unbeaten record until today. The talent of leading Wisła attack formation was his next asset. He had a phenomenal ability to read the play and to distribute the ball to his team-mates. Thanks to him Wisła presented a unique yet well-recognizable style of play and the character which was the aggressive, hard, solid and ambitious play to the end, regardless the result. As a captain of the ‘Reds’ for over 10 years he conducted the play of the team.

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