Soviet football players and sports figures Starostin brothers: biography and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:42

What football fan, especially a fan of the Moscow "Spartak", does not know who the Starostin brothers are? The name of these famous football players once thundered throughout the Union, but, unfortunately, their fame is associated not only with sporting achievements, but also with political persecution. In general, such a phenomenon of the four famous brothers of football players is probably the only one in our homeland. Let's find out in detail who the Starostin brothers are. The biography and football career of each of them will be the subject of our consideration.

Origin of the genus

The Starostin brothers belonged to a family of hereditary rangers. Their ancestors came from the Pskov province. The main purpose of their hunting was a bear, a fox, a wolf, a great snipe, a corncrake, a woodcock, a snipe. In addition to hunting, they were engaged in the cultivation of hunting dogs. Some of them even received championship titles in various competitions.

In particular, the father of the family, Pyotr Ivanovich Starostin, was a ranger of the Imperial Hunting Society. The mother was a peasant Alexandra Stepanovna.

Birth and childhood

From the Pskov province, the family moved toMoscow. It was there that all the Starostin brothers were born. The eldest of them, Nikolai, was born in February 1902, in the Presnya district of Moscow.

In winter, the family lived in Moscow, and in summer in the village of Pogost, in the Pereyaslavsky district of the Vladimir province, in the homeland of Alexandra Starostina. Now these territories belong to the Yaroslavl region. It was there, in August 1903, that the second son, Alexander, was born in the family.

During another stay in Moscow, in October 1906, Alexandra Starostina gave birth to her third son, Andrey. His godfather was the textile manufacturer A. N. Gribov, who was connected by a joint hunt with Peter Starostin.

The youngest of the brothers, Peter, was born in Pogost, like Alexander. This solemn event took place in August 1909.

It is noteworthy that two of the Starostin brothers were born in Moscow, and two more in Pogost.

Although most of the time the children spent in the second capital of the empire, which was then considered Moscow, nevertheless, their warmest memories are connected with the village of Pereyaslavsky district. Children participated in haymaking and sowing, and they did it of their own free will, without coercion from adults. Naturally, the brothers also loved hunting.

From early childhood, the Starostin brothers were involved in various sports: table tennis, skiing, athletics, boxing and, of course, hockey and football. In addition, Andrei liked to follow the competitions that took place at the Hippodrome.

After the revolution of 1917, the family was starving and forcedwas to move to the countryside. Soon, in 1920, the father of the family, Peter Starostin, died of typhus. After that, adulthood began for the brothers.

Hard Times

After the death of his father, the main burden of providing for the family fell on the shoulders of the eldest of the brothers - Nikolai, who by that time was 18 years old. He played hockey in the winter and football in the summer, playing for the team of the Russian Gymnasium Society (RGO) since 1917. A year later, his second brother Alexander began to play in it.

So the Starostin brothers came to big sport - football players whose name became famous throughout the country.

Andrey also moved to Moscow, and began to earn a living in the MOZO repair shop, getting a job as an assistant locksmith.

Spartak's predecessors

In 1922, after the merger of the Russian Geographical Society with the "Society of Physical Education" (EFV), at the initiative of the famous football player and sports functionary Ivan Artemyev, a new team was formed - MKS ("Moscow Sports Circle of the Krasnopresnensky District"), where they became play Nikolai, Alexander and Andrei, who joined them. It was this team that became the predecessor of the famous Moscow Spartak.

There was no all-Union club championship then, so the club participated in the Moscow championship. In the first season, he was forced to start in class "B" of the city championship, but immediately took first place in the spring and autumn competitions, thus gaining the right to play in class "A".

In 1923, the Starostin brothers' football club wasrenamed Krasnaya Presnya. In class “A”, the team, in which three brothers played, performed more than successfully, taking first place in the championship of the capital.

In the future, the name of the team has changed more than once. In 1926 - 1930 it was called "Pishcheviki", and from 1931 to 1934 - "Industrial cooperation". Such a name change was due to the fact that after the reorganization of domestic football in 1926, clubs were allowed to connect sponsors to financing. For the Starostin team, they were various food manufacturers. Nikolay personally had to participate in the search for sponsors.

At this time, the youngest brother Peter entered the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology at the silicate faculty. But in 1931 he was forced to drop out of school for family reasons, and joined other brothers who at that time played for the Promkooperatsia club.

In 1932, all four brothers moved from Promkooperatsia to the Dukat team, sponsored by the tobacco factory of the same name. However, given that both teams were under the control of the Union of Food Workers, we can say that the transfer of the leading players from Promkooperatsia to Dukat was an intra-club transfer. In 1933, the team took second place in the Moscow championship.

In 1934, the Starostins returned to Promkooperatsia again, which immediately won the city championship. In total, for the period from 1923 to 1935, the clubs for which the brothers played became the champions of Moscow four times. In addition, the brothers played in the national teams of the USSR and Moscow, whose captains in the 30sbecome, respectively, Nikolai and Alexander. As part of the Moscow national team, they repeatedly became the champions of the RSFSR and the USSR in football.

Establishment of Spartak

In 1935, the All-Union Komsomol leader Alexander Kosarev, based on the Promkooperatsia club, formed the Spartak sports association. One of his main assistants in organizing the club was Nikolai Starostin. It was he who came up with the name of the team, noting the strength, courage and will to win the leader of the uprising. Nikolai became the first head of the club, and Alexander became the captain.

All the Starostin brothers continued their sports career in this football club. Spartak has become a real home for them.

Further career

In 1936, a completely new organization of football competitions was introduced in the country. The Championship and Cup of the USSR among club teams begins. In the first spring championship draw, Spartak took only third place, but already in the autumn championship, the team of the Starostin brothers achieved victory, pushing the spring champion Dynamo Moscow to second place.

In the championship of 1937 the leaders changed places again, but in 1938 Spartak won not only the championship, but also the Cup of the country. The following season the club repeats its double success. In the last pre-war championship, Spartak takes third place, losing the first two lines of the standings to Dynamo Moscow and Tbilisi.

As you can see, from the first championships there has been a sharp rivalry between the clubs "Spartak" and"Dynamo", which lasted almost the entire period of the existence of the Soviet championship. If Spartak was inherently a public organization, then Dynamo was under the tutelage of the NKVD, headed by Lavrenty Beria, who did not like the success of the opponent. In the future, this very fact will have a negative role in the fate of the Starostin brothers.

Repressions

The beginning of repressions against club functionaries was laid back in 1938, when one of the founders of Spartak and the head of the Komsomol movement Alexander Kosarev was arrested. He was executed by firing squad in 1939.

In the spring of 1942, Beria announces to Stalin that the Starostin brothers are traitors. They are accused of a whole series of crimes against the Motherland, including espionage in favor of Nazi Germany, which was then at war. The case of the Starostin brothers was first held under the article "terror", then "embezzlement". The verdict was passed for anti-Soviet propaganda, and they were acquitted of treason. Nevertheless, the Starostin brothers and collaborationism in the USSR became synonymous for a long time. Five other Spartak functionaries were also convicted.

The sentence for the Starostins was a ten-year stay in the camps, as well as a subsequent five-year disqualification with the confiscation of all property.

The brothers served their sentences in different places. At the same time, while in prison, Nikolai Starostin was involved in coaching at Dynamo (Ukhta), Dynamo (Komsomolsk-on-Amur), Dynamo (Alma-Ata) and Lokomotiv (Alma-Ata). At the same time, Alexander was coaching Dynamo (Perm), and Andrei was coaching Dynamo (Norilsk).

After the death of Stalin and the execution of Beria in 1953, the Starostin brothers were acquitted, and all restrictions were lifted from them.

After rehabilitation

After the Starostin brothers were rehabilitated, they continued to work as football functionaries. Already in 1955, Nikolai Starostin became the head of Spartak, and remained in this position until 1996. In 1979-1980, he was also the head of the USSR national football team.

Alexander Starostin from 1956 to 1967 was the chairman of the Football Federation of the RSFSR, and from 1968 to 1976 he worked as a deputy.

Andrey Starostin from 1960 to 1964, and also from 1968 to 1970, served as head of the USSR national football team. In addition, he worked in other important positions, for example, he was deputy chairman of the USSR Football Federation.

Departure

The first of the brothers died Alexander Starostin in 1981, when he was 78 years old. In 1987, at the age of 80, Andrei Starostin passed away. The youngest of the Starostins, Peter, died in 1993 at the age of 83. Nikolai Starostin was the last to die. He died in 1996 at the age of 93.

As you can see, despite the difficult life, persecution and repression, all the Starostin brothers lived to an old age.

Children

All the Starostin brothers had children. But Nicholas, Alexander and Andrei haddaughters, and only Peter had a son.

It is Andrei Petrovich, who was born in 1937, who can be considered the successor in the male line of the Starostin family. He also tried his hand at football, but realized that he was not playing well enough for teams like Spartak, and therefore devoted his life to science. He graduated from school and institute with honors, acquiring an engineering speci alty. Achieved the position of General Director of SKB TKhM.

Interesting facts

The eldest of the brothers, Nikolai, was the last to die.

In 2014, a monument to the Starostin brothers was unveiled at the Spartak stadium.

One of the charges of the Starostin brothers was mediation in bribery, but the court acquitted them on this point.

The importance of the Starostin brothers in domestic sports

It is difficult to overestimate the role the Starostins played in the development of domestic football, in particular, in the formation of the Spartak club.

Even the repressions of Stalin's times could not break them, and they continued their activities as sports functionaries after rehabilitation.