E.J. v Szakall

The E. J. v Szekall cup was presented by the Victorian Amateur Fencing Association and the Council of Hungarian Assiciations of Victoria to the Australian Fencing Federation. The cup is for the annual perpetual competition between the Australian state teams during the Australian Junior Fencing Championships. The cup is named in Honor of Endre Joseph (Andy) Szakall.
E.J. Szakall OAM, M-H
Endre Joseph (Andy) Szakall was known as “Mr Fencing” in Australia for many years.
Andy was one of three post-war Hungarian refugees employed by the Victorian Railways
who provided the impetus for forming the VRI Fencing Club in Melbourne in 1949. Andy had fenced in Hungary in the pre-war period, but he relinquished the opportunity to
represent his new country at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, choosing to become the
Fencing Team Manager for Australia instead. Andy was coach and manager of Australian Olympic fencing teams from 1956 to 1972. He was chief organsier of the fencing events at the 1966 World Pentathlon Championships and head of the organsiing committee for the Fencing World Championships held in Melbourne in 1979.
Andy became VRI Fencing Club’s Honorary Secretary and Instructor and remained active with the club until his death in 1988. During his coaching career, he produced multiple Australian Junior and Senior, Oceania and Commonwealth Champions. He was one of the main drivers behind the introduction of the Australian Junior Championships in 1965. Many of his pupils represented Australia at World, World Junior and Commonwealth Championships, whilst some became Olympians: Christine McDougall, Ernie Simon, and Helen Smith.
Andy was a brilliant administrator and a visionary who dared to undertake a range of
projects that drove the development of Fencing in Australia. He was responsible for the
successful staging of the World Fencing Championships in Melbourne in August 1979.
He served as President of the Victorian Amateur Fencing Association for twenty years,
He served as President of the AFF for 4 years and as Secretary General for 17 years.
He was Australia’s delegate to the FIE for many years, was a member of an FIE
Commission and Secretary-General of the Oceanic Fencing Confederation since 1969.
He was awarded Life Membership of the VRI Fencing Club, the Victorian Amateur
Fencing Association (now Fencing Victoria) and the Australian Fencing Federation for
his dynamic and dedicated services to his beloved sport.
In 1980 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to the
sport of Fencing and was recognised as a Membre d’Honneur (Member of Honour) of
the International Fencing Federation (FIE) in 1984.