Alfons Novickis

Infobox Football biography
playername= Alfons Novickis
dateofbirth = 1906
cityofbirth = Riga
countryofbirth = Russian Empire
dateofdeath = death date and age|1931|11|3|1906|01|01
cityofdeath = Riga
countryofdeath = Latvia
position = Midfielder
years = 1926-1927
1928
1929-1931
clubs = LNJS Riga
RFK
Riga Vanderer
caps(goals) =
nationalyears = 1929–1931
nationalteam = Latvia
nationalcaps(goals) = 09 (0)

Alfons Novickis (1906 - November 3, 1931 in Riga) was a Latvian footballer.

Biography

Novickis rose to fame as a great footballing talent aged just 15 when he worked as a paper-boy at a publishing company. His first senior football club was LNJS Riga for which he played in 1926. In 1928 Novickis played with RFK and then joined Riga Vanderer, the club for which he played the best and last years of his career [ [http://www.periodika.lv/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToSaveGifMSIE_LATVIAARCHL&Type=text/html&Locale=latvian-skin-custom&Path=SSP/1932/07/11&ChunkNum=-1&ID=Ar00500 Kur paliek mūsu sporta zvaigznes] ] . On July 27, 1929 Novickis made his international debut for Latvia. In total Novickis played 9 international matches for Latvia national football team between 1929 and 1931 [ [http://www.periodika.lv/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToSaveGifMSIE_LATVIAARCHL&Type=text/html&Locale=latvian-skin-custom&Path=SSP/1936/08/27&ChunkNum=-1&ID=Ar00801&PageLabel=8 Caps for Latvia until 1936] ] .

Just as quickly as Novickis' star had risen in Latvian football, he fell down. After a 0-6 loss to Sweden in a friendly match on July 26, 1931 Novickis along with several other Latvian internationals made a bad public appearance under alcohol on the way back to Riga and as a result of it Novickis and Alberts Tauriņš were disqualified by the Latvian Football Federation for a year [ [http://www.periodika.lv/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToSaveGifMSIE_LATVIAARCHL&Type=text/html&Locale=latvian-skin-custom&Path=LAK/1931/08/05&ChunkNum=-1&ID=Ar00402&PageLabel=4 Football news excerpt] ] .

In the autumn of 1931 Novickis joined the army and on November 3 he committed suicide by shooting himself. It was later speculated that Novickis had killed himself because of some unknown disease and alcohol [ [http://www.periodika.lv/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToSaveGifMSIE_LATVIAARCHL&Type=text/html&Locale=latvian-skin-custom&Path=LAK/1931/11/06&ChunkNum=-1&ID=Ar00306&PageLabel=3 Footballer Novickis has shot himself] ] .

References