Austria the Cup

The Austrian Cup opposed the usual suspects, which provided yet another derby. And it was also a clear picture of the state of Austrian football – two clubs were so far above all others, that would be almost a crime there was even one different Cup finalist. FK Austria vs Rapid – the face of Austrian football, the big rivalry. Motivation in itself. Nobody gives up, no mater form or anything else. The arch-rivals clashed heavily and entertained the crowd – the match ended 3-3 and went to the drama of penalty shoot-out. There Rapid prevailed 6-5.

This was 3rd consecutive Cup victory for Rapid,which perhaps irritated Austria greatly. As far as Rapid was concerned, the season was saved – they got a trophy. As far as photos… the problem is the same as with Aistria. According the the club’s website, this is the team of 1984-85. However, the kit does not match the ones used this year – it seems to be the kit for 1983-84. Then again… the squad, as Austria’s, was practically unchanged. Aged Panenka was no longer a regular, but was he in the team at all? Hard to tell. Well, this Austrian season left few pictorial memories, so let take it at that – tentatively.

Austria I Division

First Division. Not much of a dramatic championship, really. 13 teams were largely concerned with avoiding the last 5 places in the league and the last three were unequal as well, so there was one-team dominance this year. The title was decided early and that was that. As for the battle on the bottom, it was also not much of a fight – some teams were clearly weaker than the rest and the others were seemingly satisfied only to accumulate enough points and secure their place in the new league.

The relegated were: First Vienna FC, last with 17 points.

Austria (Salzburg) – 15th with 18 points.

Favoritner AC – 14th with 21 points,

SV Spittal/Drau – 13th with 24 points (the eternal problem with Austrian names – sponsor names are incorporated, so… it could be SV Spittal/Drau, but it could be SV Gabor Spittal at the same time), and Wiener Sport-Club – 12th with 25 points. Tough luck.

Good luck for DSV Alpine (Donawitz) – or Donawitzer SV Alpine – take it as you like, but they clinched safe 11th place with 27 points. Top row from left: Rauch, Janjanin, Ivsic, Haberl, Koiner, Hofer, Lederhaas, Klug.

Middle row: Dr. Wilthold, Auffinger, Ettl, Harrer, Haberl J., Crnjak, Haider, Sobl, Jursitzky, Windisch.

Crouching: Stocker, Schicker, Angerer, Gruber, Oliveira. Perhaps the Yugoslav Janjanin was the only recognizable name, however faintly.

Grazer AK was 10th with 28 points,

VOEST (Linz) – 9th with 28 points, SC Eisenstadt – 8th with 28 points, Austria (Klagenfurt) – 7th with 31 points,

SK Sturm (Graz) – this is only a possible photo of the team – 6th with 32 points, FC Admira/Wacker (Wien) – 5th with 32 points, Wacker (Innsbruck) – 4th with 32 points. That was the bulk, which managed to secure participation in the reformed First Division.

LASK (Linz) – Linzer ASK – was another matter. They finished comfortably 3rd with 38 points. One of their strongest seasons, but it was strong season only in their own terms: they had no squad to challenge the usual leaders and third place was the most they can do. Better than the rest of the league, that was their measurement, not Rapid and Austria. Nothing to do with the title.

Rapid (pictured here in a friendly with Yugoslav Mladost (Litica) had nothing to do with the title, but for different reasons than those of LASK: seemingly, they gave up on the championship and concentrated on international football this season. Otherwise it is difficult to explain why they finished 9 points behind arch-rivals Austria – their squad was as good as Austria and European performance denies the idea they were out of form. But with 45 points, they were very distant 2nd. Still vastly superior to LASK, though – 7 points ahead, no rivalry at all.

Sitting from left: Alfred Drabits, Hans Dihanich, Franz Zore, Friedl Koncilia, Franz Wohlfahrt, Andreas Ogris, Dzemal Mustedanagic, Istvan Magyar (moved to SC Eisenstadt shortly after this picture was taken).

Middle row: Thomas Paritz – coach, Schreitl – masseur, Herbert Prohaska, Erich Obermayer,Toni Polster, Tibor Nyilasi, Karl Daxbacher, Ernst Baumeister, Holdhaus (?) – condition coach.

Top row: Janotka (?) – assistant coach, R. Sara, Josef Degeorgi, Fritz Drazan, Josef Heiling, Ewald Turmer, Gerhard Steinkogler, Pelzmann – masseur.

There was no contest at all – Austria (Wien) won 25 games, tied 4 and lost just 1. 85-17 goal-difference and 54 points. They were champions long before the end of the season, very likely all was finished at the end of the fall half of the season and this casual superiority left no particular memories: even the club’s website does not signify this victory with team photo. Thus, the squad is a bit of enigma: it is practically the same of the year before. The biggest change was the new coach – the former Austrian international Thomas Paritz.

Austria II Division

Austria. From the distance of time, this season gives the impression it was somewhat neglected and the real focus was on the previous and the next season, plus the interest in the international success of Rapid. The big domestic thing was the reform of the the two top leagues – the next season the whole format of the championship was going to be different, including large reduction of the teams – from the current 16 in first and second divisions to 12 in each. That meant 8 teams less and naturally relegation was on the mind of most clubs – 5 teams were to be relegated from the First Division and 11 from the Second. As promotions, only the winner of Second Division was going up after the end of the season and 2 teams – as usual – were to be promoted from third level to the new Second Division. May be that was the central issue and concern this year – there was no competing for the title, for instance, and in both current leagues just 6 teams were securely above the rest and too strong to be in danger of going down.

Because of the circumstances should be enough only to state those winning promotion from third level and those surviving to play another season in the second level. Schwechater SC won the Ost league of Third Division and Bregenz/Dornbirn won the West league. Bregenz/Dornbirn was a curious and problematic team – it was the second team not of one, but of two clubs: Schwartz-Weiss (Bregenz) and FC Dornbirn. Seemingly, the clubs merged and left over players made the second team. The first played in the Second Division, finished 8th and was relegated, thanks to the reduction. So, the first team was going down and the second was going up – a bit of a problem.

Only 4 teams were going to remain in the Second Division after this season – those between 2nd and 6th place in the final table. Flavia Solva Wagna aimed higher, but lost to win the championship by a point – 2nd, Kremser FC – also unlucky to win promotion and 3rd, SV Sankt Veit – concerned with avoiding relegation only and 4th at the end and the similarly lucky guys of Vorwaerts Steyr, 5th. Vorwaerts was really lucky, for one match was not played because of players strike. Again, the outcome was curious: the players of Simmeringer SC were on strike, but their opponents SV Thorl did not get points either. Only theoretically SV Thorl had a chance to finish ahead of Vorwaerts, but there was a chance: if the match against Simmeringer SC was played and SV Thorl won by 5 goals. Anyhow, the above mentioned remained in the new Second Division.

The first two of them were entangled in hot pursuit of first place and eventually lost it to Salzburger AK.

SAK – full name Salzburger Athletiksport-Klub 1914 – was founded in the distant 1914 in Salzburg, but had very little to be proud of: so far, they appeared only twice in the top league – in 1953 and 1962 – and both times they went right back to second level. This was their third attempt, which also proved to be not only short-lived as before, bur their last time to go play first division football. It was great at the moment, though – dramatic victory with 43 points, one more than Flavia and 2 more than Kremser. 17 wins, 9 ties, 4 losses, 57-18 goal-difference. Something to celebrate, although how many people celebrated is difficult to measure: Salzburg supported its Austria, in general, and the left-overs were divided between SAK, USV (also playing in the Second Division this season, but they were 11th and relegated), and may be some more small clubs. Thus, it was wonderful to go up, but money was a big problem.