The suburb leads! Why the “City” clubs are declining. <orgName ref="nognd">Illustriertes Sportblatt</orgName> 23 (1927), No. 41, October 8,<date when="1927-10-08">1927</date>

This is the characteristic feature of the current development of Austrian football sport. The old is falling because it has become rotten, and new, fresh life pulsates through the veins of the football- gear. The results on the green lawn are no longer coincidences, and it is not just the outcome of one game or another, that gives the impression of a change of role. There are certain phenomena on the playing fields that are symptomatic. On the basis of precise observations one has to realize:

The healthy, unspoilt suburb leads physically, morally and materially.

Last Sunday was once again very instructive for this realization, both on the Hohe Warte and especially in the Pra- ter. In Döbling, Rapid played against a strong opponent. Over 30,000 spectators had gathered to watch the representatives of Austrian football at work: because the Hüttel- dorf team has understood how to represent domestic soccer and thus become the focus of the audience´s attention. They have known to hold up this tradition, despite occasional setbacks. They have never disappointed their audience, because they never admit defeat and fight until the final whistle. Theirpla- yer material is almost entirely exclusively self-made, the club management is tested conser- vative and adventurous business policy is foreign there.

Rapid is rooted in the population and never neglects its home turf. The Grün-weißen are a suburban club in the best sense of the word.

The team from the opposite periphery of the city, Ad- mira, now actually provides final proof that it is worthy of the proud title of Austrian champion. Admira’s goals thundered through Austria’s defence like bludgeons on Sunday. Up-and-coming, healthy youngsters bombarded the defense of a formation that had become rotten.

Sport triumphed over business. The fresh Jedlesee meadow air blew away the stuffy coffee house haze. The team of players has beaten the team of wage football.

The prelude to this was a sad act. It already is drizzling in the walls

The winner. Director Fischer, the leader of the Rapids sports club.

of the Hakoah. This club has, perhaps as the only one in Vienna, the purpose of a higher idea in sport, that of the physical training of the young people who belong to it.This motive has given the Blau-weißen unimagined strength, they swept across the courts, impressing enthusiasm and created an atmosphere of respect everywhere. But that was once upon a time.

At the height of its success signs of decay began to appear at Hakoah. The unfortunate business spirit and the milieu of the “interested parties” slowly but surely began to have a disruptive effect

and gradually tore the association from its respectable height. The team, which was famous for giving its utmost in the fight against the opponent is now a shadow of its former self. The tradition of the pre-war players of the Blau-weißen, the now unrecognized soldiers of the Hakoah idea, no longer have worthy descendants. Do not tell us, that the player material of the Krieauer is not up to scratch at the moment: by the way in the field of offspring youngsters nowhere was sinned so much than at the Hakoah. But the impression of the Blau-weißen team was always a reflection of the conditions in the club. And what one saw on Sunday in the Prater was disintegration, demoralization and decay. In the previous year the Krieauers, by no means with better players, with vigor and fighting spirit intervened in the championship. What moved on the pitch on Sunday in the Pra- ter was a dying team. Perhaps there is a development here that goes beyond sport. Perhaps in sport itself a certain phenomena of the decline of the bourgeoisie becomes noticeable. Because FK Austria and Hakoah were not only top clubs in Austrian football, but they are also distinctly “city clubs”. The absence of supporters can, after last Sunday, in view of the the 50,000 spectators at the Hohen Warte no longer be an argument. The audience goes where they can see the teams fight. And this ultimately effects the clubs on amaterial basis. Rapid took in more on Sunday than this year´s American tour of the Hakoah and it is no coincidence, that Admira is the only Viennese club with a surplus.

The renaissance of Viennese football lies between Hüttel- dorf and Jedlesee. That is why 6:0 for Admira not only means a a club victory, but also that the healthy suburb is leading.