Today it was time for the 284^th edition of the Viennese derby between Austria Wien and Rapid Wien. This is one of the oldest derbies in Europe, which has been played since 1911, the year Austria Wien was founded.

Today it was time for the 284^th edition of the Viennese derby between Austria Wien and Rapid Wien. This is one of the oldest derbies in Europe, which has been played since 1911, the year Austria Wien was founded.

I got up early in the morning to meet up with the rest of my group and our Dresdner friends. There were some “incidents” with Rapid fans and with the police before the match, but this is not the place to write about these. Sooner than some of us would have liked, it was time to enter the stadium to get everything ready for our choreo. The match was sold out with 11,000 tickets sold (2200 for the Rapid side of the stadium).

One hour before kick-off our stand was quite full in comparison to “normal” matches. As soon as the players entered the field we started our choreo. In the middle there was a crowd cover with the logo of the predecessor of our club (Our club used to be called “Vienna Cricket and Football Club” but in 1911 the Football section split away from the rest). On the sides we had black sheets of paper on the top and on the bottom and in the middle purple flags. Rapid had Green-White stripes choreo. Both sets of fans gave it everything they had. The atmosphere (as it is on most Viennese derbies) was fantastic and often we managed to get the two main stands to participate in our songs. At the start of the second half we showed a few two-stick banners and together with them we lit some flares and some cans of smoke. Rapid also showed their banners and lit a few flares. The match had to be stopped for five minutes as there was too much smoke hanging over the pitch. In the 60^th minute there was an action by us and Ultras rapid together: we both showed the message “Justice for Gabriele Sandri – All cops are bastards” and for the next five minutes we both sung anti police songs. Unfortunately the match was a typical derby and it ended 0-0, but this didn’t affect the atmosphere at all. In my opinion this derby was one of the best in recent years from the fan-technical point of view.

Even though the game was over, it is well known that a derby lasts longer than just 90 minutes and there again were troubles with the police and Rapid fans. All in all it was a great day with a derby that had all the right ingredients: choreos, pyro, great atmosphere and some troubles.

Wrote by:  Wien1911

More photos here .

http://austria80.at/
http://www.ultrasrapid.at/