Having struggled to pump up my bike tyres, with an inferior pump I intend to ritually destroy at a later juncture, I failed to get to the ground early enough to take up my usual position in the grandstand and was forced to spend the first half on the opposite side of the ground. The final game of the season can be summarised thus: A deserved 4-1 home win, but seeing and hearing is believing my friends; from the other side of the pitch it became clear to everybody that we were witnessing history in the making. Thick smoke wafted across the pitch from the countless coloured smoke bombs; there was thunderous noise, rockets and crackers, cheering, screaming, chanting, heavy thudding drums, people jumping around like randy apes; even before kick off – euphoric delirium. Absolutely fantastic heart pumping stuff!
In this division there are no crowds, almost no grandstands, catering is honed down to beer and good old-fashioned junk food. There are no sky boxes, VIP lounges, press centres, no police, no heated seating, nothing – apart from the fans and the team. And that is the essence of everything good about football and life in general – human beings! Good support can make a good team great. And great support…? On Saturday there were supporters’ groups from Germany and Italy here to celebrate promotion from one Sunday pub league to the next! Over two thousand people came to watch a game of absolutely no sporting relevance to anyone outside the province of Salzburg. Why did they all come here?
Why? Because money can’t buy you love and there are some intangible higher values in life that just can’t be expressed in monetary terms. There are kids running around collecting discarded plastic beer glasses, people cleaning up after games of their own free will. There are photographers and web teams spending hours putting together reports and layouts, fans spending large amounts of time and money on constructing banners and flags for other fans to hold. A team of players has come together from higher divisions to play for a team in the second last division in Austria. There’s Salva and Schützei, and the Ultras, and all the other supporters groups and individuals driving out to picturesque, but culturally dismal farming villages for away games. All these people - all this love and commitment make Austria Salzburg something very precious and special, and human!
The focal points of all this momentum are the name of the club and the club colours. The stronger the identification the more essential and deep-rooted the link. Once these elements have been established they become non-negotiable! I was born in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire and I am a Leeds fan and Leeds United will always be called Leeds United and always play in white. Liverpool will always play in red; Manchester City will always play in light blue. These are the symbols of all the years of emotion and time and money invested in these clubs by thousands and thousands of fans.
On Saturday the outgoing team manager, Gerhard Stöger, was cheered on by over two thousand raucous fans in a sweaty beer tent. On Sunday I spotted him quietly eating out with the wife and kids. What colour t-shirt do you think he was wearing? I now live in Austria and my team is Austria Salzburg and we play in purple and white. These facts are non-negotiable!
Roger Lord
