Once again, the sporting aspect of a Vienna football derby was overshadowed by a sideshow. The fact that Rapid won its second home duel with arch-rivals Austria and climbed to the top of the table was overlooked on Sunday evening. The blame lay with fans from both camps, who threw fireworks at each other in the Allianz Stadium and got into a fight. Will away fans have to be banned from Vienna derbies in the future? The initiative for this would probably have to come from the Bundesliga.
Austria fans threw firecrackers from their sector onto the adjacent family stand, provoking a brawl. Rapid supporters accepted the invitation and stormed wildly into the other corner of the stadium. They also threw flares. The wild scenes were reminiscent of the pitch invasion by Rapid fans in May 2011 in the old Hanappi Stadium. Why the police only reacted minutes later and ordered emergency services to the center of the action will have to be clarified in the various debriefings. According to a preliminary police report, three stadium visitors and six police officers were injured in total.
“In the end, we will probably be the ones to suffer from sporting reasons because we will be penalized with a point deduction,” said Rapid coach Robert Klauß, referring to a possible sanction by the Bundesliga committees. “As beautiful as it was, the final whistle and the celebration with our fans in front of our West. Nobody wants to see the pictures afterwards.” He is not the person “who can offer blanket solutions and has ideas on how to solve this,” said the German. But he has a clear opinion: “That does not belong in the stadium.”
Stephan Helm: “It has nothing to do with football”
That was also the tenor among all players and officials who made statements on Sunday evening. “It has nothing to do with football, the football platform is being used for completely different things,” said Austria coach Stephan Helm. “The main thing is that hopefully nothing has happened to anyone and no one has suffered any injuries. That would be an absolute horror scenario,” said Rapid striker Guido Burgstaller.
The Austria fans were further incited by the events following Rapid’s derby victory on February 25. At that time, homophobic and other offensive chants by some Rapid players and officials after the game, which were captured on cell phone videos, caused a scandal. Of course, this cannot serve as an excuse for the incidents on Sunday.
Markus Katzer: “It must not happen again in the future”
“How can you throw flares into a family sector?” asked Rapid’s sports director Markus Katzer and stated: “We have to work through it. It must not happen again in the future.” Discussions about stricter entry controls to keep pyrotechnic items away and about the police’s operational strategy will take place in the coming days and weeks. We will not hear about sanctions from the Bundesliga until the next few days at the earliest. The next Vienna derby will not take place until February 15, 2025.
One solution could be risky games without away fans. However, it was said behind closed doors that the clubs themselves would not suggest this. Such a measure would have to be initiated by the Bundesliga at least by inviting the clubs to sit down at a table and suggesting that they join forces, if not forcing them to do so.
Two sporting bright spots at Wiener Austria
In view of the events and the defeat, there were at least two small rays of hope for Austria. The fact that Marco Raguz played a few minutes in the Bundesliga again after more than two years of forced inactivity made everyone want more. “Everything was stable, everything was safe. We can build on that,” he said. Philipp Wiesinger’s comeback in the top division after a one-and-a-half-year break can also be described as successful.
Helm was “cautiously optimistic” that Aleksandar Dragovic, who Wiesinger replaced in central defense, had not suffered a serious injury. The Violets will play at home against champions Sturm Graz on Wednesday.
