Rapid quarter of an hour
At every SK Rapid Wien game, the fans traditionally clap the Rapid quarter-hour at the beginning of the last 15 minutes . According to tradition, this clapping is said to have occurred for the first time in 1919. In fact, the term rapid quarter-hour is certainly a few years older.
An exact point in time for the birth of the Rapid quarter hour can hardly be determined, as this ritual probably developed spontaneously and did not follow a fixed plan. It probably originated on Rudolfsheimer Platz , where Rapid played its home games from 1903 to 1912. In the immediate vicinity of the Rudolfsheimer church, the associated tower clock could also have been integrated into this ritual. This was then taken over to the new Pfarrwiese in 1912, with which the great Rapid successes of the following decades are inextricably linked.
First signs
For example, Rapid was particularly successful in 1908 and remained unbeaten in 19 games in a row against Viennese teams from March to October . The Neue Wiener Tagblatt wrote on September 28, 1908 on the occasion of the Cricketer game against Rapid (1: 1): "The Rapid team [...] began to attack vehemently, their famous quarter of an hour had come, [...]" - and continued a few lines later: "The assumption that Rapid would win the match in the final sprint in the second half, as so often before, did not apply." These formulations already indicate an early existence of the Rapid quarter-hour down.
In the first championship season 1911/12 there were also some games that were only decided in the finish. Rapid striker Gustav Blaha scored the 2-1 winning goal in the championship hit against the favorite WAF on October 29, 1911 in the 75th minute. The game was abandoned four minutes before the end, but the result was confirmed.
The first championship titles
In the second leg against the WAF on June 16, 1912 on the Pfarrwiese, the Rapid goal to equalize 1: 1 only fell ten minutes before the end by Leopold Grundwald . Likewise in the last championship game of the season between Rapid and cricket on June 30, 1912: It was 1: 1 up to the 84th minute, before Heinrich Krczal and Josef Schediwy made 3: 1 and thus fixed the first championship title for Rapid.
On November 17, 1912, the FAC in Floridsdorf led 1-0 in the game against Rapid until 15 minutes before the end. Then Krczal and Josef Brandstetter turned the game around with three goals in ten minutes. The foreign newspaper wrote at the time: “It would not have been missing and Rapid would have been beaten. Up until the beginning of the last quarter of an hour, the Floridsdorfers, who worked too well together with good successes, had the lead 1-0. "
In the aftermath, Rapid repeatedly decided games in the finish. On December 1, 1912, the WAF on the Pfarrwiese was defeated again after a 0-1 break with a goal from Gustav Blaha in the 80th minute with 2-1. The game against WAC was 2-2 with 15 minutes to go. Final score 4: 3. In the penultimate championship game of the season, Leopold Grundwald prevented a defeat against WAF with his goal in the final minute to make it 2-2. Rapid became undefeated champions in 1912/13 .
Not always the last 15 minutes
Again and again there are references to the famous quarter hour in newspapers . On September 22nd, 1913, on the occasion of the Ferencvaros -Rapid game, the foreign newspaper reported : “Now comes the quarter of an hour in which Rapid demonstrated its exemplary form.” Further: “They were exemplary and what was of particular importance for the eventual outcome of the important game seemed successful 15 minutes. "
On May 10, 1915, on the occasion of the Rapid versus FAC game, the tourist paper provided further proof of the existence of the Rapid quarter-hour : "The much-anticipated quarter-hour Rapids, which has almost become a household word, is here." that there was no mention of the last quarter of an hour, but of a quarter of an hour at an unspecified time - in this case at the beginning of the second half.
The fact that the Rapid quarter of an hour did not necessarily have to take place at the end is also shown by the following quote from the foreign newspaper of November 2, 1915: "This time Rapid has moved its famous quarter of an hour to the beginning of the game." But in general one understood and understood by the Rapid quarter-hour to date, the last 15 minutes of the game.
Examples of the rapid quarter hour
The Neue Wiener Tagblatt reported on September 9, 1916: “The superiority of the Hütteldorfer only became apparent in the last quarter of an hour .” The same newspaper wrote on November 13, 1916 about the Rapid vs. Sportclub game : “The final score of 2-0 was made by them Rapid players only in their famous "quarter of an hour". "Or" It was only in the last 15 minutes of the competition that the Dornbachers could no longer quite follow the increasingly sharp pace and had to accept the two hits during this time. "
In 1917 the Rapid quarter hour was already a household name, as excerpts from the Allgemeine Sportzeitung on April 28 show. "The" Rapid "followed a procedure that deviated from its usual practice towards the" Hertha "; he did not play "waiting", did not save his best for the "last quarter of an hour", but did it the other way round, securing such an advantage from the start that he had the win completely in his hands at half time, and then let things go pretty much as they wanted. "
There is also a report in the Allgemeine Sportzeitung about the game Rapid against Wacker : "The" Rapid "won a game against the" Wacker "with 4: 0, so superior, but by no means easy. The score was 1-0 until well after the break; The Hütteldorfer remained true to themselves insofar as they finally showed off their "last quarter of an hour" in full splendor. "
The atmosphere at rapid games
In addition to the Rapid quarter of an hour, the foreign newspaper in 1918 also knows a few other details about the atmosphere at Rapid games, here on the occasion of the game Rapid against Rudolfshügel: “It has always been difficult to beat Rapid in a championship game on your own pitch. Rapid is a team that knows how to fight tough, artificially whipped by a huge crowd, almost always able to run down the opponent in a famous quarter of an hour , whereby in the midst of the wild noise and the most unbelievable complaints, the referee was usually deprived of his calm. "
The game against Rudolfshügel was lost in this case ...: "The victory was won against the fact that the audience of several thousand people took part, which was increased to the point of terror."
Part of Rapid
Finally, from experience, the foreign paper comes to the conclusion again at the game Sportclub against Rapid on April 21, 1918: “It was generally thought that Rapid would now pull away and score a few more goals in the remaining minutes, i.e. the famous Rapid quarter of an hour. "
The tradition has been preserved to this day and clapping in the last 15 minutes has been an integral part of every Rapid game for over a century and is therefore inseparable from Rapid.