WAC place

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WAC place
WAC square - around 1913
WAC square - around 1913
Data
place AustriaAustria Vienna
Coordinates 48 ° 12 '25.6 "  N , 16 ° 24' 10.2"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 12 '25.6 "  N , 16 ° 24' 10.2"  E
opening 1899
Extensions 1912
Societies)

Vienna Athletic Sports Club

Events

International matches of the Austrian national soccer team

WAC clubhouse around 1900
Austria-Hungary in April 1913

The WAC-Platz is the stadium of the Vienna Athletic Sports Club (WAC) founded in 1896 . It is located next to the Jesuitenwiese in the Vienna Prater and is considered to be the oldest football field in Austria that still exists in its original form, although the former stands are now overgrown.

In its early days it was part of the club's facility, which was once described as the largest sports field on the continent. At the beginning of the 20th century, the WAC won the most important Austrian club titles of that time and most recently the trophy in 1959. In 1902 it was the site of the first international match of the Austrian national soccer team , which set up a record attendance for soccer matches in Austria in 1919 with 25,000 spectators and until 1920 played sixteen international matches. From 1912 to 1920 it was the largest stadium in Austria and in the course of its history other important events such as international athletics competitions took place there.

history

As early as 1899, the field of the athletic athletes founded in 1896 , who opened a football section the following year, was described as part of the “ largest sports field on the continent ”. In addition to the soccer playground, the facility, which was formerly known as the Pratersportplatz, included eight grass tennis courts, a running track and a cycle track. There was also a club house, which had to be built with half-timbered walls in a villa-like character, in accordance with the requirements of the area at the time.

On the football field, the WAC achieved the great successes of its early days such as victories in the Tagblatt Cup from 1900 to 1902, championships in the ÖFU League from 1901 to 1903 and also three successes in the Challenge Cup from 1901 to 1904. 1915 came in only “War Championship” from 1915, held for nine match days, was added.

On Sunday, October 12, 1902, at 3:00 p.m., the Austrian referee Roland Shires kicked off Austrian international history with a match against Hungary in front of 500 spectators, which was considered an extremely good visit at the time . In the city game between Vienna and Budapest, which was later recognized as an international match, Josef Taurer from WAC scored the first goal for Austria in the fifth minute, which won 5-0. Just three months earlier, on July 20, the first international match outside the British Isles took place in Montevideo, when Argentina beat their native Uruguayans 6-0 there.

On September 8, 1911, SK Rapid Wien won here in its first league game for the first ever Austrian championship against Wiener Amateur SV, today's FK Austria Wien - which occupied the WAC pitch until the completion of its first own stadium, Ober St Veiter Stadion in May 1914, made it home - with 4: 1. This was also the first game of today's Vienna Derby .

In 1912, the square was expanded into a stadium with a running track and the embankment was filled up as a standing stand, which was later supplemented with concrete steps. A concrete grandstand was built on the back straight in 1924. The capacity was once up to 25,000 viewers.

For the Austrian national team, the WAC-Platz was to serve as a kind of national stadium until 1920, although some games also took place on the WAF-Platz , the Hohen Warte , the cricket pitch in Vorgartenstraße and the Rudolfsheimer Platz by Rapid. A total of 16 international matches were played here, and apart from main rivals Hungary, the opponents were Italy and Switzerland each. The number of spectators achieved at that time often set a new record for Austrian football.

From 1920 there were better arenas for the national team, such as the sports field known today as Simmeringer Had , which was expanded in 1920 by 1. Simmeringer SC at the beginning of its heyday to a stadium with a capacity of 50,000 spectators. At the start of the Had, 30,000 came to see Germany, the following year the Hungarians attracted 45,000. This was followed by the great time of the Hohe Warte, which was expanded to the largest and most modern football stadium in continental Europe by 1921 and is said to have accommodated up to 85,000 people in a goalless international match against Italy in April 1923. Since 1931, the Prater Stadium, now known as the Ernst Happel Stadium, not far from the WAC-Platz, has been the traditional home stadium of the Austrian selection and also of the top clubs in Vienna on major battle days.

From 1928 onwards, the footballers of the Viennese athletic athletes fought their way into the final of the ÖFB Cup five times , which they also won in 1931 and 1959. In 1931 it also made it into the final of the Mitropa Cup, which was important at the time, and in 1943 a runner-up championship. The soccer team was relegated from the first division in 1965 and disappeared in history after a temporary match with Austria in 1977, although attempts were made to reactivate the soccer section again in later years. Austria used the course as a training ground for years.

The WAC hockey players , who won a large part of their 19 national championships here from 1919, also had great success on the WAC pitch . Competitive games of the first hockey team can no longer take place here, as artificial turf is mandatory these days. Until perhaps the 1930s, other major events such as international athletics competitions took place on the square.

In the mid-1970s, the opposite stand was demolished, and the old standing stand still exists today in its overgrown condition. On the still well-tended lawn these days mainly lower-class hockey teams and amateur footballers cavort.

International matches of the Austrian national soccer team on the WAC-Platz

date spectator opponent Result
10/12/1902 500 Hungary 5-0
10/11/1903 600 Hungary 4: 2
04/27/1913 16,000 Hungary 1: 4
06/15/1913 10,000 Italy 2-0
05/03/1914 22,000 Hungary 2-0
11/08/1914 6,000 Hungary 1: 2
05/30/1915 8,000 Hungary 1: 2
10/03/1915 1,200 Hungary 4: 2
05/06/1917 6,000 Hungary 1: 1
07/15/1917 14,000 Hungary 1: 4
04/11/1917 12,000 Hungary 1: 2
05/09/1918 15,000 Switzerland 5: 1
06/02/1918 25,000 Hungary 0: 2
10/06/1918 15,000 Hungary 0: 3
05/10/1919 25,000 Hungary 2-0
05/02/1920 20,000 Hungary 2: 2

literature

  • Andreas Tröscher, Matthias Marschik, Edgar Schütz: The big book of Austrian football stadiums . Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-89533-581-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Construction of the club house of the Vienna Athletic Sports Club. In:  The Architect , year 1899, (5th year), p. 10 (main part). (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / arc.
  2. ↑ Sports. (…) Soccer. Wiener c. Budapest team 5-0. In:  Prager Tagblatt , noon edition, No. 282/1902 (XXVIth year), October 13, 1902, p. 4, center right. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / ptb.