Viennese sports fans

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The FC Vienna sports fans is a former football club from the Vienna district Hernals , who in 1911 until its dissolution in 1927 in the second division of Austria was represented.

history

The first years

The club was founded in the first few years of the 20th century under the name Hernalser Sportfreunde . In July 1911, the club announced to the ÖVF that it had changed its name to the Wiener Sportfreunde football club . The club was assigned to 2nd class A Vienna at the beginning of the 1911/12 season . The Austrian championship was initially limited to Vienna, so that only the champions of this class qualify for the top league in relegation games against the bottom of the first class, or from 1914 could be promoted directly. Today only sparse information is known about the early years of the association, as is the case with the entire 2nd class. The Wiener Sportfreunde mostly found themselves in the middle of the table without ever being able to intervene in the fight for the title. At the time of the First World War , the club even had to play in the third division for a short time before it could compete in the second class again in the 1918/19 game year by increasing from 9 to 15 clubs.

Loss and regaining of independence

The Wiener Sportfreunde were able to establish themselves again in the middle of the table with 8th place, but decided in the following season 1920/21 during the current championship to merge with Ottakringer SC . The games of the Sportfreunde that had been played up to that point were canceled, the merger club, as Ottakringer SC, at least reached 6th place in the table. It was the highest place in the table in the history of Wiener Sportfreunde. The great success, the targeted promotion to 1st class, did not materialize, however, so that the sports fans decided to perform as an independent team again next season.

Relegation battle and cup sensation

The sports fans were able to take the league place of the Ottakringer SC for the 1921/22 season , the Ottakringer themselves got back into the game in a lower class. In this game year, the sports fans showed two faces: In the championship they barely escaped relegation with eleventh place, in the Austrian cup competition , at that time still run as the Vienna Cup , they surprisingly reached the quarter-finals. In the first round, on March 19, 1922, in front of 2,000 spectators at the Ottakring facility , they defeated Olympia XI Vienna in extra time with 2-1 goals. The hero of the game was Riegrovich with his goals in the 32nd and 95th minute. On April 30th, in front of 2,000 spectators on their own Sportfreunde Square , the Baden AC 11-0 in the round of 16 , with the team leading 6-0 goals at the break. As the hero of the game, Lausch entered the club annals with five goals. The other goals were scored by Ludwig (2), Jonas, Marowitsch and Rahn. In the quarterfinals they met on the Hohenwarte to the first division club First Vienna FC . The Sportfreunde quickly took the lead in this game (21st minute, goal by Baar) and were able to keep the game open until the 76th minute. With the score of 2-1 for Döblinger , however, an own goal deprived them of all chances of extending their previous winning streak and ended the successful cup year with a 4-1 defeat against Vienna.

Professionalism and resolution

With a ninth place in a smaller league in 1923, due to a division of the 2nd class into the North and South squadrons, the Viennese again narrowly escaped relegation. In 1923/24 , however, the Sportfreunde were in twelfth and last place in the 2nd class South. In the same year, however, the professional second division was introduced, in which not all previous second division teams took part. In contrast to these clubs, which maintained their status as amateur clubs and now played in the 3rd class, the sports fans dared the experiment "professionalism" and thus remained in the second class despite the last place in the table.

Even after the decision to be professional, the Wiener Sportfreunde could not intervene in the title event. After two eleventh places in a row and a ninth place, the team was dissolved after the 1926/27 season . There is also rumor about joining another club, possibly the Meidlinger Sportfreunde , which existed at the time, but in fact the end of the Wiener Sportfreunde remains unclear.

successes

  • 11 x second division participation: 1912–1914, 1920–1927 (2nd class Vienna)
  • 1 × quarter-finals in the Vienna Cup : 1922

Known players

  • Johann Baar (national player; from 1912 to 1916, 1919/20 and 1922/23 with the Sportfreunde)