Red Bull Salzburg v Nice, Europa League
The day started back at das bahnhof Ulm.
A jaunt on a late running IC, which had left Basel at 0552
that morning, took us to Munich, where we just made the connection onto the
Budapest bound OBB Railjet. These are
Austrian Railways new top of of the range trains, which include a business
class section as well as first.
Dai had jumped off at Salzburg so he could get in a steady
eight hours of pre-match drinking and eating at the Augustinbrau monastery/fun
pub. I carried on to Linz as that is
where we were staying for the night.
Linz grew up as an important trading centre on the
Danube. In modern times, it is notorious
for being where Adolf Hitler grew up and developed his breezy and forgiving
outlook on life. His rise to power saw
him create an industrial base at Linz, mainly in the steel and chemical
industries, but also on the Danube river traffic. The city itself was relatively unscathed from
the war, and the presence of the historical buildings, the river, and a
developing arts and music scene, has seen it as a prosperous tourist
centre. More importantly, it is now the
home of the Thompson Twins. The band
that is, not the fictional cartoon brothers.
My reason for doing this was in order to get in the
Pöstlingbergbahn.
This is a tramway that goes up the hillside to the north
side of the city. Originally the hill
top was the location of a military establishment, but now it is gardens and
probably a zoo.
The run up the hill is adhesion worked, through picture
postcard halts, with the steep climb giving dramatic views over the city.
I returned to the centre, from which the hotel was described
as a ten minute walk, despite it being a converted barn. Sure enough, half a mile from the centre are
fields.
I returned along the riverside, for a tram to the station,
it seen approaching over the Danube river bridge.
It was on to an Innsbruck bound Railjet, to Salzburg. This was the only part of the trip Dai had
done any work for, getting tickets for tonight's game. However, his phone didn't work abroad, and he
never appeared at our agreed meeting time.
The tickets include bus travel to the out of town stadium, so I had to
get the train out a couple times of stops to some business park.
A twenty minute walk to the stadium, and 23 Euros later, I
was in the game.
Red Bull Salzburg 0 v Nice 1, Europa League
SV Austria Salzburg, were founded in 1933 after the merger
of the city's two clubs, Hertha and Rapid.
By 1953, they had reached the Austrian top division. Things improved in the 1970s with some UEFA
cup placings, but real success came in the 1990s, with three league
titles. The club was never shy of a
commercial opportunity, changing its name to Casino Salzburg in 1978, then to
Wüstenrot in 1997, both for sponsorship reasons. However, in 2005, this took a whole new turn,
when the club was bought out by Red Bull, who are based in the City. In delicate handling of the takeover, they
renamed the club Red Bull Salzburg, changed the colours from violet to white
and red, changed the badge to the red bull logo, and disowned any history of
the club before 2005. This didn't please
all, and a section of the supporters formed a new club, under their historic
name. However, Red Bull brought money
and success. In the ten years since the
takeover, they have won the league six times, been runners up the other four,
and won the cup five times. In four of
the last five seasons they have done the double. Shit in Europe though.
Olympique Gymnaste Club de Nice Côte d'Azur for some reason
just call themselves OGC Nice, or just plain Nice. They were founded in 1904, and were inaugural
members of the French league in 1930.
However, they immediately returned to the regional leagues. The 1950s were the glory times for the club,
as a return to the top league saw them win it four times and the cup
twice. However, from then on, it has
been continual swapping between the first and second divisions, including one
season in the third in 2001. As ever,
some foreign investors, on this occasion a Chinese-American consortium, have
bought the club and accordingly, some money has been spent (though who's, no
one ever knows) and they have qualified for Europe.
The Red Bull Arena was built in 2003 as the EM-Stadion
Wals-Siezenheim, replacing the previous stadion Lehen. It originally had a 18,000 seat capacity, but
this was extended to 32,000 so it could host games in Euro 2008. It did have artificial turf but this had been
replaced with glass.
Opposite my stand was the only part of the upper tier open,
which somewhere within contained Dai with my ticket and a free bar and complementary
programme.
The more vocal home supporters were easily contained in the
lower tier behind the goal.
The away fans were strangely hemmed in on a narrow section
behind the opposite goal.
My stand had a low tier of seating. Contained within was the press box, with some
trusting reporters leaving all their electronics behind at half time.
The half time entertainment was decidedly low-tech, being a
game of hangman, on a flip chart in the centre circle. The Red Bull mascot easily beating an eight
year old girl.
The other half time activity was a group of stewards repairing
the turf. However, they appeared to have
been chosen completely at random, with their footwear including stilettos and kitten
heels, hardly ideal for divot replacement.
Nice had scored early in the first half, and it was an
incredibly dull game after that. The
away side held on for a 0-1 victory. I headed straight off, getting a better opportunity to see
how faithfully the stadium architect had adhered to his dream of recreating a
1980s car park as a façade.
Outside was a line of trolley buses waiting to take people
back into town. Note how there is a set
of wires for the parked buses, as well as a set for anything passing.
It was back to Taxham Europark station for an OBB unit back
to the Salzburg main. It was then a Railjet back to Linz, where I bumped into a somewhat
worse for wear Dai, who was stumbling around with a boutique bag full of
chocolate.
Rot Stier Times
