SK Rapid Wien

Infobox football club
clubname = Rapid Vienna


fullname = SK Rapid Wien
nickname = "Die Grün-Weißen"
(The Green-Whites),
"Hütteldorfer"
founded = 1898
ground = Gerhard Hanappi Stadium
capacity = 18,400
chairman = Rudolf Edlinger
manager = Peter Pacult
league = Austrian Bundesliga
season = 2007-08
position = 1st
Spruch = "Auch wenn die Veilchen (=FAK) noch so blühen, der Untergrund bleibt immer grün."
pattern_la1=_white stripes2|pattern_b1=_whiterightsash|pattern_ra1=_white stripes2
leftarm1= 009966|body1=009966|rightarm1= 009966|shorts1=ffffff|socks1=009966
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=_thinstripesonwhite|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=ffffff|body2=009966|rightarm2=ffffff|shorts2=ffffff|socks2=ffffff

The Sportklub Rapid Wien ( _en. Rapid Vienna) is an Austrian football playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. It is one of the two best known sides in Vienna, the other being Rapid's eternal rival, "FK Austria Wien". The "Rapid" squad is often known as the "Green-Whites" for its team colours or as "Hütteldorfer" for the location of the Gerhard Hanappi Stadium, which is in Hütteldorf, part of the city's 14th district, Penzing. In English, they are referred to as Rapid Vienna.

__TOC__

History

"SK Rapid Wien" was founded in 1898 as "Erster Wiener Arbeiter-Fußball-Club" (en:First Workers' Football Club of Vienna). The team's original colours were red and blue, which are still often used in away matches. On January 8 1899 the club was re-named, taking on its present name of "Sportklub Rapid Wien", following the example of "Rapide Berlin". In 1904, the team colours were changed to green and white.

One of the best teams in early European football, Rapid became a dominant side during the years between the world wars, when Austria was one of the leading football nations on the continent. After the Anschluss of Austria to Germany in 1938, Rapid played in that country's Gauliga Ostmark along with clubs such as First Vienna and Admira Vienna (playing then as Wacker Wien and Admira Wien). Rapid would be the most successful of these clubs. They won the Tschammerpokal, predecessor of today's German Cup, in 1938 with a 3-1 victory over FSV Frankfurt, and topped that with a German Championship in 1941 by defeating Schalke 04, the most dominant German club of the era. The team was able to overcome a 3-0 Schalke lead to win the match by a final score of 4-3 through strength and endurance – the traditional virtues of Rapid players known as the "Rapidgeist" or "Rapid Spirit".

Almost since the club's beginnings, Rapid fans have announced the last fifteen minutes of the game by way of the legendary "Rapidviertelstunde" – rhythmic clapping at home or away no matter what the score. The first mention of the practise goes back to 1913, and in 1919 a newspaper wrote about the fans clapping at the beginning of the "Rapidviertelstunde". Over the decades, there were many instances where Rapid managed to turn around a seemingly hopeless situation by not giving up and, with their fans' support, fighting their way to a win just before the final whistle.

Although Rapid is by far the most popular club in Austria, other teams like Red Bull Salzburg or FK Austria Magna are able to spend significantly more money every year as they are owned by investors/billionaires. Rapid is trying to compensate for this lack of financial funds by supporting young and talented players.

Rapid were involved in a controversial episode in 1984 when they eliminated Celtic from the European Cup Winners Cup last 16. With 10 mins left of the second-leg, Rapid were 3-0 down and facing an 4-3 aggregate defeat. Rapid's composure had gone altogether after a first-half blitz from Celtic and for most of the second-half, they had resorted to crude play and fouls in order to disrupt Celtic's rythym. Then, after Kienhast conceded a penalty, giving Celtic a chance to move 4-0 up, (which they later missed when Peter Grant struck the kick wide) Rapid defender Weinhofer fell to the ground claiming he had been hit by a bottle thrown from the terracing. The match finished 3-0 and Rapid were knocked out. Despite TV evidence proving that Weinhofer was cheating and had not been hit by anything, Rapid twice appealed to UEFA for a replay, and got their wish. The replay was held at Old Trafford, Manchester, and Rapid won 1-0.

Stadium

Rapid Wien now plays at the Gerhard Hanappi Stadium which was opened in 1977 on the 10th of May in a game against FK Magna.

Honours

Rapid Vienna is also Austria's record titleholder when including Vienna-only titles and titles won in Germany during the time of the Third Reich, winning the Austrian Championship title 32 times to date. Supporters of other teams sometimes argue that the 16 championship wins before the establishment of a nation wide all-Austrian league should not be counted. However, those titles are credited by most observers, since Viennese league play was virtually synonymous with Austrian football at that time. The wins of the German Championship and German Cup were possible due to Austria's annexation by Germany on March 12, 1938.

* Austrian Championship (32): 1912, 1913, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1929, 1930, 1935, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1946, 1948, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1996, 2005, 2008

* Austrian Cup (14): 1919, 1920, 1927, 1946, 1961, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1976, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1995

* Austrian Supercup: 1986, 1987, 1988

* German Championship: 1941

* German Cup: 1938

* Mitropa Cup: 1930, 1951

* Cup Winners' Cup Runners Up: 1985, 1996

European records

Team trivia

*SK Rapid Wien won the German Championship in 1941 and the German Cup in 1938.

External links

* [http://www.skrapid.at Official Homepage]
* [http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/club=50042/domestic.html Rapid at UEFA.COM]
* [http://www.eufo.de/football/aut/sk_rwien.htm Rapid at EUFO.DE]
* [http://www.weltfussball.de/teams/rapid-wien/ Rapid at Weltfussball.de]
* [http://www.playerhistory.com/Default.aspx?page=club_details&clubID=846 Rapid at Playerhistory.com]
* [http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/verein/170/skrapidwien/uebersicht/startseite.html Rapid at Transfermarkt.de]
* [http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/austria/2008-2009/bundes/rapvien.htm Rapid at Football Squads.co.uk]
* [http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/club.php?id=140 Rapid at National Football Teams.com]
* http://www.rapidarchiv.at/
* http://mitglied.lycos.de/rapidwien/titel.htm (Rapid's achievements)
* http://mitglied.lycos.de/rapidwien/geschich.htm (Rapid's history)
* http://www.scr-forum.net (Rapid forum)
* http://www.austriansoccerboard.at/index.php?showforum=8 (Rapid forum)
* http://www.dokupil.at/ (Rapid in the 90ies/Ernst Dokupil's History/Many interesting pics in German)