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Page 44 Annual Reports of various Organisations Racism Report 2004
instead of the previous two but at the same time EU citizens were included as “foreigners”. This regulation is not
only questionable from a legal point of view but it’s also unique in Europe. Normally the eligibility to play depends
on a residence permit. FairPlay and international institutions such as the European Council and UEFA called on the
Austrian Football League to change these discriminating provisions.
A small success for FairPlay: In future foreign youths who were registered in an Austrian club while still children
or younger than 16 can no longer be restricted from playing. Alexander Rakowitz, sports director of FavAC and
ombudsman of Rad Wien, still thinks that this isn’t far reaching enough: “In actual fact all the special provisions in
amateur football concerning foreigners ought to be removed.” Mustafa Iscel, President of Vienna Türkgücü, agrees
with him referring to a case in his club: “One of my players is a Turkish citizen who was born in Vienna except that
he didn’t start playing until he was an adult. The foreigner provision applies to him and that’s just wrong.” Felix
Kunej, the ombudsman of the newly found multi-ethnic club Remax Döbling, also believes that the provision “isn’t
optimal” and that it completely ignores Vienna’s reality with its large ethnic communities: “They treat us as if what
we’re doing is just a hobby.” Another novelty of the foreigner provision is the possibility of registering a club as one
that consists of foreigners only (“Ausländerverein”). “But in such a club only three Austrian players would be allowed.
That’s absurd”, says Alexander Rakowitz referring to the practice of the Viennese Football League. Mustafa Iscel calls
this provision “a mere cosmetic correction. In the end this would lead to purely ethnic clubs and that in turn would
be counter-productive to integration.” The club Royal Persia which started playing in the Viennese League only in the
last season was offered to register as “Ausländerverein” but according to the Royal ombudsman Houman Zadeh this
option doesn’t make sense “because the majority in our club are Austrians.” Conclusion: In Vienna not a single club
had itself registered as “Ausländerverein” and from our point of view this is not even surprising. The reality is a mix
of citizenships with the Austrian citizenship outweighing all others. To want to separate them is not only impossible
but also not wanted by anyone. The discrimination carries on!
August 2004: Anti-Semitism on August 1, 2004 at Derby FK Austria—SK Rapid
Previous to the Vienna Derby on August 1, anti-Semitic graffiti were sprayed on parts of the Western
stands of the Horrstadium. The words “Frank Strohsack Synagoge” (translator’s note: a German word play
with the name of the FK Austria club owner Frank Stronach calling the home stadium of his club a synagogue and
changing his surname to ‘straw sack’) remained there for two months. The webpage www.sport1.at reported: “During
the night before the game unidentified Rapid fans visited the Horr Stadium and sprayed the Western stands with
SCR graffiti and the slogan ‘Frank Strohsack Synagoge’.”
The UEFA Action Plan against Racism which consists of ten rules and was adopted with the network “Football
Against Racism in Europe” unmistakably says under Rule 8: “… racist graffiti on the Stadium’s premises must be
immediately removed”.
During the 269th Vienna Derby at the sold out Horr Stadium anti-Semitic and racist slogans were shouted without
any consequences so far. In the first ten minutes of the game “Jewish pigs” was shouted several times from the
Eastern stands with the majority of the hardcore Rapid fans participating. The shouts were clearly audible. In the
second half of the game a small group of Rapid fans started singing the infamous “Underground song” (“We’ll build
an underground all the way to Auschwitz”). By chanting “Ivo Vastic Kosovo” attempts were also made to insult the
former national team player of Vienna Austria who is originally from Croatia.
September 2004: Homophobia by defence player Ehmann
After a game between GAK and FKA Austria on September 12, which was broadcast live on television, the
GAK defence player Anton Ehman made a discriminating statement about homosexuals. In an interview
broadcast by ATV plus in its football programme “Volltreffer”, Ehmann said that football was a man’s sport and even
though there were women teams it was really a game for men. But then there were those “homos who keep falling
down and foul others all the time. They’re totally unfair, those homos”.
The Internet site www.sport1.at commented the incident as follows: “GAK captain Toni Ehmann left a negative
impression when after the final whistle he complained about the playing style of Ivica Vastic calling him a homo.
‘He’s always really rough on others and tries to get free kicks by putting on a show. There should be a camera showing
only him. Then everyone would see his dirty play’ Ehmann said.”
September 2004: FK Austria Magna—Legia Warschau on 16.9.2004
In September 2004 FairPlay receives an e-mail by a fan of FK Austria describing the following incidents
in the Austria fan sector at the Vienna Ernst Happel Stadium during the game FK Austria Wien against
Legia Warsaw: “During the game racist slogans were chanted and supported by hundreds of Austria fans. ‘You’re
just seedy car thieves!’, ‘Those who don’t jump are Poles!’, ‘Eastern Bloc Turks!’, “Fucking Foreigners!’ (this was only
shouted by individuals). I watched the game from the Austria fan sector. Several men behind me kept cracking racist
jokes and were laughing or waiting for others to laugh. A wide spread slogan was ‘Those who don’t jump are Poles!’