Grazer AK
It all started in Ireland, then we moved to Scotland, then Wales (Or England depending on where you think Chester is) and then we went to Aldershot. Now it’s time we visited the continent of Europe. But what country should we go at first? Well, thanks to a bit of inspiration from a podcast I stumbled upon named The Other Bundesliga, we became interested in covering an Austrian club. A small country but one that has a huge footballing history. You can argue the country is over shadowed by its European neighbours, Germany, France and even Switzerland but this little country has produced some top football clubs. There is Red Bull Salzburg, who are currently competing in this year’s Champions League, then there are the clubs in the Europa League like relatively unknown Wolfsberger AC, who recently beat German side Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0 in their own backyard and got an impressive 1-1 draw with European Giants Roma. LASK, the other Austrian team are also competing in and doing well in the Europa League, recently beating Dutch Giants PSV 4-1 show that Austrian clubs aren’t just there to make up the numbers. Throw in the more known Sturm Graz, Rapid Vienna and Austria Vienna and Austrian football has a pedigree to be proud of. But like any other league in the world, some football clubs have fallen by the way side and one well known club in particular did so only too recently. This club, an Austrian one of course, was Grazer AK, or GAK as is known in short. Lets have a look at them shall we?
Originally founded as Grazer Athletiksport Klub (GAK) in 1902, and from the Austrian city of Graz, the club was part of a franchise of sports clubs ranging from sports such as basketball, diving an tennis. But football, of course, was the most popular. The club itself was founded by a medical student from Prague named Georg August Wagner with help from other associates of his. The club itself was modelled on another Austrian club, Wiener AC. Wagner had organised the first public match in present day Austria eight years before the club GAK was formed. In March 1894 a match took place between two sides in the Graz municipal park. (Unfortunately, there is no official record of this game, no names of the clubs or even a final score but it known to be Austria’s first real football match. One can only assume Wagner used the name GAK as one of the clubs who participated, especially as eight years later he helped form the club officially) The club itself flirted with mediocracy for the first 50 years of its existence and there was not much success to talk about until the 1960’s when they saw minor success in coming second in the Austrian Bundesliga, the clubs highest ever finish to date. They also reached their first Austrian Cup final in 1961 but were beaten 4-1 by Austrian Wien. From that season they then entered European competition with their first match coming against Odense BK in the Cup Winners Cup in 1962. They then made their second appearance in an Austrian Cup final but again were beaten, this time 2-0 by Rapid Wien in the1967-68 season.
The club made regular appearances in Europe from then on, without making any impression in any of the tournaments. It wasn’t until 1981 when the club won its first major trophy. After their third attempt the club finally lifted the Austrian Cup, beating SV Austria Salzburg 2-1 on aggregate over two legs after losing 1-0 in the first leg, GAK turned it around and won 2-0 in the second leg, albeit they needed extra time to do so. Their next cup triumph didn’t come until the 1999-00 season when they won it again, this time needing penalties to beat, yet again SV Austrian Salzburg. The game itself finished 2-2. Their third Cup triumph was probably their sweetest as it came t the expense of their biggest rivals Sturm Graz, They beat their city rivals 3-2 in a thriller of a cup final in 2001-02 season in what proved to be the most successful decade in the clubs history. They went on to become runners-up in the Austrian Bundesliga in the 2002-03 season. But the season after proved to be their most successful one in the clubs history. They finally won the Austrian Bundesliga but also completed the league and cup double with a win in the Austrian Cup final against Austrian Wien. The game itself finished 2-2 in normal time with GAK’s Kollmann scoring an equaliser in the 86th minute. GAK went behind again in extratime when Austria Wien’s Gilwicz scored in the 99th minute only for GAK to hit back minutes later with a goal from Aufhauser. Te game went to penalties and GAK won 5-4 after Wien’s Dundee missed the decisive penalty. As mentioned, the club regular took part in European competition but never really made it out of the group stages, only once making it as far as the last 16 in the 2004-05 season when they eventually were knocked about by English club Middlesbrough 4-3 on aggregate.
But arguably their biggest and most famous result in European competition came against another English club in the Champions League Third Qualifying round in 2004-05 season against European giants Liverpool. Although knocked out 2-1 on aggregate, GAK did beat them in Austria 1-0. This became an even bigger result for the club as Liverpool eventually went on to win the European cup that year, famously beating AC Milan on that night in Istanbul.
But the golden years for the club as they were known came to a crashing end and in the 2006-07 season the club went into administration and a s aresult were docked 28 points. The next season the club were not allowed to participate in any of Austria’s professional leagues and were relegated to the Austria Regional League Central. The bad news kept coming and the club declared bankruptcy again and although a settlement was made with the creditors in September 2008, four years later the club dissolved after their relegation to the Regionalliga Mitte.
This resulted in a phoenix club being set up by the fans in 2012, who refused to let Grazer AK disappear. The new club would be called Grazer AC and they originally competed in the bottom tier of Austrian football from the start of 2013-14 season. It was in 2014, though, that a meeting took place to consider who Graz AC and the final conclusion was that they were a continuous version of GAK and so become GAK once again. Even more impressive has been the rise of the club since, winning back to back championships every year to regain their professional football status and to be playing in the second tier of Austrian football to this day. (2019-20 season) The club currently play at the same stadium as their local rivals Sturm Graz at the Liebernauer Stadium.
Felix Schloffer, a lifelong Grazer AK fan, gave me a few an insight into what it like to follow the Austrian club. His favourite memory isn’t just one, but the whole process of when the club fell and found its feet again.
‘My favourite memory is the comeback from GAK from 1 Klasse to the Pro Football again in one step, winning one season after another’
His favourite away game is one that he misses, as it has been a while since it has taken place, although he does have another club that he likes to travel to.
‘My favourite away game is always Innsbruck or Sturm (Graz) long time ago against Sturm.’
And like most fans I interview and ask, ‘Who their favourite player is or was?’ they usually have multiple answers and Felix is no different. But, in the end Felix choose one player and he has a reason for it as well, but its not football related.
‘It’s difficult to answer this question! Long time ago it was Roland Kolmann, but with the years, Patrick Haider is more and more my favourite player at GAK ever, as he is loyal, friendly, sympathetic and in a private {way} a very, very nice person! One day I said to him after a match, come to the barbershop where I work and few days later, he wrote to me on Instagram and we made an appointment, so I trimmed his beard, we had a lot of fun and talked about everything about football and fans.’
As for the future, well Felix is no doubt GAK will be back to the top tier very soon.
‘I think GAK will be in 5 years in the Bundesliga again, because it’s a great club, great team and the fanbase is amazing’
Too be honest, it took me a long time to find a GAK fan, and that could be because the club itself is overshadowed by its most recent past, or it could be because Strum Graz have most of the fans in the city. Whatever the reason, Felix gave me hope that this club, who punched above their weight in the early 00’s, will be back, competing against their so-called bigger rival. His final words on Graz really epitomize the mentality of a smaller club in a big city and the underdog feeling that make GAK one of the more enjoyable clubs I have covered, because who doesn’t love an underdog. Here’s Felix and his final words.
‘Passion, it isn’t only football, it’s a way of life, cause most of people in Graz are SK-Strum fans and there are not much GAK-fans, but if you are a GAK-fan, you are a real fan cause the fanbase pf GAK is like a big family, GAK was always the underdog in the Bundesliga but we won the title in 2004! No one believed this {could happen}, but GAK fans and team did, so it happened! If you are a GAK-fan GAK is everywhere, in your house, (Some decorations) when you are drunk (Singing song from GAK) or at your work, (Where you put some stickers on) GAK isn’t only a club, It’s Passion!’
