War games
Hot on the heels of a computer security breach at the Pentagon, another influential institution has suffered at the clammy fingers of determined hackers. Austria Salzburg’s online forum has been prised open and each thread wiped clean, along with every single member’s account; erasing anecdotal evidence charting the true cost to fans of football’s insincere cash injections.
Was it pranksters, or the work of a ruthless taskforce fearful that the ongoing violet revolution was edging European football followers to think in ways subversive to the norm? Perhaps it was just those bloody kids who burned down their Nonntal ground last December.
Redevelopment work meant Austria Salzburg sought a third home since Red Bull’s hostile takeover of the club and its colours compelled a thousand fans to go it alone. Ironically, the most accommodating patch lay to the west of the city, close to Hangar 7, the luxurious site of Red Bull kingpin Dieter Mateschitz’s private aircraft and F1 car collection.
Contemptuous of the local ostentation, Austria Salzburg settled quickly into the neighbourhood, dishing out a staple diet of goals and beer to an appreciative clientele. Winning margins were familiarly large until their fellow promotion contenders began to offer stiff resistance.
Bergheim and Abersee were defeated by solitary strikes before Union Hallein halted their progress with a last-minute 1-0 victory which required local police to disperse Austria Salzburg’s boisterous travelling support, and prompted the club to task the guilty parties with cleaning toilets and collecting rubbish on home ground.
Current form of six victories and a defeat is matched only by Obertrum, who top the table on goal difference and host the newly-promoted violets in Saturday’s topspiel der woche.
