Observations & Opinions / Playoff Finals Week
Harold Abrahams – Senior Correspondent for TSS
The Vienna Composers arrived in the capital of Switzerland on Thursday afternoon, March 27, settled into the Hotel Landhaus, went to an early dinner, and then, Manager Artur Hoffman and four players met with your special correspondent ahead of the 153rd Tyrol Cup final. They are an impressive lot, these athletes, a group worthy of a place in the most consequential match that Wiesespiel offers the sporting world. Hoffman came second for the Menger Medal, Nicolas Irmiger was the runner-up to Paul Lackner’s annual Steinwender Medal, and they fell just short of the Ringmauer Medal.
As your correspondent pointed out this series of second-place finishes, Gate Eurig Frode said, half-earnestly and half-defiantly, “We seem like a team destined to come second on Saturday.”
I demurred and noted that the Composers had won six consecutive matches, including a pulsating 2/3 match decided in overtime against Grenoble on March 22, while Bern had lost two matches as the season neared completion.
Hoffman nodded in agreement. “And, we did win a Medal, too!” he said, patting Willi Muhr’s arm to indicate his Grexxam Medal-winning Schliessmann.
Muhr laughed and raised his cup … a coffee, in this case. “The Bears were kind enough to let a few other teams have a Medal or two this year.”
Irmiger spoke next: “Bern is a ten-headed monster. They have no weaknesses, and they play a clean, smart game. We understand the challenge of coming to Bern and trying to beat this team.”
This group of earnest men talked candidly and answered questions for an hour before departing. Resolute but realistic, their comments returned often to the honor of playing in a Tyrol Cup Final, of maintaining a heritage started in Klagenfurt in the 1870s. Then they excused themselves, citing a 7:30 team meeting the following morning. They knew the formidable nature of the task before them.
An upset always makes for great theater, but sometimes the best story is one that confirms the themes and arguments that dominated the plot all along. And come Saturday, March 29, the Armed Bears marched onto their Meadow, to the echoing sounds of their renowned chorus of Alpenhorns, to the cheers of Esme Rotemuller and the ‘Charmed Bears,’ and under the spectacle of hundreds of blanket-sized flags of the Canton of Bern rippling back and forth as energetic fans did all they could to rouse their heroes to stirring action. The faces of these men were tight, serious: they were seeking to conclude the season with a predictable denouement rather than a surprise ending.
And nothing was more predictable this season than Bern winning matches with inexorable power and pace and an even more endearing trait: dogged effort. A 16-2-0 record pointed to a victory at home, as did the presence on the field of the holders of the Menger, Kernan, Klammer, Tor and Purtscheller Medals.
That list is impressive, but no more than Manager Luke Bossard, Jonas Moser, Leonhard Brunner and Felix Moser and their teammates deserved.
The match started at 4:00 beneath strings of wispy clouds that left the athletes playing under stripes of lengthening shadow, which gave the opening 40 minutes a theatrical atmosphere. And while the Composers were organized, staunch and highly skilled, they faced a superior team, and the game itself offered little tension. Bern led 13—6 at the interval as the Moser Brothers marshalled a defense that limited Vienna to one skot and two tightly-angled kicks, a resistance reinforced by the constant support from that tireless Schliessmann, Otto Von Steiger.
Meanwhile, Leonhard Brunner tore through Vienna’s Gates in runs that explained why he won the Klammer and out-pointed Lackner for his first Purtscheller. Brunner’s 9 points before Half were no great surprise, but “The Mule” seemed more pleased about his running mate Hugues Loup’s galloping skot than anything he himself accomplished.
At the end of the 43, the old wooden scoreboard read Vienna 9, Bern 15, and while there was no cinematic climax to the action, no surprise late comeback by a gritty Vienna squad, the story that had been written all year by the best and most talented team yielded an appropriate final act. The teams shook hands, the Bern fans sang happily, and the Bears applauded their supporters.
This year, Switzerland beat their neighbors to the East for the Cup – one National Capital’s team beat another National Capital’s team. Many years will pass before any club can challenge Salzburg’s record 24 Tyrol Cup victories, but two Swiss teams come next in titles: Matterhorn (17) and Bern (now with 12). Austrians will feel aggrieved if this article fails to remind readers that Austrian teams have captured 68 Tyrol Cups while the Swiss contingent has collected 41 [leaving France (13), Germany (13), Italy (11) and Liechtenstein (1) to divvy the remaining championships among themselves].
This year, Spittal Schuhplattlers’ Team President Mark Drescher has served as the Chairman of the League Council (in 2024-25, the 8 and 8s), and he had the pleasure of carrying the grand prize to the dais that had been erected at midfield. His remarks were appropriately brief, and then he was turning to Bern Captain Jonas Moser and handing him the Tyrol Cup. They exchanged a few words, but the raucous cheers of the Bears’ fans – none of whom had departed – guaranteed that no one, including those two men, heard what was said.
Moser kissed the rim of the “Old Pumpkin” and held it above his head, where every fan could see it. Somehow, the numbers and size of those gorgeous Bern flags being waved enthusiastically had increased, and the sonorous accompaniment of the Alpenhorns remained constant. All present seemed to want to will this scene to continue: some things should not end.
Each member of the team embraced the Tyrol Cup and posed with it while countless cameras and phones captured those happy images. Bossard gripped it tightly, wives and kids of the players crowded the dais, and eventually all fell away into a contented chaos. Vendors were selling all of their hats and shirts and sandwiches and drinks, fathers hoisted tiny or exhausted children up to head home. Despite only thin cloud cover, a light mixture of precipitation wandered around, helping everyone decide that the celebrations could move inside.
In the Bears’ locker room, Von Steiger, known as the team’s funnyman, set aside his humorous persona for a moment. Unwrapping a bandage from an elbow injured off-and-on all season, the Schliessmann showed your correspondent a dog-eared copy of the 2020 TSS Wiesespiel Annual – the volume The TSS produces each September with updated standings, leagues, statistics and which, every tenth year (as in 2020), offers our opinions about the greatest teams and players in AL history. Von Steiger tapped the cover and asked this correspondent a question which merits close consideration: “When you have time to think about it, where do you think our team will rank in your all-time lists? Or at least since 2000?”
This article, written within a day or two of the latest Tyrol Cup final (the 41st I have been privileged to witness), cannot be the forum where that question is addressed. But I did respond to Von Steiger: “Your own predecessors won three titles on the trot in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Within the last eight years, Villach and Salzburg have each claimed back-to-back Tyrol Cups. 17-2-0 and a Cup is a marvelous season, but ….”
Von Steiger stood, pulled off his mud-spattered jersey. “I hear you. One season, one title, is not enough, not even a great season.”
I shrugged. “Will I be here this time next year? Will you men keep the Tyrol Cup?”
Von Steiger dropped a heavy hand – a bear’s paw – on my shoulder and held my gaze. “You will be here this time next year. You can start writing that story.”
We shall see. But we who love the Meadow Game can all thank the teams of the Tyrol League for the joys and thrills of another season, and we can also only applaud the decisive and almost fore-ordained manner in which this powerful Bern Armed Bears team marched to the 2024-25 championship.