Meadow Cup Musings / Quarter-Final Round
Zino Stiles-Johnson – Correspondent for TSS
“All week, it was ‘Remember the Tyrol Cup Final, boys,’” laughed Vienna Forward Didi Leiner. “That was a drum that (Composers Manager Artur) Hoffman beat every moment: ‘Remember the Cup Final, lads.’” On that day, March 29, when the 153rd Tyrol Cup final was decided, the Bern Armed Bears claimed their 12th Tyrol Cup with a 15—9 decision over the Composers.
After a 16—2—0 season and a victory in the Final, Bern turned to the Meadow Cup full of intent and boasting a roster of superb players who were committed to contesting every match and securing a Parzer Pair, a double achievement which had not been earned since Grenoble managed it in 1980. Bern, despite those 12 Tyrol titles and 6 Meadow Cups, has never won a Parzer, and they were not shy in declaring their desire for it. And, due to the unpredictable manner in which 64 teams are sprinkled across the four brackets of the Meadow Cup, their opponents in the Final of the Farms Bracket were those same Composers.
Some 520 miles eastward, in Vienna, the Composers were quietly confident that they could fashion a different outcome in this re-match and fight their way into the Semi-Finals. So it was that Vienna traveled to Bern less than three months after the Armed Bears’ triumphant day to face them again in a match with serious stakes.
What a match. What an afternoon. Vienna 14, Bern 12.
What a glorious victory for the visiting Composers. Vienna owns 5 Tyrol Cup championships and 2 Meadow Cups, but, after those seminal moments, this win will rate highly among the most cherished and hard-fought in the history of this Original Eight franchise.
Indeed, this contest offered all that lovers of Wiesespiel wish to see: honest, fair effort by two equal teams striving with all they have to best their foes. Yes – that is, happily, the standard that all teams reach for. On this day, though, there were also … 6 or 8 of the absolute finest athletes playing the Meadow Game in 2025 on the field … 6 or 8 crushing tackles that would have rendered most men unable to rise (but not these men!) … heroic stands … mad dashes … swings of momentum and a final defensive resistance that turned away Leonhard “Mule” Brunner, the very thing that the Composers had failed to do in the Tyrol Cup Final. Make no mistake: Vienna won this match. They earned it.
Man of the Match Nicolas Irmiger captained his mates with courage and skill. In an era featuring Brunner and Paul Lackner, Irmiger nonetheless continues to impress and force his name into any discussion of the finest players in the Austrian League, and he was, by any fair measure, the best player on the Meadow on Saturday, accounting for one skot and four more kicked points; further, he contributed any number of rugged tackles in his tireless all-field defensive effort, showing by example the commitment needed to compete with this version of the Armed Bears.
After 40 minutes, the teams were knotted at 8—8. During the interval, word came out from the Bern locker room that Forward Hugues Loup, who scored a skot in the March final, had dislocated his shoulder on a play late in the first half. A match can be decided on such matters, and perhaps the slight loss of pace from that front position, or a ball that rolled out of bounds after an imperfect pass from Brunner intended for Otto von Steiger, or a sliding tackle by Vienna’s splendid Schleissman Willi Muhr was the factor that tilted the match toward the Composers.
Bern’s home fans continued to blow their Alpenhorns throughout the match, and Felix Moser tried to rally his mates, but Vienna stood strong, and, with seconds left, Mule Brunner broke free from Irmiger and galloped away, aiming for a winning skot. Vienna Middle Gate Eurig Frode, a hero on the day, angled across the Meadow and met Brunner in a collision of two of the strongest men in the AL, and Europe for that matter. This reporter, two hundred feet away, felt the impact when these two men piled into each other, and, for once, Brunner came off the worse, as Frode stopped him where they met.
Bern will now have five months to prepare for their Tyrol Cup defense.
But Vienna moves on, waving the Farms pennant that awaited the winners of this bracket championship match, where they will play the Besançon Artisans, who swept away Bad Ischl in a clinical, powerful 27—0 romp in the Valleys Bracket. Vienna’s win must be considered the most impressive of this Quarter-Final Round – they beat the best team in Wiesespiel, but the Artisans have a grand history in the Meadow Cup, capturing titles in 1928 (half of their Parzer Pair), 1959, and 1976; clearly, they know how to win this competition.
In Lucerne, the Cheesemakers comprehensively out-played a Zurich team that had electrified the AL since their mid-season shift back to their traditional mascot of the Tirggel and reintroduced uniforms bearing that image. But in this 15—2 victory by Lucerne, they made the Cookies look tired. Marc Oberholler had held the middle of the field with impunity in Zurich’s three wins to date, but he was ineffective against the Cheesemakers. As was Ozi Mannheim, as were the other Tirggel.
Not so Lucerne. After wins by 1 point against Chur, 2 points against Munich and 4 against Spittal, their 13-point win to capture the Alps bracket pennant shows them as a team rounding into the kind of form that is needed to win the Meadow Cup. I can write that, and believe it, but I can also note that, as my TSS colleague Thill Brenner has recounted in his work this week, they will face the Mulhouse Locomotives, who have been daunting in their form and results on their way into the Semi-Finals.
PLAY OF THE WEEK:
Gabriel Furrer’s name continues to appear in this column, and the Lucerne Cheesemakers Forward made what I deem to be the most remarkable this week. On a day when the weather was a major factor in the match outcome (as happens often in a sport that must be played outdoors and must be played on natural surfaces – grass, hay, mud, snow, ice), Furrer battled a near-gale to convert one of the more memorable kicks one will ever see: attempting a 2-point kick, Furrer belted the ball into a headwind that had the home fans applauding the audacity of the effort but disbelieving it could be converted. The ball was walloped and headed toward goal … and it split the posts … and then it was blown back onto the field, landing in the scoring zone! The Referee, Frenchman Rene Richard, was seen laughing uproariously for a moment, as were most of the players, and then ruled correctly that the points should be awarded to the home team. That made the score 11—2, Lucerne. Sure, it was only 2 points, but they were earned in a manner that Furrer and all the witnesses will never forget.
MEN OF THE WEEK:
2] Philipp Vogel, Schleissman, Lucerne Cheesemakers.
Vogel has been a reliable, sturdy player for Lucerne for a decade, but he has played at a more advanced level this summer than in years past. While he’s no plodder, his lack of elite speed has made him tend to be a stay-at-home lock more than a more versatile lock-wing Schleissman (with Louis Grexxam as the ideal), but he ventured forward with confidence and effect this day, scoring a skot and also making tackle after tackle in the Cheesemakers’ impressive defensive display.
1] Eurig Frode, Middle Gate, Vienna Composers.
One merely need ask any fan of the Bern Armed Bears, or, if he were willing to answer, Mule Brunner himself, why Frode occupies this space this week.
NEXT WEEK – SEMI-FINAL ROUND ATTRACTIONS:
2] Lucerne v Mulhouse
Mulhouse, winners of the Castles bracket, seems to be the team of the summer. But Lucerne just defeated a very promising and revitalized Zurich team, and they relish this chance to add to their modest total of Cups (1 Tyrol Cup, 1 Meadow Cup). The Railmen finally surrendered some points (10, while stomping Oberammergau), but Laurent Petit has probably been the outstanding player of the Meadow Cup tournament to this point, and Vienna will face a great challenge against these upstart Frenchmen.
1] Vienna v Besançon
Vienna faces the other potent young French team as the Composers face the Besançon Artisans. Do not make the mistake of thinking that … (a) Vienna beat Bern, ergo Vienna will beat any other team and … (b) the Artisans are way down there in the Harvest League, ergo, they can’t stay with the Alpine League powerhouses. Besançon can win this competition. They are good: fast, powerful, hungry.
WHY STOP NOW? PREDICTIONS for the SEMI-FINALS:
I predicted the correct winner in 3 of the 4 matches from last week, missing Vienna’s win against Bern (but one would look a fool to forecast the Tyrol Cup holders losing at home). Perhaps my success calls to mind the old adage that ‘even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.’ Nonetheless, I will offer my guesses for these two scintillating and surprising Semi-Finals.
2] I would enjoy a Switzerland versus Austria Final, but I cannot see it. Lucerne has surprised me – they have won close matches, including a gritty come-from-behind victory against Munich, but Mulhouse has been a revelation, allowing 2.5 points per game and scoring 45 points while allowing only 10. Two of their wins were shut-outs against Tyrol League stalwarts (3—0 against the equally defense-minded Riflers of Cortina and 8—0 against Salzburg), so their pedigree has been well proved by now. The Locomotive 14—4. 1] The Composers did beat Bern, ergo they can beat anyone. And I believe they will edge out the in-form and scary team from Besançon, but it’ll be an (at least) 83-minute long struggle. I see Vienna winning 18—16.