Observations & Opinions
Harold Abrahams – Special Correspondent for TSS And Zino Stiles-Johnson – Correspondent for TSS
Leopold III died in 1136. But anyone fortunate enough to be in Austria on November 15 – the day when the Patron Saint of Austria died, may wonder if old Leopold the Good is not still alive. Joy and excitement mark this day, an Austrian National Holiday also known as Goose Day, and seems to suggest that someone – Leopold maybe – is blessing this beautiful land.
Millions of Austrians will acknowledge their affection for the Margrave of Austria but can be excused if they also give thanks for the opening of Season 154 of Wiesespiel – the Meadow Game – which was born in southern Austria in 1872 and now comprises 64 teams spread over 6 Divisions in, this year, 6 central European nations.
The Vienna Composers will host Brenta in the Goose Day opener of the Tyrol League, continuing a tradition that began on November 15, 1872, after the newly-formed Vienna Wiesespiel Club welcomed a Klagenfurt Lindwyrms team to the capital with every expectation of clobbering their rural guests … only to learn some humility from the first team to form in this new sport. The Wyrms followed their 26—3 victory with a cheeky gift, sending the Viennese a sheaf of wheat to remind them of the Farmhands’ prowess.
Very early on Goose Day, the Vienna squad will arrive at Klosterneuberg Abbey to participate in this year’s Fasslrutschen – as merry and madcap a ritual as Europe can offer. And after Captain Nicolas Irmiger, Willi Muhr, Didi Leiner and the other Composers slide down the wine barrel, they’ll dry off, travel the few miles back to the team facility, and ready themselves to face the Burci, who are, as are all Italian teams, a hard defensive nut to crack.
And all over Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France and Liechtenstein, teams that have honed their strategies, readied their bodies and promised their supporters will play their opening matches, and millions of fans of the Meadow Game will don their favorite jerseys and hats and hope for victory. Not even St. Leopold knows what will happen, but your dedicated correspondents at TSS enjoy speculating a little, just as our readers do, about how matters may shake out as these competitors face their grueling four-month-long schedule.
In March 1894, Klagenfurt and Villach concluded a 12—12 draw, each team’s final match of the regular season, and legend Max Steinwender quietly appealed to his teammates and the Tirolerhuts to gather at mid-field. They did so, and the consensus greatest player in AL history humbly told all the men that he had just played his final match. Villach Gate Luke Koppensteiner (there has never been a Villach team that didn’t feature a Koppensteiner) shook Steinwender’s giant leathery hand and said, “Thank you, sir, for years of gentlemanly ferocity.”
The Meadow Game is enjoying a rather unprecedented growth as an international sensation, and when an American or Australian or Irishman asks me why this is so, I tell that story. Welcome to Season 154 of Wiesespiel. Enjoy the unmatched tradition, pride, humility, grit, respect and effort that the AL offers.
Now, for some fun predictions (the existence of which we’ll deny come March 2026) …
THALER MEDAL WINNER (Best Young Player):
Abrahams: “Johann Trimme,” Vienna Gate Eurig Frode said, when asked what could push the Composers to a Championship this year. “Johann Trimme.” The young speedster, slated currently to play Farmhand, is what most of the team members want to discuss.
Stiles-Johnson: Bingo Allerspach was brilliant for Füssen last season and was runner-up for the Thaler, and the Triskelions’ rise and Allerspach’s pace and energy will parallel each other this season.
KLAMMER MEDAL WINNER (Leading Scorer):
Abrahams: Mule Brunner repeats in another tight race against a raft of skilled scorers: Lackner, Irmiger, Allerspach, Tissier, Binder. Tackling him is probably the least pleasant task any opponent must face in the AL this year.
Stiles-Johnson: Most of my predictions double as a preview of my choice for the team that will win the Cup next March. I think we’re going to see a version of Paul Lackner this year that will gobsmack opponents who thought that the previous Paul Lackner had been a wonder.
TOR MEDAL WINNER (Best Gate):
Abrahams: Marcello Rinaldi reclaims a Medal that represents Cortina’s franchise-wide desire to never allow an opponent to score a point. It’s not fun to try to breach the Riflers’ defense, and Rinaldi has been as resolute a defender as the AL has seen in the past decade.
Stiles-Johnson: I don’t need to make waves with every pick: One of Felix Moser, Hugo Thurner, Marcello Rinaldi or Salzburg’s Elias Hoffer wins this. I’ll say Moser collects his third Tor, to equal Rinaldi’s trio of medals.
GREXXAM MEDAL WINNER (Best Lock / Wing):
Abrahams: Vienna’s Willi Muhr. The Composers grew as a team last season, and no player in the Tyrol League advanced more fully in this complex role than did Muhr. He repeats.
Stiles-Johnson: I agree. He was a revelation for a team that was a joy to watch.
KOGLER MEDAL WINNER (Best Farmhand):
Abrahams: Mule Brunner. Bern could go 18—0—0; I don’t think they will, but they will be the best team on the meadow every time they line up, and Brunner is the engine of this grand machine.
Stiles-Johnson: I think Grenoble’s offense is going to terrorize other teams in the Tyrol, and Masson Brunet may just emerge as a threat equal to his mate Henri Tissier – a stride slower, but 20 pounds heavier. But the two may divide their points and prevent the other from the medal. So, because I trust Salzburg’s dynamic approach, I will say that Theo Mossman steps into the coveted role of Lackner’s most trusted forward.
STEINWENDER MEDAL WINNER (Best Center):
Abrahams: Paul Lackner. But Nicolas Irmiger will claim this award, someday.
Stiles-Johnson: Paul Lackner. This is Lackner’s award until he retires.
PURTSCHELLER MEDAL WINNER :
Abrahams: Leonhard “Mule” Brunner repeats, taking his second Purtscheller. The depth of talent – of players worthy of winning a Purtscheller – is breathtaking this season. What a delightful time to love Wiesespiel.
Stiles-Johnson: You know by now that I am going to write Paul Lackner’s name here.
SURPRISE TEAM (From Any Division):
Abrahams: Spittal fell short of returning to the Tyrol League, but the Schuhplattlers have constructed a deep, resilient team; I would be happy to see them return to the Tyrol League. Halle Poulsen and Dominik Kandel and their mates are a quiet, determined team, but they are not shy in expressing their belief that they can return to the top league.
Stiles-Johnson: The Wheat League is fascinating: Three Original Eight teams, surprises on the rise (see: Sankt Moritz) and the darlings of the Meadow Cup: the powerhouse Mulhouse Locomotives. Who can claim the Wheat League will be an on-going source of interest this season; I think Aggsbach and Mulhouse will leap into the Alpine League at season’s end, and since no one can say, after last summer, that Mulhouse is a ‘surprise,’ I’ll take those fine men of the cloth – the White Canons.
TYROL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP:
Abrahams: I watched the 16—2—0 Bern Armed Bears defeat Vienna 15—9 in the Tyrol League Championship match and believe this current team would fare just fine against the 1991 Munich Lederhosen, the 1976 Salzburg Edelweiss, and the 2001 Bern Armed Bears. Gate Felix Moser assures anyone who wants to listen that the Bears will mount a “robust defense” of their title. I believe that. I’ve written for TSS for 42 years, and I hope I’ve learned that sometimes the best team is the best team.
Next March, Bern wins again, 20—10 over the dangerous Füssen Triskelions.
Stiles-Johnson: I’ve written for TSS for 2 years, so I haven’t learned that lesson yet. What I do know, after spending five days with the Edelweiss in late September, is that Paul Lackner was abashed to have been named to the TSS Ten Greatest Players list in June after, as he said, “having my butt handed to me by Mule last year.” The “Field Mouse” has put on fifteen pounds of muscle in the past six months, and the Flowers look sharp and hard. Beware, Tyrol League foes.
Salzburg claims its 25th Cup next March, defeating Bern in a match we all want to see happen. Just for the romance of it, I’ll say 25—21 in Extra Time.