"First Vienna Defends", acrylic on canvas 60 x 50 cm

The oldest football club in Austria, founded in 1894, fight a rearguard action against London side Queens Park Rangers at the long since demolished White City Stadium.  Vienna were formed by English and Austrian Gardeners in the employ of Baron Von Rothchild who gifted them land to play on and the yellow-blue shirts of his jockey stable.  They now play in the third tier of Austrian football in the Hohe Warte Stadium, built in 1921..  No shirt numbers here - they were first worn experimentally in England in 1928 but not universally adapted until the 1954 World Cup Finals.

"Sindelar Scores," oil on canvas 58 x 57.5 cm

Matthias Sinderlar, "the Paper Boy," scores for FAK Austria Wien in the Wiener derby against rivals Rapid on September 6th 1931.  The Praterstadion, now the Ernst Happel Stadium, was erected a few years earlier.  Sinderlar's amazing life, career and death are documented elsewhere on this blog.