ESC: Siegt AUS, AUT oder…?
Beim European Song Contest, der heuer in Wien stattfindet – nachdem 2025 der österreichische Countertenor JJ mit “Wasted Love” den ESC gewonnen hatte – ist die Sängerin Delta Goodrem aus Australien eine der Favoritinnen auf den Sieg. Austrias Cosmó tanzt mit seinem „Tanzschein“ bei den Buchmachern dagegen nicht vorne mit.
Der australische Song, der den europäischen Gesangswettbewerb gewinnen könnte, heißt übrigens nicht “Bumerang”, wie es sich für Down Under eigentlich gehören würde😉, sondern “Eclipse”.
Einen Song mit diesem Titel sangen aber tatsächlich schon einmal die Vertreter aus Austria🇦🇹, nicht aus Australia🇦🇺, und zwar im Jahr 1977 in London:
Der von Lukas Resetarits getextete und von der Band “Schmetterlinge” mit Willi Resetarits komponierte, von Christian Kolonovits dirigierte Beitrag ▶️Boom Boom Boomerang war damals eine bissige Kritik an der Musikindustrie und eine Parodie auf seichte Schlagertexte. Österreich landete damit auf dem 17. und vorletzten Platz, wie im Archiv des Hauses der Geschichte Österreich nachzulesen ist.
Beatrix Neundlinger, Leadsängerin der „Schmetterlinge“, war übrigens schon fünf Jahre früher beim europäischen Gesangswettbewerb – ebenfalls im United Kingdom, in Edinburgh – aufgetreten. Mit ihrer damaligen Band, den „Milestones“, vertrat sie Österreich beim Eurovision Song Contest 1972 und erreichte mit dem Titel „Falter im Wind“ damals den hervorragenden 5. Platz.
Wer am Samstag in der Wiener Stadthalle ausreichend “douze points” erhalten und den diesmal wegen der Teilnahme Israels von einigen Nationen boykottierten 70. Eurovisions Songcontest beim Finale mit 25 Teilnehmern gewinnen wird, entscheidet sich spätnachts am Samstag. Hoffentlich fällt heute Abend das große Public Viewing vor dem Rathaus nicht wegen des kalten, regnerischen Wetters ins Wasser. Bei Temperaturen um die 11 Grad hoffe ich, dass Eurovisions-Fan Aki Lunn aus England, den ich am letzten Wochenende mit zwei Tickets für das Wiener Fußballderby ausstatten konnte, Karten für die Stadthalle hat und nicht vor dem Rathaus frieren muss.
Warm anziehen muss sich übrigens voraussichtlich auch der SK Rapid, für den es nach einer neuerlichen Derby-Niederlage (0:2) im sonntägigen Meisterschaftsfinale um die Europacup-Teilnahme geht. Wie im Vorjahr müssen die Grün-Weißen wahrscheinlich ins Bundesliga-Europacup-Playoff, um nächste Saison wieder „europäisch“ spielen zu können. Gegner wird Ried oder der WAC sein, das steht ebenso wie der Abstieg (BW Linz) seit Samstag fest. Wenn sich am Sonntag ab 14:30 auch der Meistertitel emtscheidet, sind die beiden Wiener Klubs Zünglein an der Waage im österreichischen Meisterschaftsfinish: die Wiener Austria spielt zu Hause gegen den Tabellenführer und Cupsieger LASK, der mit Trainer Didi Kühbauer nach 61 Jahren wieder das Double holen könnte. Rapid trifft auswärts auf Sturm Graz, das zwei Punkte hinter dem LASK liegt, und müsste gewinnen, um die Austria noch überholen und sich die „Playoff-Überstunden“ ersparen zu können.
Eine missglückte Saison mit drei Trainern – Peter Stöger, Stefan Kulovits und Johannes Hoff Thorup – könnte für Rapid also entweder mit einem (äußerst unwahrscheinlichen) Auswärtssieg oder doch noch einem weiteren Heimspiel in Wien-Hütteldorf enden. Rapid steht wieder einmal an “crossroads”! Das ist übrigens auch der Titel von Beitrag Nr. 11 beim Songcontest: Daniel Zizka aus Tschechien zählt dort ebensowenig zu den Favoriten wie Rapid.
Eurovision Song Contest 2026
- 01 Dänemark: Søren Torpegaard Lund – „Før Vi Går Hjem“
- 02 Deutschland: Sarah Engels – „Fire“
- 03 Israel: Noam Bettan – „Michelle“
- 04 Belgien: Essyla – „Dancing On The Ice“
- 05 Albanien: Alis – „Nân“
- 06 Griechenland: Akylas – „Ferto“
- 07 Ukraine: Leléka – „Ridnym“
- 08 Australien: Delta Goodrem – „Eclipse“
- 09 Serbien: Lavina – „Kraj Mene“
- 10 Malta: Aidan – „Bella“
- 11 Tschechien: Daniel Zizka – „Crossroads“
- 12 Bulgarien: Dara – „Bangaranga“
- 13 Kroatien: Lelek – „Andromeda“
- 14 Vereinigtes Königreich: Look Mum No Computer – „Eins Zwei Drei“
- 15 Frankreich: Monroe – „Regarde!“
- 16 Moldau: Satoshi – „Viva, Moldova!“
- 17 Finnland: Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen – „Liekinheitin“
- 18 Polen: Alicja – „Pray“
- 19 Litauen: Lion Ceccah – „Sólo Quiero Más“
- 20 Schweden: Felicia – „My System“
- 21 Zypern: Antigoni – „Jalla“
- 22 Italien: Sal Da Vinci – „Per Sempre Sì“
- 23 Norwegen: Jonas Lovv – „Ya Ya Ya“
- 24 Rumänien: Alexandra Căpitănescu – „Choke Me“
- 25 Österreich: Cosmó – „Tanzschein“
Hammer of the Year – Ten Years After
It’s the tenth season after West Ham United’s final game at Upton Park on May 10th, 2016.
In that year, 2016, Dimitri Payet won the “Hammer of the Year” award. Last season (2024/25) Aaron Wan-Bissaka was the winner after Jarrod Bowen had claimed the accolades the year before.
Now voting is open for this year’s awards. Vote here for your 2025/26 Hammer of the Year 🗳️ ⚒ ▶️forms/2026_hammer_of_the_year
And here you can take a sentimental look back to the Hammer’s good-bye to Upton Park ten years ago:
Unfortunately what was promised by the West Ham board prior to the move to Stratford, “a world class team in a world class stadium”, has not materialised, and despite some great matches at the London Stadium and winning the Conference League in 2023, still many supporters do not really feel at home at the new ground.
When we think of Upton Park and Green Street this still feels more like our home than the bowl somewhere lost in the Olympic Park. Well then, let’s listen to “Goin’ home” by Alvin Lee and Ten Years After⬇️ or relive the final day at the Boleyn by watching the clip above⬆️ – instead of thinking of tomorrow’s next nail biting game against Newcastle away!
Will Burnham make it
in Makerfield?
The constituency of Makerfield in Greater Manchester, south of Wigan, has been thrust into the spotlight after Josh Simons, the sitting MP, stood down. He will make way for Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, to stand in a by-election as he begins his perilous journey back to Westminster with his eye on the keys to No 10.
People here in the constituency of Warrington, overnight, hold a lot of power. About 77,000 will get the chance to effectively decide whether Burnham can return to the House of Commons, challenge unpopular prime minister Keir Starmer and become the next prime minister himself. The vote will be held on June 18th, the day after England will have started into the World Cup with their first game against Croatia.
As it won’t be easy to win that initial game it will not be an easy win for Burnham, either: latest polling shows that Reform have an 82 per cent chance of winning the seat, compared with Labour’s 17 per cent. Yet these figures do not count for a Burnham bounce. Should the so-called “King of the North”, a former Labour minister, win the seat of Makerfield — where Labour was decimated by Nigel Farage’s Reform in last week’s local elections — he will prove that he has the ability to win against the grain of the party’s current fortunes.
In such circumstances, The Times writes, it would be hard to see how he does not become Britain’s 59th prime minister in the last 300 years and its seventh in the last decade. In case he succeeds Keir Starmer, The Times believes that he would take Britain to the left.
But first he has to make it in Makerfield…
Mayor of London: “Support West Ham!”
Strange things are happening: The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan urges Londoners to support West Ham to prevent the City of London from losing £2,5m of stadium rent per year. The annual amount to be paid by West Ham would be reduced if the east London club was relegated from the Premier League.
After their controversial 0-1 defeat to Arsenal (with a goal in injury time ruled out by VAR) and Spurs’ 1– 1 draw with Leeds on Monday night, the Hammers are now 2 points behind Spurs with only two more games to play.
Meanwhile Hull have defeated Millwall in the semifinals of the PL promotion play-offs and will now play Southampton in the final on 23 May to decide which club will follow Coventry and Ipswich to the Premier League. Well, if the Saints aren’t expelled from the final by an independent commission which will be ruling on a member of their staff spying at their semifinal opponents Middlesbrough‘s training ground.
And also the title race in England as well as in Scotland is going to be a thriller this year with everything going down to the wire in the last round. By the way, “Hollywood owned” club Wrexham has lost out on qualifying for the play-offs with a 2-2 draw against Middlesbrough on the last day of the season and now cannot add an other promotion to their back-to-back-to-back promotions from National League to the Championship, but a seventh-place finish in their first campaign in the second tier in 43 years is the highest in their history…
Sunday afternoon football
Endstand SCR 0 FK Austria 2
West Ham 0 Arsenal 1
▶️https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYKuDo_NXgy/?igsh=MWxqdmtzYzg5cmp2dg==
▶️https://twitter.com/HammersTalking/status/2054542089069768946/video/1?s=46
▶️https://twitter.com/talkSPORT/status/2054503166297981306/video/1?s=46
Bad weekend for WHU
West Ham back in the relegation zone
After West Ham lost 0-3 at Brentford on the Saturday in a game in which nothing had gone their way with hitting the woodwork a record-equaling four times and highly controversial decisions by referee and VAR, Tottenham beat a sorry Aston Villa 2-1 on Sunday, claiming their second straight win, and are now one point ahead of the Hammers.
Also Leeds and Nottingham Forest won: Leeds are already out of sight having defeated relegated Burnley 3-1 on Friday, and Forest beat Chelsea by the same scoreline on Monday. These two teams are now already seven respective six points ahead of West Ham with only three games to play.
With title chasing Arsenal the next opponent, it has become increasingly difficult for West Ham, especially as the momentum now has swung to Tottenham and their new manager Roberto de Zerbi.
As Times sports editor Tom Clarke put it lately: “The good times are special but going down at least means you get the joy of going back up.”
West Ham 2 Everton 1
Former West Ham manager David Moyes whose Everton team was beaten on his 63rd birthday at the London Stadium due to a late goal by West Ham’s Callum Wilson said after the game:
“West Ham have got momentum at the moment. They need to keep it going. In the Premier League you need to keep that if you can.”
David Moyes is right, there is momentum and there seems to be a newly established bond between the West Ham fans and their team, irrespective of their continuing disdain towards those running the club. Happy West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo said: “It was special to hear the fans in the stadium. It gives extra energy for the boys. We still have two games here at home and it’s going to be beautiful.
“The boys appreciate playing at home and they believe in the energy from the fans. As long as we give them something, the fans are going to give back. It’s going to be a big fight until the end. The good thing is that we don’t give up.”
How it stands:
BBC wrote about the fans’ feelings in a relegation battle in their match report:
“For any fan who has gone through a relegation battle supporting their club, it is an experience that can feel to significantly age you.
The whole process can see you experience a range of emotions over the course of a few weeks, but West Ham supporters lived through it all in one dramatic second half.
There was no hint of what was to come in a drab first 45 minutes as neither side created a chance of note, but that all changed after Soucek struck six minutes after the restart.
The experienced midfielder – making his 200th Premier League start for the Hammers – crashed home a trademark header from Jarrod Bowen’s corner to put the hosts ahead.
At that time, West Ham were going four points clear of the bottom three with Spurs being held by already-relegated Wolves.
But things dramatically changed in both games as full-time approached.
First, Joao Palhinha put Tottenham 1-0 ahead against Wolves and moments later Dewsbury-Hall levelled at West Ham.
That combination of scores put the Hammers in the bottom three and there was an air of deflation around the London Stadium.
But that all changed when Wilson struck two minutes into the eight added on.
The dramatic nature of this win will provide a significant boost to West Ham’s morale as they bid to stay in the Premier League.”
Brady Gone After 16 Years
In a statement, issued on April 21st, West Ham informed that Baroness Karren Brady (57), Vice-Chair of West Ham United, would step down from her role at the Club. On the same day West Ham United confirmed that Chief Financial Officer Andy Mollett and Executive Director Nathan Thompson had stepped down from their roles with immediate effect, after 14 years respectively over nine and a half years at the Club.
“The conflict over West Ham’s move from Upton Park has been at the heart of her 16-year tenure, with supporters left lamenting the loss of east London identity and her legacy is a stadium hated by the fans,” Sam Wallace writes in The Telegraph. Effectively it handed West Ham a new stadium for free – and an opportunity that any club in their position, at any time in their history, would have seized. The 99-year lease agreed originally at a cost to West Ham of just £2.5m a year, which is around £4m now, was dubbed “the deal of the century”, but West Ham remain a club without a home they can call their own. And the losses of more than £100m in the financial results for last season did not inspire confidence.
The stadium lies isolated in the Olympic Park, and the nostalgia for the lost Upton Park is felt ever more keenly, especially as Brady’s promise of “a world-class stadium with a world-class team” was never fulfilled and the club is fighting relegation again – not for the first time within the ten seasons that the Hammers have played at the “bowl” in Stratford.
Jacob Steinberg in The Guardian reminded his readers that chairman David Sullivan (who bought the Club in 2010 together with late David Gold and remains in his role) argued in 2017 that playing in the London Stadium meant West Ham no longer felt like a tinpot club. But the vibes were superficial, Steinberg says: “Feeling like a big club only goes so far. There are plenty of deft clubs in the top flight and West Ham are lagging behind. After 10 years in Stratford all the evidence shows that the stadium cannot cover up the structural flaws. Brady leaves with West Ham fighting for survival. It is a questionable legacy. In a season of few wins the overwhelming majority of supporters regard Brady going as a victory, but the work is far from done.“
The slogan “No more BS” now will change to a simple “Sullivan Out”, but regardless of the fact that some protests are going to continue, every supporter’s first and foremost duty must be to support their club in the fight against relegation – a fight that has now effectively become a two-horse race between West Ham and Tottenham, following Nottingham’s 5-0 victory over Sunderland on Friday night. Come on you Irons!
EXTRA TIME 
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