Rapid draw with Celtic
Rapid’s next games:
First game, first win
West Ham began their pre-season with a training camp in Scotland, and then switched to the Swiss Alps where they played the first game of their preparations for the 2022/23 season. It was a winning start for the Hammers on Friday with two Academy players on the scoresheet: West Ham beat Servette Geneve 2-0 (goals: Aji Alese 27, Mubama 52).
West Ham will now return to England and play a double-header of fixtures on Tuesday, 12 July, evening: one half of the squad head to Ipswich to play League One side Ipswich Town, and the other half will travel to Hertfordshire to face National League side Boreham Wood.
Reading, Glasgow Rangers, Luton and finally Lens, all of these matches away, are the pre-season games to follow. The Irons’ return to London Stadium will take place on 7 August with the inaugural Premier League game of the new season against champions Manchester City!
Come on you Irons!
New Signing at West Ham
West Ham have announced the signing of midfielder Flynn Downes who could be the new Mark Noble and his career step from the Championship to West Ham one like Jarrod Bowen‘s three years ago.
The 23-year-old, a lifelong Hammer who is pictured on West Ham’s website in the club’s new away kit, joins the Club from Championship Club Swansea City on a five-year contract, with a further one-year option, for an undisclosed fee which is said to be around £9m, but the deal could be worth up to £14m with add-ons. The midfielder had been expected to join Crystal Palace, although the Hammers acted swiftly to secure Flynn’s services.
The Brentwood-born player is a product of Ipswich Town’s Academy and has played for Ipswich, Luton and Swansea so far. He is described as “a gifted passer, strong tackler and combative all-round player who is already closing in on 150 career appearances”. The 23-year-old “completed 92.6% of his 2,465 attempted passes in the EFL Championship last season”, giving him the highest pass-completion rate in England’s top four divisions in 2021/22, ahead of West Ham United’s Declan Rice in second with 91.6%.
Downes has been earmarked by manager David Moyes as a player with the potential to shine at Premier League level. Hoping that the West Ham manager will be right, Jarrod Bowen’s career springs to mind. The right winger was signed by David Moyes three years ago from Championship club Hull City and came to West Ham almost at the same age (some months before his 23rd birthday) as Flynn (who turned 23 in January 2022).
Flynn Downs is a former England U20 international and has always been a supporter of West Ham United.
“It’s a surreal feeling to have joined my boyhood Club,” said Downes, who will wear the No12 shirt. “I feel like I’m dreaming.”
“It’s been my dream since I was a little boy to join this Club – it’s an absolute privilege. This is my Club, so I couldn’t be more delighted. I’m glad to be here and I can’t wait to get started.”
West Ham’s new midfield player is pictured in the Irons’ new black away kit which has been presented lately in this video:
The 2022/23 away kit which was launched alongside Hammers fan Newham-born rapper Guvna B takes inspiration from the Hammers’ roots deep in the heart of the capital’s vibrant East End.
Its black body is complemented by Sleeve accents of White, Pink and Sky Blue, whose patterns are inspired by the 100-year-old ship slipway at Thames Ironworks, which was uncovered in the construction of the recently-opened Elizabeth line, and give a fresh look to the kits which Hammers everywhere will wear on their travels this season.
Bye-bye Boris! So long Brexit?
Boris Johnson stepped down today as leader of the Tories, but intends to stay as Prime Minister until October.
However his own MPs are already urging him to step aside straight away to avoid months of paralysis in Government.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Michael Heseltine said in a reaction that ‘if Boris goes, Brexit goes’ and urged the next Conservative Party leader to renew ties with Brussels.
The former Deputy Prime Minister said Boris Johnson’s departure will likely lead to a shake-up in relations with the European Union, as it was the key policy he nurtured.
He also warned that “extreme anti-Europeanism and right-wingism” would be a “suicide course” for the party.
Weltuntergangs-Porno
©️ KURIER
FUD – “Fear, uncertainty and doubt”…
“Doomscrolling” ▶️ https://kurier.at/leben/doomscrolling-wie-negative-nachrichten-die-psyche-belasten/402068188
Women‘s Euro 2022
On Wednesday, 6 July 2022, Women’s Euro 2022 in England start with a match between the Lionesses and Austria in Old Trafford. England will be the host team, the Netherlands will be the defending champions, and Northern Ireland will participate in a UEFA Women’s Euro competition for the first time.
England qualified automatically as hosts of the tournament, but there should be few doubts about their playing credentials. After reaching the semi-finals of the last three major tournaments under Mark Sampson and Phil Neville, the Lionesses appear to have hit new heights, taking their game to a different level under the guidance of the former Netherlands manager Sarina Wiegman.
Here is the England squad in pictures ▶️ The Guardian
After 14 games, including 12 wins, with 84 goals scored along the way since Wiegman started work last September, the expectations surrounding the England team have soared and no one is quite sure how England will react to the attendant pressure.
And these are the Austrian players who play against England in Group A together with Norway and Northern Ireland ▶️ https://www.fussball-wm.pro/frauen-em-2022/mannschaften/oesterreich-kader/?amp
Irene Fuhrmann ist seit 2020 „Teamchefin“ des österreichischen Frauenteams
Praise the Lord
The butterfly on the praying man’s shoulder shows the beauty of God’s creation. If everything on earth was made by the one God, and if it’s true that this God is beautiful or is Beauty itself, we can rightly feel that order, pleasure and beauty are the norm. That’s the way creation is and should be according to God’s order.
Of course, we then have to explain the disorder, the ugliness, the pain and illness we find everywhere in this world.
But the point is that if the one God is good, which I firmly believe, then we have to talk of “the problem of evil”, not the “problem of good”, because the good things should be the norm according to God’s order.
We often tend to think that evil is overwhelming (especially when we read news of war, famine, accidents, etc or suffer of illness, anxiety and pain ourselves). But there still is so much beauty in this “fallen world” that we can believe that we were made for something better and by Someone Better.
And if that God is for us, there is enough reason for faith, hope and love. And if God us for us, who can be against us?
(cf. Michael Lloyd, Cafe Theology – Exploring Love, the Universe and Everything, 3rd edition, 2018, 38 f)
„Fußball ist Kunst“
KURIER, 3.7.2022 – Alfred Dorfer: https://kurier.at/kultur/alfred-dorfer-frauenfussball-ist-ein-spiel-ohne-schmierentheater/402060241
“Für mich ist Fußball eine Form vom Kunst – vorausgesetzt, man beherrscht sie!”
Frauen EM in England – 90 Stunden “live” im ORF: https://kurier.at/kultur/medien/frauen-em-in-england-alle-spiele-live-in-orf1/402034064
TV Tipps: Dienstag, 21:50 ORF 1 – Dorfer trifft Teamchefin Fuhrmann
Mittwoch, 18:45 ORF 1 – Magazin “Heimspiel”
Mittwoch, 20:15 ORF 1 – England v. Österreich
Pre-Season
West Ham have started their pre-season camp in Scotland with a morning run on the famous West Sands beach in St Andrews.
The pics on West Ham’s website are a reminiscence of the iconic Chariots of Fire beach running sequence and will hopefully be the start of an other great season for the mighty Hammers.
https://youtu.be/8a-HfNE3EIoThe Irons’ pre-season matches start with a game against Servette on Friday, 8 July in the Stade de Geneve and include a tie against Rangers at Glasgow, Ibrox Stadium, on 19 July. In a typical “Parallelaktion”, Rapid Vienna, will play the other Glasgow Club, Celtic FC, as part of their preparations for the 2022/23 season: on Saturday, 9 July, Rapid Wien will host the green-whites from Scotland in the Allianz Stadium. 
Frauen-Team für Rapid
Ein Drittel der Rapid-Fans ist weiblich, heißt es. Nun soll der SK Rapid ein Frauenteam bekommen. Spät, aber doch: bei West Ham United gibt es ein solches schon seit 31 Jahren. Den Antrag auf Etablierung einer „Frauen-Mannschaft“ bei Rapid stellte Clara Gallistl vom Fanklub „Vorwärts Rapid“.
Vor der am 27. Juni stattfindenden Rapid-Hauptversammlung war Gallistl zu Gast im Podcast 1899.fm. Die gebürtige Oberösterreicherin, die in Wien im Bereich Kulturpolitik arbeitet, erzählte darüber, wie sie Rapid-Fan wurde, wie sie in den „Block West“ gekommen ist und wie der Antrag an die Generalversammlung, die schon im November 2021 hätte stattfinden sollen, zu verstehen ist. Sie hat beantragt, dass innerhalb von zwölf Monaten eine Strategie für ein Rapid-Frauenteam entwickelt werden soll.
Gestern wurde der Antrag bei der – aufgrund von Corona-bedingten Verschiebungen eigentlich schon letzten November fällig gewesenen – Hauptversammlung angenommen. Der SK Rapid wird im November eine strukturierte und umfassende Strategie für ein SK Rapid-Frauenteam präsentieren. Der zweite Teil des Antrags von Gallistl, geeignete Maßnahmen zur Erhöhung des Anteils von Frauen und nicht-binären Personen in Leitungspositionen zu erarbeiten, war nicht auf der Tagesordnung.
Präsident Martin Bruckner erklärte, dass 2024 eine Rapid-Frauen-Mannschaft an Wettbewerben teilnehmen soll. Ende November werde man den Mitgliedern einen präzisen Vorschlag vorlegen. Spätestens im Sommer 2024 soll dann ein Frauen-Team aktiv sein und um Punkte spielen. Mit dem neuen Rapid-Trainingszentrum im Prater sollten nun auch die infrastrukturellen Voraussetzungen dafür vorhanden sein. Und Wiens Sportstadtrat Peter Hacker (SPÖ) sagte bereits 2021, dass er sich nach der städtischen Hilfe beim Trainingszentrum die Gründung eines Rapid-Frauenteams erwarten würde.
Der Kurier berichtete schon vor der HV über die Ergebnisse einer Arbeitsgruppe der Grün-Weißen, die sich bereits mit dem Thema befasst hat und meint, dass die Kosten zwischen 500.000 und 700.000 Euro im Jahr betragen werden. Des Weiteren ist eine Kooperation mit einem bestehenden Verein möglich oder Rapid startet eine eigene Frauenabteilung ganz unten.
Bei West Ham United gibt es ein Frauen-Team seit 1991. Der vor 31 Jahren gegründete West Ham United FC Women spielt seit 2018 in der obersten englischen Frauen-Liga und erreichte unter Manager Matt Beard das FA Cup-Finale 2019.
2021/22 wurde das WHU-Frauenteam, das mittlerweile optisch ziemlich gleichwertig mit der Männer-Mannschaft in West Ham’s Internet-Auftritt präsent ist, Achter in der englischen Women‘s Super League. Neuer Manager ist der bisherige Frauenteam-Assistent und frühere West Ham Spieler Paul Konchesky. In seinem Team stehen auch einige Nationalspielerinnen, die bei der am 6. Juli beginnenden Frauen-EM in England dabei sein werden.
Standard-Artikel ▶️ Salzburg, Rapid und die Ausreden der Männer
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