Rage Online

Ok, who's going? When and where are you staying?

I'm arriving in Vienna early Saturday afternoon and staying at Hotel Corvinus in Wiener Neustadt itself for 4 nights flying back on Wednesday afternoon. The flights were arranged before the BBQ and get together with the players was announced...

Will be catching the train back into Vienna probably Sunday/Monday...

I'm leaving home very shortly and I too booked to come back on Wednesday before I knew about the bbq.

There was never any chance of me attending this, and I can't say I was too bothered when it was announced but I'm now quite jealous of those of you sampling the local culture (and beer).

When was the last time OUFC fans got to watch the team in Europe? I remember we toured Bulgaria as a top flight team in the mid 80s (and lost 5-0 to their national team iirc) but presumably there weren't many Us fans present as the Iron Curtain was very much intact at that point. Anglo-Italian cup in the 70s maybe? Before my time certainly.

Also, am I right in thinking that Raging Bull FC once went on a foreign tour and were mistaken for the actual OUFC team by their hosts, and ended up getting thrashed by a proper team in a stadium full of fans? I can't have imagined all that can I?

Kernow Yellow wrote:There was never any chance of me attending this, and I can't say I was too bothered when it was announced but I'm now quite jealous of those of you sampling the local culture (and beer).

When was the last time OUFC fans got to watch the team in Europe? I remember we toured Bulgaria as a top flight team in the mid 80s (and lost 5-0 to their national team iirc) but presumably there weren't many Us fans present as the Iron Curtain was very much intact at that point. Anglo-Italian cup in the 70s maybe? Before my time certainly.

Also, am I right in thinking that Raging Bull FC once went on a foreign tour and were mistaken for the actual OUFC team by their hosts, and ended up getting thrashed by a proper team in a stadium full of fans? I can't have imagined all that can I?

Correct, a 9-1 loss if memory serves. Of course the new incarnation of Raging Fever has had more success with wins in Belgium, a credible draw at the Mart Poom Academy in Estonia and a narrow(ish) loss in Paris at the PSG training ground.

I recall reading about a Scandinavian tour in the 80s, probably the year we went down from Division One. Billy whitehurst was in the squad, so anything could have happened.

Radley Rambler wrote:

Kernow Yellow wrote:Also, am I right in thinking that Raging Bull FC once went on a foreign tour and were mistaken for the actual OUFC team by their hosts, and ended up getting thrashed by a proper team in a stadium full of fans? I can't have imagined all that can I?

Correct, a 9-1 loss if memory serves. Of course the new incarnation of Raging Fever has had more success with wins in Belgium, a credible draw at the Mart Poom Academy in Estonia and a narrow(ish) loss in Paris at the PSG training ground.

9-1 is pretty respectable - Fever have lost games against fans' teams more heavily than that.

I can't see or hear Mart Poom's name without remembering how, as a Premier League goalkeeper, he got injured pre-season playing up front in an amateur game against Iron Maiden in Estonia!

Anyway, this Austria trip really seems to have caught the imagination - 200 fans to a pre-season friendly a thousand miles away is pretty impressive! I look forward to hearing the stories from those who were there (although judging by Yankee Clipper's facebook updates his memory might be a little hazy)...

I have been to many football away days both with Oxford and England but this trip was something else when the players came into Clumsy's night club the place went berserk, then they moved on to the Elit Bar in the main centre where the fans had taken over for the duration. Earlier in the day there had been flags all over the square outside the Elit Bar and the police got called when a yellow smoke bomb was let off in the middle of the afternoon. I didn't make the barbecue because I came back too early, I arrived home yesterday evening and I am still a little delicate this morning. Rumour has it there is already a trip to Slovakia arranged for next year.

A-Ro wrote: when the players came into Clumsy's night club the place went berserk, then they moved on to the Elit Bar in the main centre

Good to know that our professional sports science preparation for the season ahead involves visiting night clubs and bars as part of the post-exercise recovery phase.

Lighten up. By all accounts, they had one drink each, and then moved on. I thought it was great the way the players bonded with the fans. The sense of togetherness now between fans, management and players is very high. Everything is in place for promotion this season.

SWA wrote:Lighten up. By all accounts, they had one drink each, and then moved on. I thought it was great the way the players bonded with the fans. The sense of togetherness now between fans, management and players is very high. Everything is in place for promotion this season.

I hope you're right - everyone's talking as though it's nailed on, we'll see.

It was a spectacular trip!!

I know we've done well to retain Roofe, Baldock and Hylton, and it's great news that the rugby club has gone and the pitch has been re-laid but do we really think that a couple of hundred (very dedicated) fans enjoying a three day piss-up in Austria during which they socialised with the players and staff is really the final piece in the jigsaw that helps clinch promotion?

I feel it has done more for club / fan bonding than anything else i've seen in the past 47 years. I say club rather than team because on field results can do a lot for team and fan relationships but that doesn't involve the management or backroom staff whereas this trip involved every level of the club personnel. In itself this still isn't enough to guarantee promotion but it certainly makes me feel a lot more positive about the club.

Compare our Austrian experience with that of Leeds United.

http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update ... n-austria/