Hanappi's gift to posterity

By Thomas Zeh

You could call Gerhard Hanappi the architect of Austrian football. Not because he founded the national team or shaped its technical direction, but for the more prosaic reason that, after hanging up his boots, he retrained as an architect and designed the SK Rapid Wien stadium which bears his name.

Early success
A key-member of the 'Wunderteam' which won the bronze medal at the 1954 FIFA World Cup and a seven-time league champion with Rapid, Hanappi was born on 16 February 1929, and made his mark on Austrian football as an 18-year-old by helping SC Wacker Wien win an Austrian league and cup double in 1946/47.

Legendary side
Rapid quickly lured him to their home district, Hüttelsdorf, where he joined other club legends like Ernst Happel, goalkeeper Walter Zeman and the Körner brothers, Robert and Alfred, in forging a team which laid the foundation for Rapid's emergence as Austrian giants.

Vienna school
A graduate of the so-called 'Vienna football school' - a style of play which focussed on creativity and technique - Hanappi's stamina, pace, dribbling skills and vision saw him employed as a midfield player, a right-back and most successfully as a deep-lying striker.

National success
His stamina also extended to playing for the national team. After making his debut against Sweden in November 1948, he played 55 consecutive national team games until 1955, and continued to represent his country until 1962, earning a total of 93 caps and scoring 12 goals.

Memorable run
Captain of the Austrian side that went to the World Cup in 1958, his golden hour came four years earlier as Austria reached the semi-finals of the competition only to lose 6-1 to Germany, 6-1. Their run had seen a memorable quarter-final in which Hanappi's side came back from 3-0 down against Switzerland to win 7-5.
"In our time, we played football in order to score goals," Hanappi remembered. "Nowadays young kids are often drilled just not to concede goals."

Career change
Not a man to rest on his laurels, Hanappi moved from football to architecture in 1965. Peter Elstner, a long-serving commentator for ORF and ATV+, said: "I have always admired Hanappi because he used the money he earned in football in order to finance his studies. He was always the intellectual type of player.

'Real gentlemen'
"Hanappi, Ernst Ocwirk and Karl Koller formed the most famous midfield axis of their time. They were real gentleman with plenty of charisma. I will never forget when they addressed me with the informal 'du' during a charity match. I felt so honoured and almost knelt down in front of them!"

Ongoing commitment
Hanappi's commitment to Rapid also continued after he hung up his boots. He helped them find new sponsors during a financial crisis and, when the old Pfarrwiese stadium was mothballed, the player devised the new, English-style stadium to bring the supporters even closer to the action.

Rapid remember
The new Weststadion was opened in 1977. However, Rapid lost one of their favourite sons in August 1980 when Hanappi died of cancer at the age of 51. In honour of the man who became the first Austrian footballer to join the nation's Order of Merit, Rapid subsequently renamed their stadium after its architect.

Lasting legacy
The Gerhard-Hanappi-Stadion has been refurbished recently. Hanappi's original design has evolved to allow shelter from the elements for supporters on all four sides of the biggest club-owned stadium in the Austrian Bundesliga. Hanappi may be gone, but in the fine, near 20,000-capacity arena, his legend lives on.