Draft:Vienna Galahs Australian Football Club

The Vienna Galahs are an Australian Football club located in Vienna, Austria and are Austria's fourth and currently Vienna's only Australian rules football club.

History

The club was established by Australian expatriates and began as the 'Wiener Dingos' in 2003. The club doubled as the Austria National team in international competitions until the foundation of the country's second club in Graz in 2008, named the Styrian DownUnder Dogs.

In 2006, the team was renamed 'Vienna Kangaroos' and increased the number of Austrian-born players.

In 2011, the Kangaroos did not have a usable team and the club fizzled out.

In 2018, two ex-Kangaroos members Sebastian Böhm and Pablo Caldarola re-founded Australian Football in Vienna with the Vienna Galahs AFC With Seb taking the mantel as club president and captain and Pablo taking over club relations and team development.

2018

The first year was challenging with often only the founding members at training. Through passion and persistence the word of the bird spread and numbers swelled. The Vienna Gaels, the local Gaelic football Club, were very supportive during those formative years by promoting the Galahs, lending players and generally being good blokes, in a friendly club relationship that continues on to this day. Vienna and Styria reignited their bittersweet rivalry.

2019

By the second year, the club had recruited enough members and the first official games began to take place with yearly matches against Munich Kangaroos, Prague Dragons and Styrian DownUnder Dogs.

The Vienna Galahs also grew to include a volleyball team that trained and drank beer at the same times each week.

Sebastian Böhm was re-elected team captain.

2020

The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in Vienna were difficult for many sports leagues, especially niche international sports, but the Galahs made it through with many new members looking to get outdoors, stay fit and stay social despite social-distancing rules through the pandemic. Trainings became no-contact and weekly running groups were created to get members through the lonely winter.

Training was expanded from Mondays in the park to include a second training session each Friday at Rugby Union Donau located in Prater Park. The Galahs joined the Dogs for their annual weekend training camp.

The Marmalads band began to jam. The Galahs narrowly beat the Dogs in the Austrian Cup.

Michael Henry was re-elected team captain.

2021

The Austrian Cup was expanded to include Budapest Bats for the Festival of Football in Vienna, one large tournament with all three teams.

2021 also saw friendly exhibition matches with Munich Kangaroos, Prague Dragons and Fort Nysa (Poland).

6 team members hiked Schneeberg (Alps) and saw potential for a club activity.

Vienna won the Austrian Cup against Graz in the neutrally-positioned town of Gloggnitz. It was a close match with a final score of 66-63.

Kieran Doohan was elected team captain with vice-captains Paul Bale, Max Tomek and ReeceTyrell.

2022

The Austrian/Duna Cup continued with 3 rounds.

Players returned to hike Schneeberg overnight, this year with 13 members as a team-building activity (training legs and beer-drinking-biceps) where Kieran Doohan was re-elected captain.

Played in 2 Polish tournaments (Nysa Cup) and 2 friendly matches against Prague with one hosted in each city.

The Galahs won the Austrian Cup against Graz for the third year in a row.

Until now, the Galahs was a mixed-but-male-majority team, but after seeing the newly created women's team in Fort Nysa, players Pablo and Jimi decided it was time to build a Galahs women-only team in time to host Fort Nysa the following season. Pablo became the first women's coach and recruitment began, starting with current players' partners and stealing a few rugby girls.

2023

Off-season training moved to weekly indoor sessions to continue through the icy winter.

In March, the Vienna Galahs flew to Paris to compete in the Euro Cup. They were knocked out atfer the first round of four matches but won the hearts of the crowds both on and off the field.

Jimi Doohan, the younger brother of previous captain Kieran, was elected as the men's captain with vice-captains Paul Bale and Thomas Birch. Abbegayle Young was elected as the first women's captain with vice-captain Netta Kellett, and sponsored by The Oak Pub were outfitted with match geurnseys.

Nine Galahs flew to Israel in April to compete in the first ANZAC Tournament in the Middle East, with the tournament being held in the city of Beersheba, the location of a famous ANZAC battle. The Galahs played as team Australia-EU with a few other Australians from European clubs in the imfamous pink but unfortunately lost to the Israeli and UAE teams.

The pre-season Schneeberg hike grew to include 20 members.

In May, true their promise, the Galahs hosted the first women's AFL match in Austria against Fort Nysa, marking the official beginning of the Vienna Galahs women's season.

The Galahs travelled to Munich this year for the annual friendly tournament.

A few members teamed up with the Australian Embassy and held an AFL workshop with Slovakian schoolkids in Bratislava.

The Galahs again competed in the Nysa Cup, this time taking the cup home (which is on display at partnering bar the Schnauzer & Beagle Brewery).

2023 saw the Austrian/Duna Cup be again expanded to include Prague Dragons and renamed the Empire Cup (as all cities were once part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire) restructured into 4 rounds with one round hosted by each club and to also include women's matches (or mixed when necessary). The Empire Cup final was held in Budapest and was due to be between Vienna Galahs and Prague Dragons but due to the Dragons being unable to attend and having the forfeit, the Galahs played against a mixed team of Bats and Dogs and ended as the first Empire Cup winners. The day also included the first ever women's AFL match in Hungary between Vienna and Budapest.

Friday evening trainings were discontinued at the Rugby Union Donau Club and moved to Thursdays at the Vienna Celtic Rugby Club, with Mondays at Auer-Welbach Park contuining as normal.

2024

Off-season winter trainings continued indoors weekly through winter.

Jimi Doohan and Abbegayle Young were re-elected as captains of the men's and women's teams, with vice-captains Jordan Fitzgerald, Jordan Dye and Luise Baek.

The Empire Cup was again expanded to include Polish clubs Fort Nysa and the Silesia Miners with round 1 being hosted in Nysa.

The Galahs teamed up with Schnauzer & Beagle Brewery to personally brew the first official 'Galahger' beer.

With the ANZAC tournament in Israel being cancelled due to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, playing with members from Graz as the 'Austrian Avalanches', Vienna hosted national team Germany Eagles and Israeli Beasts to play a round-robin tournament.