Why the army is joining forces with the Vienna Vikings and the players around linebacker Noel Swancar find the cooperation “more than just nice”.
What do Penthouse men’s magazine, the Munich Cowboys, US quarterback Joe Namath and the Austrian army have to do with the Vienna Vikings? A lot, because every story starts somewhere and this one begins with Thomas Aichmair, who is leafing through the first German-language edition of Penthouse and discovers a report about a football team from Munich that fascinates him. When he reads an article about Joe Namath shortly afterwards, he is completely hooked. Aichmair founded the Vienna Vikings and became a defensive tackle himself and the first president of the club, which has a 40-year history of success with 15 Austrian championships and five Eurobowl victories. The professional franchise team, founded in 2022, already has an EFL triumph on its CV and has also had an exciting partnership with the Austrian Armed Forces since the previous year.
The cooperation & its beginnings
The starting signal was given in 2023: Under the leadership of the Vienna Military Command, the Austrian Armed Forces accompanied five Vikings home games against international opponents in order to position the stadium as a sports-oriented, contemporary and attractive employer. The plan quickly paid off: The team, fans and spectators were enthusiastic. At the request of the Austrian American Football Association, the Austrian Armed Forces therefore also took part in the final game of the European Football Championship in October 2023 in St. Pölten, where the Austrian national team (with more than two dozen Vikings players in the squad) impressively became European champions for the first time in front of around 7,000 spectators. https://militaeraktuell.at/gdels-steyr-zeigt-sof-variante-des-pandur-evo/ Since then, the Vikings players have been wearing jerseys with the Austrian Armed Forces camouflage patch in selected games. The match ball is brought into the stadium by parachute by soldiers from the military’s fighter squad, military music plays before the game and the armed forces also play a leading role in the pre-game area with a wide variety of attractions and hands-on stations as part of the “Salute to Service”. And away from the games, there will be information and excursion events for the young players of the Vikings Football Academy, where the Armed Forces will provide insights into the varied military profession.
For Colonel Hannes Kerschbaumer, the collaboration is a “matter of course”, as he says. Kerschbaumer is a consultant in event management at the Federal Ministry of Defense and therefore the direct link between the army and the Vikings. “We have been looking into getting involved in American football for some time because the sport is an ideal match for the armed forces due to its character, its athletes and its fans,” he says in an interview with Militär Aktuell. “As in the military, success in football also depends on whether the players work together as a cohesive unit. Strategies and plans have to be adapted to changing situations at short notice and, similar to the ‘huddle’ in football, where the quarterback specifies the next play in the form of standardized codes, the military issues orders.” Another parallel is important to Kerschbaumer: “Ultimately, it’s about defense and attack, and about using tactics to monitor, defend and occupy spaces within the team structure.”
“Ultimately, just like there, it’s about defense and attack and about using tactics in the team structure to monitor, defend and capture spaces.
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Oberst Hannes Kerschbaumer, BMLV
The Vikings are currently more than successful in the latter. Since 2022, the professional team has been one of 17 teams from nine nations to play in the European League of Football (ELF), which was only founded in 2021, and won the title on its debut with a 27:15 victory in the final against the Hamburg Sea Devils. The following year, the Vikings were knocked out in the semi-final against Stuttgart Surge (33:40) and are back in the final this season after an impeccable basic round (twelve wins in twelve games) and a 47:31 win against the Paris Musketeers in the semi-final. Regardless of the outcome of the game, the Vikings are once again one of the best American football teams in Europe this year.
The Austrian Armed Forces are also in the thick of things – and not “just” as a cooperation partner at and around the games, but also in terms of personnel. Numerous players in the current squad are former army athletes: Luis Horvath, Florian Bierbaumer, Aleksandar Milanovic, Alex Watholowitsch, Leo Gerner, Benjamin Straight, Raphael Komeyli and Niki Terlitza, for example. Bernhard Seikovits, who is now entering his fourth year in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals, was also an army athlete in 2017, as was Noel Swancar, whose time in the army only came to an end in July. https://militaeraktuell.at/ranger-test-amazonas-haengematte-traveller-set-forest/ The 20-year-old linebacker is a graduate of the Vienna Vikings Football Academy, was signed by the professional team in the mid-season of last year, is playing his first full season this year and is already a two-time European champion (juniors and men). “In the army, I had the opportunity to concentrate one hundred percent on American football,” he says. In addition to the seven sessions a week in military sports, he also trained with the Vikings. His time in the army was not a major change for him. “It was interesting to get to know the army perspective and also the team spirit within the squad. I liked it there and I was also able to make a lot of contacts with other athletes and exchange ideas with them.”
Swancar and his teammates also like the cooperation with the Austrian Armed Forces. “When we first heard about it, we were all thrilled,” he says in an interview with Militär Aktuell. “It’s extremely cool that the armed forces are supporting our rapidly growing trend sport so much. It makes us feel part of something bigger. Wearing the jerseys for the first time was something very special. The whole cooperation is very leiwand.” The athlete then goes on to talk about something that football and the armed forces have in common: “I used to play volleyball and soccer, which was also fun. In football, however, the feeling of togetherness within the team is completely different. You need absolute trust in each other to be successful, and you can feel that every day in training. I have to be sure that my supporting players will do their jobs and not let me down, and it’s probably very similar in the army when the going gets tough.” Colonel Kerschbaumer nods: “We quickly realized that we simply fit together well. That’s why we’re currently looking into whether we should possibly even expand our involvement in Austrian football, but no decision has been made yet.” The only thing that is certain is that the Vikings will continue to play a major role in the army’s plans for the future. Kerschbaumer: “And rightly so, because where else do you have the opportunity to work together with a top European team to our mutual benefit, and where else is the commitment of the Austrian Armed Forces as a diverse and sport-affine employer so positively received?”
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