A. Salzburg

The history of the old SV Austria Salzburg until 2005 is now associated with FC Red Bull Salzburg, as Red Bull took over and transformed the club in 2005. It serves also the prehistory of the newly founded club. Until the 2005 reform, the club had won the Austrian Bundesliga 3 times and also reached the 1993-94 UEFA Cup final against Inter Milan, under coach Otto Baric.

On 13 June 2005, after weeks of protests and rejection, 1933-founded Austria Salzburg became Red Bull Salzburg, and their traditional purple colours became red and white (only the goalkeeper would wear violet socks).

The changing of colours and crest provoked most anger, alienating a large group of their support. Soon, a new club under the old name and colours was created.

The club was founded on 13 September 1933 and refounded on 7 October 2005, months after Red Bull acquired the original club.

The original club was founded on as SV Austria Salzburg, after the merger of the city's two clubs, Hertha and Rapid. In 1950, the club was dissolved but re-founded later the same year. It reached the Austrian top flight in 1953, and finished 9th of 14 clubs in its first season there, avoiding relegation by five points.

Famous players who played for the club until 2005, include Oliver Bierhoff, Thomas Häßler, Heimo Pfeifenberger, Thomas Winklhofer, Maynor Suazo, Hans Krankl, Otto Konrad, and Toni Polster.

Name history of predecessor club

1933 to 1946: SV Austria Salzburg (merger of FC Rapid Salzburg and FC Hertha Salzburg)

1946 to 1950: TSV Austria Salzburg (merger with ATSV Salzburg)

1950 to 1973: SV Austria Salzburg (merger dissolved)

1973 to 1976: SV Gerngroß A. Salzburg (Gerngroß Department Store sponsorship)

1976 to 1978: SV Sparkasse Austria Salzburg (Erste Group savings bank sponsorship)

1978 to 1997: SV Casino Salzburg (Casinos Austria sponsorship)

1997 to 2005: SV Wüstenrot Salzburg (Wüstenrot-Gruppe sponsorship)

2005 to present: SV Austria Salzburg (no sponsorship)

The club's name and crest had changed several times until 2005 as a result of mergers, sponsorships, and acquisitions. The name "Austria" had not been part of the club's name since 1978, but until 2005 it had been colloquially referred to as Austria Salzburg by fans and media. This is why the club was refounded as Austria in 2005.

The color dispute and the Violet-White initiative

When Red Bull GmbH's plans to acquire Austria Salzburg became known in April 2005, the club's supporters were positive about the plan due to the club's poor financial situation. In Austria, renaming a sports club is comparatively normal; many teams in football or ice hockey bear the name of a sponsor, usually to reorganize their finances or increase their budget. Usually, however, such changes are made with respect for the club's tradition, which is only gently altered. In this case, it was a radical reorganization of the club, which in effect amounted to a takeover of the club – Red Bull had the sole right to appoint the club's board of directors written into the club's statutes – that led to the founding of the initiative and a power struggle between Austria's fan scene and the new de facto owner.

Points of contention were the lack of acceptance of the club's history (the new management originally stated 2005 as the year of the club's foundation, which was only reversed under pressure from the ÖFB) and, above all, the traditional colours of violet-white, which remained the official club colours on paper, but in fact no longer existed. Red and white replaced the traditional colours of violet and white – not only as the colour of the jerseys – and the Red Bull logo became an essential part of the club crest.

As a reaction to the transformation of the club by the new owner, supporters founded the Violet-White initiative, whose initial aim was to preserve the club's violet and white tradition. They acted on several levels: On the one hand, negotiations were held with club officials, on the other hand, actions such as the peaceful invasion and occupation of the pitch during a friendly match were carried out.

The talks finally broke down when Red Bull only offered a purple captain's bow, a small purple logo of the new outfitter Adidas on the jerseys and purple socks for the goalkeeper as the only compromise, which was viewed as an insult by the club's traditionalists. In the course of the first half of the 2005/06 season, Austria's fan camp split into traditional violet supporters and new Red Bull supporters. Protest banners, chants, continued violet choreographies and the violet jerseys and scarves still worn by the supporters were also an expression of the rejection of Red Bull and Dietrich Mateschitz.

During the talks, but increasingly after their failure, there were various incidents between the tradition-conscious supporters and the Red Bull Salzburg management. Further agitation was caused by the conversion of the fan sector from a standing to a seated sector and bans against alleged hooligans from supporters, which were, however, partially rescinded.

Supporters' solidarity and media coverage

Throughout Austria and in many European stadiums there were solidarity rallies of fan groups with the violet supporters. Their protest is generally understood as a fight by football supporters against the progressive commercialisation of the sport and is supported accordingly. Contrary to the usual rivalries between supporters of different clubs, the developments in Salzburg have led to football supporters seeing themselves as a unit and acting together "against modern football". The aim is to preserve the tradition and identity of the respective club and to prevent the clubs from becoming mere advertising vehicles. The supporters themselves see themselves as these bearers of tradition as the players, coaches and board change. Especially in the Ultrà movement, the vehemence with which Salzburg supporters resisted the new identity of their club was welcomed and supported.