Quarrel in badminton

“I’m simply bursting at the seams!”

Manuel Rösler (center) in conversation with his athletes.(Bild: WAT Simmering)

"I won't let that sit on us. Nobody talks like that about the biggest badminton club in Austria!" Manuel Rösler from WAT Simmering is angry. Really angry. Because the coach of Smash Graz told the Simmering team about unprofessional behavior after they lost their second league duel in Vienna. Via the official website of the association. They will now meet again on Saturday in the promotion play-off.

February 18 could have been a very nice day for the WAT Simmering badminton team. With a 6-2 home win against Smash Graz, they secured the championship title in the 2nd Bundesliga. Their place in the promotion play-off was already a foregone conclusion. There were celebrations and jubilation. But Britta Rudolf, manager and coach of the Styrians, became a party crasher. In a statement on the official website of the Austrian federation, she said that it "really hurt her heart" "what happened in the hall at the top match of the 2nd Bundesliga and it was not a nice advertisement for our beloved sport of badminton." Simmering players are said to have behaved unprofessionally.

Manuel Rösler(Bild: Mödlin-Fiala/ÖBV)

"She accuses us of anti-advertising for our sport. You have to imagine that," fumes Rösler, Simmering's busy "Mister Badminton". "We have the coolest setup in the hall, the best players in the league, good media work, twelve volunteers who prepare the hall for five hours on match days. We had over 200 people in the hall and are the only badminton club in Europe to be supported by Red Bull," says Rösler. "And in Graz, ten people sit there, the lines are taped up because there aren't even any court mats. As a coach, Ms. Rudolf referees the Graz home games herself! She also referees her own children's games in the 2nd Bundesliga! And her husband is also a referee," says Rösler, describing the situation on the other side. "I don't normally harp on about all that. But when we're treated with such disrespect, it just makes my skin crawl."

The internationally experienced Rösler is also particularly concerned with the way we communicate: "If you don't like something here, you can always come to me and sort it out. But don't say something like that at the back via the association." The association even toned down the original version of the Graz statement twice. The answer from Simmering will be given on the pitch on Saturday. The two clubs will clash again in the play-off for promotion to the 1st Bundesliga.