Swiss 36 No. 30 - Sportplatz Linthstrasse, FC Tuggen

FC Tuggen v SC YF Juventus

...Like the poster says! It's international week and therefore a great opportunity to fit in a Swiss 36 trip what with no English football or Swiss football in the top two flights.

 

So where to go? Our options included trips to Geneva or Basel but we plumped for Tuggen, which I thought was a Bern club. Wrong, FC Tuggen are actually the pride of Canton Schwyz. And they should be proud. They are the highest ranked football club in the Canton, with a population of just 3003.

 

And they do compete in the Erste Liga Promotion. They finished last season 5th out of 16 and this season currently sees them in 8th place in a tight division before this one. 34 goals scored in 11 games with 30 against. That makes an average scoreline of 3 : 3. Could we be in for another goal-fest like the last Swiss 36 trip? We'll come to that later, but in the meantime.

 

Points Time.

Getting There

5 / 10. Tuggen is a tiny place so as you might imagine, getting there is a bit of a faff. 3 trains and a bus took brought us to Tuggen 90 minutes before the kick-off. It was either that or turning up 30 minutes late, which would never do. So with 90 minutes to kill, it was time to see the sights of Tuggen.

 

10 minutes later, having seen the church and the cows, we were at a lose end so we headed to the ground, which is on the main road and easy to find.

 

Friendliness

7 / 10. We didn't really get chatting with any of the local fans before the game, but FCT fans do seem very nice. The program, which is free as it is at most, if not all Swiss football matches, is obviously a home made photocopier job. But it does have a somewhat unusual section introducing various Tuggen players to the fans. Among other things, players are asked what they would do if they were a woman for the day. No, I've tried but I cannot see how a fan would use this information, but the information is their somewhere should anyone need it.

 

I also liked the attitude of the lady who sold us two bottles of wine. On realizing she's just given two glass bottles to football fans she had never seen before, she asked us not to throw them onto the pitch. We said that we wouldn't. Trust given, received and returned. How nice!

 

Another nice thing, we bought standing tickets, as we do everywhere if we can. The terracing where there is any is dual- purpose stand/sit terracing. It's concrete so Tuggen provide foam cushions for fans to sit on avoiding cold bottoms. Yeah - friendly.

Safety

6 / 10. Safety is a tough one for these small clubs, as is atmosphere. As I've indicated, the terracing is dual-purpose so the foot test doesn't look good. But it's certainly not the multi-storey North face of the Eiger that we have seen elsewhere. There are no fences and no crowd segregation. The players get changed in the clubhouse then walk though the refreshment area to get to the pitch. There's no doubt the ground is not up to the standards required by the next league up. In fact Tuggen look forward to facing FC Basel in the last 16 of the Swiss cup. The match is taking place at Würth due to Tuggen's ground not being up to scratch for such a big game.

If Tuggen were to get promoted, the Swiss FA would no doubt insist they ruined their ground!

 

View

6 / 10. I was quite happy with my spot but on three sides of the ground the provision is simply standing behind a rail, with limited space for how many people can do that. Perfectly adequate for the level though and 2800 capacity with 300 seated is reasonable.

Atmosphere

3 / 10. Just 352 attended the match and Tuggen isn't the place to go if you want continuous singing / chanting. There's a cheer when goals are scored, which dies down a little too quickly and the occasional "Hopp Tugga". Like Yorkshire people cannot say Hs at the beginning of words, the Swiss don't bother with any consonants at the end of words.

 

 

Refreshments

6 / 10. Plenty of different drinks on offer but not so much choice when it came to food. Drinks-wise, there were beers, ciders plenty of soft drinks and wines. All of that goes with sausages of course. Three different types were available and I tried two of them, and they were fine.

 

Overall

33 / 60. Run of the mill but for all that, clearly a very nice and over-achieving club.

 

The Match

Yes, an entertaining contest between two well matched teams. The right team, Tuggen, won in the end, perhaps with a slightly flattering 3 : 1 scoreline.

 

Tuggen took the lead in the 15th minute after an even and entertaining first spell. Almir Murati got the goal, which I thought was intended as a cross to the far post. But it went in and they all count.

 

The visitors were back in it inside three minutes. A cross from the right found Mychell Da Silva completely unmarked at the far post and he made no mistake with his header. A disappointing point about the game at this point had been how a couple of players had been making the most of the occasional clip on a shin or ankle they were getting. These are young players in the main, who've maybe been watching too much telly.

So it was good to see the ref make an error which penalized such behaviour. A Juvé player played a beautiful through-ball which had his centre-forward clear through on goal, but he got caught just as he played the ball and let out a scream before collapsing in agony. Much to the away side's disgust, the ref brought it back for the free-kick. He also reduced Juvé to 10 men, asking the injured player who had received treatment to leave the field. It was a mistake on the ref's part but it did put a stop to the yelping and rolling around that had started. If you're going to make a mistake refs, that's a good one to make.

 

Well, despite briefly threatening to explode, the match stayed lively and level to the break.

 

Second half and it started frantically with chances at both ends. Tuggen were now clearly looking the better team though and were spending ever more time putting pressure on their opponents. But Juvé came very close to taking the lead. First Tuggen's 'keeper saved well low down but the ball was simply pushed back into danger. This time the 'keeper was rounded only for a Juvé striker to hit the post. The rebound then was skied horribly. Tuggen had been let off and they went on to take full advantage.

 

In the 75th minute Tuggen had the lead. A free-kick was headed against the base of the Juvé post and it rebounded for a very easy tap-in for Joël Durand. 10 minutes later Durand should have made it three. He'd done the hard work in holding his run perfectly before being free in on goal with the Juvé offside trap in tatters. But the shot was weak and straight at the 'keeper.

 

In the 89th minute, the referee again got his interpretation of the advantage rule a little mixed up. An attack from Tuggen led to a shot going just wide. As the player shot, he was challenged but clearly the challenge did not cause the miss. But the ref thought it was a penalty and so gave Tuggen a second bite of the cherry, which they accepted.

 

So once again an enjoyable afternoon of Swiss football. And nice to see the players cleaning their boots before going in the clubhouse. My mum must work there somewhere!

 

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Swiss 36 - No. 29 - Stadion Bergolz, FC Wil 1900

Playing at St. Gallen last season may have hurt!

FC Wil 1900 v FC Winterthur

Wil are another of those teams who were asked kindly by the Swiss FA to renovate their stadium and bring it up to standard. As a result, they played their games last season at St. Gallen's AFG Arena. One of those games, the last of the of the 2012 games before the winter break was quite literally the most unpleasant football-watching experience of my life. Watching your team get beaten 4:0 is never fun, do it in temperatures of -7 degrees and it's just nasty! The only slight consolation was finding out what the Winti chant "Arsül in der AFG" (apologies for spelling) meant. It means "People of no fixed abode in the AFG". Winti sang it to the Wil fans to the tune of "Go West" by the Pet Shop Boys. Very amusing!

 

So, I was confident I would enjoy this match more than I enjoyed that one even if our local rivals, now abide in their new abode. So what did we think?

 

Points Time

Getting There

9 / 10. One of the best in this respect. They don't put special buses on to the ground, but then again, it can't be more than 5 minutes walk from Wil station to the Bergolz. It's signposted too plus you see the floodlights almost straight away. I still saw some Winti fans getting the bus though(?)

 

Friendliness

7 / 10. Started badly. Walking in we received the customary pat-down and bag search and the security guy found a plastic cup in my bag that he didn't like. This cup has been taken into many Swiss stadia. It's also been refused entry to some so I wasn't too annoyed. As he was dropping it in a trash bin, I did voice my concern though. It cost 11.50 SFr (about £8)!

 

"Ey - Yup!" I said. "That's expensive mate" (perhaps not quite in those words).

He told me that I could put it on the floor near the entrance but they could not take responsibility for it! That is the first time security at a Swiss ground has actually said that to me. Normally there is some kind of cloakroom ticket system or they just put items safely in an office (or shed). So I'm not happy.

 

Then I notice Mrs. Duck strolling into the stadium with exactly the same cup in her right hand. Worth a try? I thought so and pointed it out. Yeah, I'm an idiot! I only succeeded in getting Mrs. Duck's cup confiscated too plus the inevitable agrivation that caused! Annoying! Really security, if I was the type to throw things at footballers, it wouldn't be £8 cups. They did say that someone else might take it off me and throw it at the players. Really?

 

So at this point Wil had lost 7 or so points on the friendliness scale and had our cups been nicked they'd have been in minus points. But they redeemed themselves. Very nice staff at the refreshment stand, which wasn't caged in as it is at the AFG were the first help, and then, on our way out, the security guys brought our cups to us. Ahhh you see, all bluff!

Safety

1 / 10. The Fuzzy foot-test has a clear winner! I mean...wow! The terracing steps are about 60cm (just about 2 feet). They are very much more appropriate for sitting rather than standing. But there are crush-barriers so it is obviously intended that fans stand! Now consider that this stadium has been renovated. I believe this is considered acceptable by the Swiss Challenge League. It's totally bloody ridiculous. Somebody who is in some kind of authority obviously doesn't know what they are doing. Should anybody take a tumble on this terrace, they will be hurt. If it does happen, I hope that somebody gets the sueing they rightfully deserve.

So death-trap terraces. Can we make it any worse? Yeah - throw some fences in with very high nets above the fences and any escape onto the pitch in the event of a crush is prevented. Then again, in the event of a crush, most would have broken bones due to falling down the terrace so escape isn't required. Wil kept a point for not putting razor wire on top of the fences. Damn! I bet I just gave them an idea!

 

View

6 / 10. Didn't think much of the view from the away end, mainly because of that bloody fence!

 

Atmosphere

3 / 10. Wil fans bang a drum. You don't hear them sing so much but they do bang a drum. As for Winti fans, well, they did their best as ever, but when the stadium looks like the exercise yard at Alcatraz, it does put a bit of a downer on things! I think Wil's first step in generating an atmosphere could be to put fans in pleasant surroundings rather than treating them like caged animals.

 

Refreshments

6 / 10. Standard Swiss football fare but done quite well. The Schnitzel Buttie was especially good and I also tried a Bockwurst (a red sausage) for a change - again nice. Shitzengarten beer though, and it was the only alcoholic thing on offer. It's seriously difficult to get a decent beer in Switzerland so something else would have been most welcome.

 

So decent food but not so much choice. Crap beer with no choice at all!

 

Overall

32 / 60. One of the most unpleasant places I've attended to watch football.

The Match

What a totally bonkers afternoon! I started not paying too much attention to the game due to Donny Rovers playing out the final minutes of their 1:0 win against Leicester City, which I was watching on my phone. Wil had already gone 1-up while I was doing this, Ivan Audino netting for the home side after just 2 minutes. But Rovers had won, surely Winti would cheer further my excellent mood.

 

Well, Rovers finished and cue this game going crazy. Claudio Hollenstein got through the Winterthur defence and lured Leite out of position. A simple ball to Jordan Brown gave the German-Jamaican the easiest of finishes. 16 minutes gone and two down. But two minutes later and Winti had pulled a goal back. Antonio Marscheno getting his first goal for the club, hitting the ball into the top right corner. We had to wait 4 minutes for the next goal, and it was an equalizer. Marchesano played a great ball to Marco Aratore to supply the finish. Winti were going to win this - or so I thought…for all of a minute.

 

Free-kick to Wil on their left. The ball is crossed in and a beautiful header, sadly from Winti's Patrick Baumann flies past Chris Leite. 3:2 Wil. Two minutes later and the home team had restored their two-goal advantage. Federico Platero heading home a corner. So, 5 goals in 9 minutes and defending from both teams that was comedic.

 

Before half-time Winti had two decent chances to get back again. Marchesano and Aratore both bringing good saves from Anthony Favre in the Wil goal.

 

Into the second half, and somewhat predictably, both managers had seemed to calm their teams down a little. The second half was almost played like a proper football match. But it was Wil who were to extend their lead. Winti tried to play offside, (on this day they'd have been better off trying less advanced defensive strategies) and got caught. Pascal Cerone played in Audino for his second and he was to complete a hat-trick on 82 minutes with the best goal of the game; a great shot that gave Leite no chance.

 

87 minutes and Winti got a consolation. Patrick Bengondo was given far too much room the Wil penalty area and he made it 6:3. But it was academic. A crazy score line after a crazy first half. More than a little dissatisfaction voiced by the Winti fans after the match. A little unfairly for me. The players worked, but the defence is pretty appauling.

 

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