Swiss 36 No. 26 - Paul Grüninger Stadion, SC Brühl

SC Brühl v FC Basel II

The Swiss FA should be pleased with the first season of the Erste Liga Promotion as it comes into it's final round of fixtures with three teams still in with shout of winning the title. The match of the day was at Schaffhausen where the league leaders were at home to the third placed club YF Juventus. Unfortunately, we've already visited Schaffhausen's Stadion Breite so we had to look elsewhere for our next Swiss 36 visit. We chose SC Brühl, where should Schaffhausen slip up, Basel II could nip in and steal the title.

 

But you don't want to know about that, you want to know who was Paul Grüninger. Well it's a good question and a nice story. Of course, he was an ex-Brühl player, playing for the team during their Swiss Championship-winning season in 1914-15. He later became president of the club, but this is not for what he is remembered.

 

Paul Grüninger

In 1938, he was serving as Canton St. Gallen's Chief of Police as Switzerland closed her borders with Austria after the Nazi annexation. With the border closed, Jewish refugees could no longer flee the Nazis by entering neutral Switzerland. Grüninger exploited his position by forging the registration documents of desperate fleeing Jews to indicate that they had entered Switzerland prior to the border closing so preventing their extradition as illegal immigrants. In this manner, some 3600 refugees were spared their lives and the horrors of being returned to the Nazis.

 

The Germans informed the Swiss of Grüninger's exploits and in 1939, he was brought to trial for the falsification of 3600 Jews' entry papers. He was dismissed from his high-ranking post in the Police Force, losing his pension rights in the process. In 1941 he was convicted of "breach of duty". Although his noble motives were recognized, the court nonetheless felt he had abused his position and should not have broken the law. Grüninger was fined and jailed.

 

The rest of Grüninger's life was difficult. His sacrifice was forgotten and as a felon, he found it difficult to get work. Despite this he never regretted his actions during the war saying in 1954 that it was a matter of saving Human lives and so how could he consider bureaucracy as important?

 

A media campaign in 1970 resulted in the Swiss government sending him a reserved apology without reinstating his pension rights or reopening his case. In 1972 Grüninger died in poverty.

 

But the campaign to exonerate Grüninger continued. Eventually, in 1995 Grüninger was rehabilitated by the Swiss Federal Government and his convictions were annulled. He is now remembered through various schools and a bridge in St. Gallen as well as a street in Jerusalem.

 

And then of course there's the Paul Grüninger Stadion, as it was re-named after renovation in 2006.

 

Points Time

Getting There

9 / 10. Just a bus ride from St. Gallen station to Krontal and then the stadium is signposted and less than five minutes from the bus stop.

 

Friendliness

6 / 10. No issues on the day. We didn't speak to any Brühl fans but they did win a couple of points by noticing we had visited the stadium from a posting on Twitter and asking us how it was. Nice of them to notice.

 

On the negative side of things, we weren't keen on the entry prices. Standing anywhere in the stadium is 15 SFr, which is on the steep side for this league. Under 9s get in free, which sounds great until you consider that at Winterthur, one league higher, it's free entry if you're under 16.

Safety.

8 / 10. Absolutely sufficient for the league they are in. Home and away fans do have different areas of the stadium and complete segregation of home and away fans would be an easy matter should it be necessary.

 

View

 

7 / 10. On the day absolutely fine and the main stand looks like it provides excellent seated viewing. Standing is available on all four sides so all well and good although there is very little terracing at the ground. With only 900 seats, you have to wonder how well fans toward the rear are going to see should Brühl ever sell out their 4400 capacity.

 

Still, that said, Brühl have some nice picnic style tables in the food-sales areas although we thought the really nice area on the decking outside the restaurant was for sponsors. Could be wrong though.

 

Atmosphere

4 / 10. Not much noise at all from the Brühl faithful. In fact they were generally out-sung by 3 or so Basel fans providing good support for the U21s. Then again, the visitors had a little more to shout about.

 

Refreshments

8 / 10. Apparently, Brühl is renowned for the perfect sausage according to Stadionwurst (stadium sausage) so we went for the acclaimed Kalbsbratwurst (Veal Sausage). A disappointment I'm afraid. I've eaten hundreds of these sausages since coming to Switzerland. They don't touch a good Cumberland sausage and this particular one was, for me just like the rest.

 

But having completely blown my chances of ever being welcomed back by Brühl, I'll try to make amends by commenting on the great selection of wines and what looked like excellent pasta dishes in the restaurant. Were these available during the game and at half time? I don't know, I didn't try due to being side-tracked by a sausage. I'll definitely give them a go next time!

 

 

Overall

41 / 60. Very reasonable.

The Match

Brühl looked a good team, though sadly only for 10 minutes after which their young opponents blew them away with a blistering 7 minute spell.

 

Norbert Frrokaj was the first to test Mirko Salvi in the Basel goal with a free header. Salvi dealt with it well and on 10 minutes needed to be sharp again, this time pushing away Giuseppe Coppola's shot from about 10 yards. With Dario Koller looking especially dangerous on the Brühl right, it looked like Basel's title chances were to be scuppered without having to look North at what was happening in Schaffhausen.

 

Straight after Coppola's effort, Boban Antic's punch wasn't anywhere near to reaching one of his defenders and Musa Araz made him pay for the error. One-nil, an unlucky mistake by the 'keeper but Brühl were still the better team. Just a setback? Well two minutes later, the Basel lead was doubled. Brühl lost the ball in midfield and Simone Rapp broke away to beat Antic without any defender getting near him. On 17 minutes the game was over. Thomas Inauen attempted to tackle a Basel forward in the clumsiest of fashions and the referee was rightly pointing to the penalty spot. Denis Simani took an excellent penalty and it was 3:0. 7 minutes of Brühl's season they will long to forget.

 

They didn't give up though. A corner caused a bit of panic in the Basel area and Brühl intelligently played the ball back and out of the area for Sebastian Van der Werff to curl a shot unfortunately just wide of Salvi's post. More sloppy defending from Basel, being dispossessed twice in their own half handed Brühl another decent chance. Coppola drove the resulting effort just wide of Salvi's left post.

 

Right on half time, Basel made in four with a good counter-attack that saw four passes move the ball from defence to attack and Florian Müller finished the move, injuring Antic in the process.

 

Into the second half and it took just 3 minutes for substitute 'keeper Arif Celebi to be welcomed into the game by the Basel attack. Simone Rapp made it five for the visitors.

 

That really was game over. Basel had done their job, Brühl had been hammered and now seemed to have lost their appetite for the game. They did get a consolation goal though, and it was the best of the game. Florian Steiger scoring with a great shot from range. But it wasn't a day Brühl will want to dwell on.

 

Despite their victory, Basel II did not take the Erste Liga Promotion title. That went to Schaffhausen who beat YF Juventus 2 : 1 so pipping the young Baselers to the title on goal-difference.

 

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Swiss 36 No. 25 - Sportplatz Spitalacker, FC Breitenrain

FC Breitenrain v FC Sion II

Largely through coincidence, we've already seen Breitenrain twice on our travels; at Schaffhausen and in St. Gallen. We were quite taken with the club's small but enthusiastic away following and so chose Sportplatz Spitalacker as our next visit to an erste Liga Promotion ground.

 

What we found at Spitalacker was another little treasure. The Spitalacker turns out to be a former international stadium. In 1922, Switzerland beat Holland 5 : 0 at this ground in front of 12000 people.

 

"The Spitz is our Home"

90 years on and the ground's new residents are FC Breitenrain, a club formed in 1994 through the merger of local rivals, FC Minerva Bern and FC Zaehringia Bern. Breitenrain are obviously proud of their ground as the photos in the club-house and the banner at the far end show.

 

Points Time

Getting there

7 / 10. Obviously no problem in getting to the Swiss capital. Once there, it's not totally clear. In any case, it's a bus ride to Spitzacker and then a 5 minute walk.

Friendliness

9 / 10. As I mentioned earlier, I had previously enjoyed Breitenrain's away following getting behind their team to help bring them back from 2-down to beat St. Gallen II 2 : 3. We recognized the guy with the megaphone from that game and bought him a beer. Very nice people eager to tell us about their club and interested in why two English people are bothered about Swiss football. Generous too as we both left with Breitenrain scarves compliments of the fans.

Safety

4 / 10. But for goodness sake don't go changing anything radically, Breitenrain. The all-wood main stand is beautiful. It may not get a safety certificate in a league above the erste Liga Promotion but will Breitenrain compete above this level? Even if they did, could you destroy such a thing?

 

Home and visiting fans are not segregated. It's a shame that this has to be a safety requirement but they are not segregated and nor do I see an easy way of segregating them at the Spitzacker.

 

View

Great casual seating facility

8 / 10. Unlike other grounds in this league, Breitenrain keep modest with their official capacity of 1500. The fans are right on pitch-side and there were no restricted views that I could see. The casual seating facility was great, even though it reminded me more of watching a Cricket Match on a village green rather than watching football. If Breitenrain filled the ground, I can't see a problem in 1500 people all managing to get a decent view.

 

But there isn't any terracing and one side of the ground, behind the goal on the far side as you enter is inaccessible.

 

Atmosphere

5 / 10. Great effort from the "singing section" of the fans, they kept going throughout the game. Unsurprisingly, nothing at all heard from Sion II. I can imagine the atmosphere being a little better when local rivals FC Tuggen come visiting.

 

Refreshments

9 / 10. Now we've been here before at FC Aarau (for example). We see things on menus and are sadly let down when we find they are not available. So when we saw Holzfäller Steak (lit. Lumberjack Steak, traditionally from Pork-shoulder) we thought "nahh...they won't have any"

 

But they asked us if we would like beef or lamb! OK, not a traditional Holzfäller, but bloody beautiful all the same. 8.50 SFr for a lump of rump steak in the Swiss capital? You won't do better anywhere else around there! Otherwise there was the traditional sausage and what looked like a well stocked bar in the clubhouse. Breitenrain look after their fans well!

 

Overall

42 / 60. Charming club with a charming ground.

 

The Match

Sadly, not a classic by any means and nowhere near the match we'd enjoyed the previous week in St. Gallen.

 

Sion II started marginally the brighter of the two sides and came close after 10 minutes when a corner was played cleverly to the near corner of the penalty area only for the shot to just miss the top corner of the Breitenrain goal. Just before half time, the visitors should have had the lead. Stefane Rauti found himself one-on-one with Portmann in the Breitenrain goal. The 'keeper stood up well but could only push the ball back to Rauti. This time he rounded Portmann only to place it wide of the open goal.

 

After the break and predictably Sion took the lead. Gaëtan Karlen was left unmarked in the area to head home a cross from the left wing. But Sion II only held their lead for 2 minutes as Breitenrain came back with the best moment of the game. Claudio Zenger scored the equalizer, swinging a free kick into the far corner of the goal from a tight angle.

 

Just two further chances before the end. Portmann earning his stripes with a fine save to keep a ferocious shot out of his top right hand corner and at the other end, Breitenrain flashed a cross through the Sion six-yard area that just needed somebody to stretch that bit more.

 

But it finished 1:1, probably a fair result in the end.

 

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Swiss 36 No. 24 - Stadion Espenmoos, FC St. Gallen II

Espenmoos as it was

FC St. Gallen II v FC Breitenrain

It's sad when a football club moves to a new stadium and the old ground is either torn down to make another shopping centre or worst still, is allowed to go derelict. Sadly, this is what has happened at Doncaster Rovers' old ground, Belle Vue and Swansea City's Vetch Field.

 

So it's good to see that when FC St. Gallen moved across the city to the AFG Arena in 2008, their Espenmoos stadium continued to be used as a sports facility.

Three of the four sides of the ground have had their terraces and stands demolished, obviously dropping the capacity of the stadium from 11300 to 5700, but with the AFG Arena across the city, St. Gallen simply does not need two large capacity sports venues. Instead, what remained after the demolition was fully renovated and a new, all-weather pitch was laid where one of the stands once stood. The result is a facility that is used for rugby and American football, as well as of course by St. Gallen for their u21s and women's teams. It's nice to see the ground continuing to be used and I think that keeping the unusual main stand is a great touch to keep everyone reminded of the Espenmoos' former glories.

Points time.

 

Getting There.

8 / 10. Easy on the train. From St. Gallen you just need to take a local train for one stop to St. Fiden and from there, the ground is a 15 minute walk. It's not signposted though, which is surprising considering its previous status of being St. Gallen's home.

 

Friendliness

 

5 / 10. No problems at all, but nobody spoke to us either. Home and away fans are allowed to mix freely.

Nice informal seating facility

Safety

5 / 10. Officially, the stadium can hold 5700 and I don't see how that could be done with opposing fans safely. You can walk unhindered the whole way around the pitch and there was absolutely no provision of facilities for away fans. Having said that, the ground certainly doesn't need any further safety measures, it just needs its official capacity to be reduced. It's obvious to me that there will never be a big game played at the ground with the 19700 AFG Arena at the other side of the city.

 

View.

8 / 10. The same arguments as with safety apply in assessing the view. With just that one stand and no terracing around three sides of the pitch, I cannot see any way a large crowd could all see.

But the Espenmoos will never see a large crowd so why provide for one? Because the Espenmoos is a pragmatic solution and because its so good that its still being used for the purpose for which it was intended when it was built in 1912, it's too harsh to penalize it twice.

 

For the small crowds that St. Gallen II get the view is fine with only one criticism. Behind one of the goals there's a very high fence which impairs viewing at that end.

 

Atmosphere.

5 / 10. Surprisingly good! 400 fans attended the game with about 20 or so making the trip from Bern. But they didn't come just to watch in silence as didn't the St. Gallen faithful. A good bit of noise from both plus the amusing sight of a very enthusiastic away fan who hurtled up the touchline with the siren on his megaphone blaring when Breitenrain scored.

 

 

Refreshments

7 / 10. Obviously, the obligatory sausage and bread was available but without any sauces, which was disappointing. The beer was the local brew, you've heard of Feldshitsschen, well this is Shitzengarten. So where are they picking up points?

 

First of all, you could by Ice Creams, which on the lovely day we had was very welcome. Then there's the drinking water fountain as you come into the ground. Drinking water fountains are found all over Switzerland but this is the first one I've seen in a football stadium. Finally, there's the Boccia Club, which provides a nice beer garden in which to consume your beer and sausage.

 

Overall

38 / 60.

The Match

Was also very enjoyable. Sure, there were plenty of improvement potential for both sides, who are in relegation trouble but still plenty of excitement.

 

It took St. Gallen's future stars just 20 seconds to have the ball in the net but the referee correctly rule the effort offside. It was pretty clear sign of what was to come though and within 14 minutes, Igor Tadic had a brace and the home side were 2 : 0 up. It looked ominous for the visitors with St. Gallen II dominating play and if anything looking like they were going to rout their visitors.

 

But despite struggling to get out of their half, Breitenrain began to defend a little better. On a rare foray into the St. Gallen half, a cross was headed back across goal for Dos Santos to have a tap in. However unlikely, the visitors were back in it and you started to see some belief in what they were doing.

 

As the game went on, you gradually got the impression only one team was going to win it. Breitenrain had obviously decided this was a winnable game and it was no surprise when Claudio Zenger shot in from just outside the area to make the match all square with 13 minutes remaining. On their second half display, they deserved the win and got it in the 89th minutes through substitute Stephan Frey with another finish from just outside of the area.

 

Well deserved for Breitenrain in the end and the win means five teams are now within 3 points of the relegation places.

 

 

 

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