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.
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| "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
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| 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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