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| 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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