Swiss 36 No. 37: Stade des Peupliers - FC Bavois

FC Bavois v FC Basel II

16 September 2017

Killing two birds with one stone (or, if you're German, two flies with one swat) that's what this weekend was all about.  It's also Swiss cup weekend and FC Winti have a tie with plenty of banana-skin potential in Delémont.  But we covered "La Blanchèrie" many moons ago so a different stadium was needed.  Why not promotion league newcomers, Bavois?  We'd actually planned this one as it also gave us the chance to meet up with our friends from Basel II.

Mrs Duck had the excellent idea of combining the Swiss 36 trip with Winti's match in Delémont, meaning we only came about a third of the way back to Winterthur and meaning that I'm writing this one propped up comfortably in a quiet hotel room.  

Strangely, with the rest of the organization, things weren't quite as well thought out.  I was hustled out of the house because we were only just going to make the 5:00 pm kick off before having to dash back for match tickets.  We then found that we did have more time than we thought because of a sudden inability to tell the time that had struck Mrs Duck (good news actually as we had time to get some food for the train).  

Even on the train, we soon saw we were still going to arrive 90 minutes before kick-off, a little unnecessary as we weren't anticipating a 50k plus crowd (nearer 50 plus actually).  So what do you do in Bavois for 90 minutes?

Absolutely nothing, it's only a village of a few thousand people.  Fortunately this piece of information was supplied to us by Schieri-Leroy, a referee who we met on the train.  He was on his way to Yverdon where he was running the line in Yverdon's match with Sion II.  He was good company on the long journey, which as a result went quickly.  To burn a bit more time, we went on to Lausanne before traveling back up to Bavois.

Leroy was actually wrong about Bavois.  The population is actually 946 according to the community website.  However he was quite correct in that there's nothing there!  

So here's a community of less than 1000 who have a football team playing in the third flight of Swiss football at a ground in the village!  Credit where credit is due, that's impressive!  But is their stadium?  Points time.

Getting There. 

9/10.  Absolutely no problem.  The S1 train runs every hour between Grandson and Lausanne.  If you're coming by train, you'll most probably arrive either via Lausanne or Yverdon.  You get can this train from either city.  You can see the ground from Bavois station - it's about a 3 minute walk.

Friendliness.

8/10.  Nice people work at the club.  Exactly what we have come to expect from the small clubs.

Safety

3/10.  Yes - unfortunately the tiny clubs get caught out in this category and it is tough on them.  Once again the ground does everything the club need.   But there's no segregation and behind one of the goals there's a rather deep hole.  Were Bavois to get a big cup-tie, they'd struggle here or perhaps they'd need to borrow a stadium for the evening.  It would certainly be tough for them to get a license at the next level, but then again, Bavois are already punching over their weight.

View

3/10.  You've got to love that stand which proudly bears the name "Tribune principalé".  I guess if it's the only stand, it must be the main stand.  Anyway, that seats 74 people (I just counted) not including the press area at the back.  Other than that, we have a pitch with a barrier around it.  No raised areas so any sort of crowd could have spectators struggling to see.  Behind one of the goals is also not good due to high fences.  But again with Bavois' normal attendance good enough.

Atmosphere 

2/10.  Friendly enough but no atmosphere to speak of.  Really difficult though as I think the attendance would struggle to reach the 200 mark.

Refreshments

8/10.  The obligatory sausages grilled on a barbecue as usual and mine was very tasty.  As for drinks, well the ground has a very nice restaurant which has a full selection at the bar.  The food in the restaurant looked great although we didn't try any.  We tried their wine though.  We liked their wine!

Overall

33/60.  A proud club with every right to be proud.

The Match

After having the young Baslers hammering at their door for the opening 10 minutes, Bavois seemed to find their feet, and what followed was an entertaining 0:0.

In all honesty, we didn't do so much watching the match, a shame really, because what I did see was good.  Instead we were chatting with our Basel II friends, Schippi, Stanley and Sützi. While keeping our eye on the days cup ties.  The notable upsets were Schaffhausen - leaders of the challenge league being shown the cup exit door by Münsingen, a team two flights below them while Super League Sion were embarrassed by FC Lausanne Ouchy of the promotion league 2:1 after extra time.  We'd watched Ouchy get soundly beaten by Basel II just a month ago!  That's why fans love the cup.

So back to that restaurant for a few wines before moving on.  I'll not get too smug about Sion or Schaffhausen until after Winti's match.

Swiss 36 No. 36: Stadion Schützenmatte - BSC Old Boys

BSC Old Boys v SC YF Juventus Zurich 

3rd September 2017

International break so what do you do?  Well there was the Faroe Islands v Andorra to be considered but we decided on something much better than that. A visit to Basel to watch BSC Old Boys take on Juvé Zürich and chalk off No. 36 of the Swiss 36.

So this is it then?  The last of the Swiss 36?  Well....nahhh!  Like the "Doing the 92",  covering the Swiss football grounds in the top 3 leagues is a bit like painting the Forth railway bridge.  New teams come into the league, Old teams move to new grounds so you never really finish.  I bet everyone is pleased to hear that!

We've actually already visited the Schützenmatte but laziness stopped the blog from being updated.  So we've had to travel halfway across Switzerland ...again and watch a crap football match...again...just to complete this blog.  And I have a stiff back too.  I make my sacrifices.  But I did manage to grab a bottle of wine and head for the station.

Points time.

Getting There

8/10.  Swiss public transport is fabulous.  We had three connections with no longer than 6 minutes between any of them.  But train, train, train, tram - no problem at all.  A bit of confusion on which way to go when we got off the tram (I think we could have had a 5 minute walk in either direction).  So - easy.

Friendliness

5/10.  Not a soul from Old Boys said a word to us, apart from when tickets or refreshments were being bought.  Embarrassingly, we had to ask a Juvé fan who was playing in what colours as the match started and he was nice enough.  Oh, and one of the Basel II fans we'd met on our last outing said "hello" when we were on our way out.

Safety 

9/10.  As good as I've seen in the third flight of Swiss football.  That's a decent all- seater stand and other than that, there's terracing all the way around (and terracing with a sensible step height).  No stupid fences or nets but also no segregation.  That's the only thing that's missing to prevent this ground being up to standard for the next level up.  Should they improve enough to gain promotion, I can't see the SFA having any issue with allowing Old Boys to play at the Schützenmatte in the 2nd flight.

View

6/10.  OK - I'll admit it.  My dislike of multi-purpose stadia led me to looking for the worst view in the stadium.  That being behind the hammer/discus circle.  But really, decent terracing and that stand means the views are pretty good.  Just the matter of an 8-lane athletics track and all the field event paraphernalia.

Atmosphere 

1/10.   Very quiet, unfortunately.  Only 213 were at the match but apart from when goals were scored - nothing.

Refreshments

5/10.  Sausages.   The lady who served me my hot-dog managed to poke a hole right through my hot dog bun so the ketchup ran out and onto my shirt, so that didn't help!  Soft drinks, beer and ice cream also available.  We also saw chips but the source of the chips was a well kept secret.

Overall

 34/60 - a very decent stadium that could score very high if they ever got a crowd in it!

The Match

Bottom of the table Old Boys put 4 past Juvé without reply.  It was clear from the outset that Old Boys were up for this as they employed a shoot on sight policy.  After just 8 minutes a lob from the edge of centre circle beat the Juvé 'keeper before landing on top of the goal net.  The lead was taken after 22 minutes with an easy tap-in for Serkan Sahin after a long corner was headed back into the middle.  There followed a bit of controversy.  An Old Boys striker was bearing down on the Juvé 'keeper. He went down and the referee pointed to the spot.  The goalie wasn't happy and had run to the linesman who was waving his flag furiously.  After a brief conflab, Juvé were awarded a free kick and the OB striker had a yellow card for simulation.  Right or wrong?  - I couldn't say.

It didn't matter much though.  On 26 minutes it was 2:0 with Adrian Fleury smashing a ball into the bottom corner from about 30 yards.  Fabulous strike!  Shortly afterwards, it was three.  Merghim Ahmeti ran through the inside-left channel and decided to go it alone when there were perhaps better options to his right.  But he scored so what do I know?!

In the second half and there were a few incidents that could have led to bizarre goals.  A Juvé cross was missed by the Old Boys' 'keeper who was no doubt relieved to see it bounce off the top of the bar.  A few minutes later, a looping ball into the OB area was given up as a lost cause by everyone.  They soon took interest when it bounced off the post though.  Bizarre!  It was then Old Boys turn for a strange incident.  After a poor goal-kick from Juvé, there was a tackle and the ball flew out back towards the goal from where it had just come.  The 'keeper was beaten but as the ball bounced in front of the goal line, it had enough backspin to bounce back out and a relieved 'keeper dived on it.  You normally get a maximum of one weird incident per game.  Here we were with three in a half!

Serkan Sakin finished the scoring with his second.  4-0 probably flattered Old Boys but they certainly deserved this much-needed win.

Swiss 36 No. 35: Stade Juan Antonio Samaranch - FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy

FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy v FC Basel II

19 August 2017

After all the fun of sailing to a match for the last Blog post, we returned to more conventional trains and buses for a trip to Lausanne.  So after the normal Swiss 36 decisions (in ascending order of importance, where are we going? How am I going to make a 10 CHF donation to bet365 this week? And what are we going to drink on the train), we found ourselves coming out of Lausanne station looking for a no. 1 or 2 bus.

A guy came over to us and asked who we were playing, referring to the FC Winti shirts we were both wearing.

"We're not!" I replied.  "We're trying to find Ouchy".  I then noticed the Basel scarf he was wearing and decided we should follow him.  There were 7 or 8 Basel II fans and we had our normal conversations while on a Swiss 36 visit, mainly focused on why the hell were an English couple going to a Swiss 3rd flight match.

FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy have been around in their current form since 2001, but are the result of a merger between FC Stade Lausanne and FC Ouchy who are both much older.  

Their stadium was renovated in 1998 and renamed from Centre Sportif de Vidy to being named after the ex-IOC president.  You get a lot of Olympic references in Lausanne as it is the home of the IOC.

After purchasing some refreshments, we settled down to watch the first half.  It wasn't a classic by any means and the only atmosphere being created was from a huge, fat cigar being smoked by the bloke next to me.  The only noise was coming from the Basel II fans we had met earlier.

Football , especially lower league football needs atmosphere so we switched sides and went over to join the Basel II traveling faithful.

You may have noticed that I have always referred to these guys as Basel II fans.  That is exactly what they are.  Their T-Shirts, scarves, flags and even tattoos celebrate Basel II, not Basel.  Sure, they support Basel as well.  But these guys are hardcore football fans and travel Switzerland supporting U21 and younger teams all representing Basel.  Fans like these are priceless.

I'm always amazed by what great people we meet on our Swiss 36 visits.  The Basel II fans made us one of theirs presenting us with two Basel II scarves and  buying us beer and wine.  We traveled back with them, calling into a Supermarket at Lausanne station for some beer for the train.

As I went to take some beers from the fridge, an employee of the supermarket told me "No beer - beer finished".  

"Oh" I replied somewhat disappointed. 

"You can have wine, it's over there!" He added.

Can't buy beer but wine and spirits are fine.  Lausanne don't accept drunks.  Pissheads are ok though.  Who was I to argue?

Points Time.

Getting There 

6/10. Not too bad getting there.  You take a number 1 or 2 bus from Lausanne station to Maldière and end up with a 10 minute walk down to the stadium on the lake shore.  We briefly left our Basel II friends on the way home and promptly struggled to find the bus back.  We found a number 2 bus, but the driver, who spoke no German or English told us she wasn't going to the station.  We went to another bus stop and found a number 25 bus, that was also no use and the driver directed us back to the original bus stop.  A different bus driver of another number 2 bus going in the opposite direction from the first one we found, directed us to a third bus stop, which was actually a more substantial terminus.  There we found a no.1 bus going to Lausanne station and the Basel II fans.  So - a bit complicated.

Friendliness

8/10.  FCSLO seem a very sociable club, illustrated by the picnic tables you see as soon as you enter the ground.  Security was non-existent, nor was it necessary.  The guy who sold us the match ticket also tore the corner off it to indicate it had been checked (why?).  The club house is a little regimented for my taste though and none of the home fans spoke to us.

That said, the ladies working behind the counter in the clubhouse were lovely, patiently dealing with our awful French and even giving a few free sandwiches to us and the Basel II fans after the match.  

Safety

5/10.  Absolutely no problem for a Swiss "Erste Liga Promotion" fixture but FCSLO would have work to do for anything bigger.  There's no segregation and no horrible fences.  The ground boasts two smart stands but virtually no terracing.  The capacity is 3750 (3000 standing and 750 seated).  I'd say that standing capacity might be a challenge were it ever needed.

So perfectly adequate for 99.9% of the games played here but should FCSLO go further up in the world, they could face a few problems.

View

8/10.  Very good!  We had the opportunity to walk all the way around the ground and didn't see a bad view.  Much better than Rapperswil-Jona because of the lack of stupid fences and the fact that the ground has be landscaped with a bank all the way around.  This means you can stand or sit (with only 200 people in the ground) 

on these banks and get a good view of the game.  The banking is a great idea, and of course it is a start should their be a future need for a proper terrace.

Atmosphere

2/10.  I know, harsh.  But there were only 200 at the game and the only noise came from the visitors.

Overall

29/40.  Nice ground in a lovely setting

The Match

To be honest, I didn't see anything of the first 10 minutes, but when I did start to watch it was obvious within 2 minutes that the visitors were very much in charge.  Dominik Schmid gave them the lead, hammering in a long ball that was played back to him just outside the area after 14 minutes.  14 minutes later it was 0:2 with everyone missing a Basel II corner except Daniele Vasco, who had a tap in.  At this point, Lausanne Ouchy had their only minor encouraging spell, pulling a reasonable save from the Basel II keeper before winning a free kick on the edge of the area.

It was about 30 yards out and predictably it was blasted over the bar.  Why do lower league players always try to score such free kicks?  A chipped pass to the left of the penalty area would probably have caught the visitors by surprise and put in a striker - but I digress.  0:2 at half time.

Nothing changed in the second half.  Neftali Manzambi latched on to a through-ball to make it 0:3 after 72 minutes and finished the scoring in the 89th minute.  A deserved 4:0 win for the visitors and certainly an "Ouchy" for Lausanne!

Swiss 36 No. 34: Stadion Grünfeld - FC Rapperswil-Jona

FC Rapperswil-Jona v FC Winterthur

29th July 2017

It's been a while since I've wrote one of these reviews of Stadia, and high time I got back to doing so!  The reasons for a lack of writing? Various, some valid others not so much.  Sadly, the not so much reasons dominate, but here I am again, with my back-pack and my camera, wandering Switzerland in search of football!

"Alli mit em Schiff uf Rappi" read the invitation in Winti's season opening program.  Who can resist that?  Where else in the world can you sail to a football match?  In honesty, we've done this before, both in Lugano and Thun, but in those cases the sailing was more a case of arriving earlier for the match and having a sail on the beautiful lakes Thun and Lugano before making our way to the game.  This was actually traveling the majority of the way to the match by ship, with our FC Winti friends.

And there she was, the beautiful MS Limmat!  Well, fairly beautiful.  For our tastes a little too much blue on that boat and certainly no red to speak of.  Blue and white are the colours of the Canton of Zürich but every Winterthurer knows that really Züri isch Rot-Wiis!  With 200 Winti fans and a few pots of paint, I think we would have had that blue trim looking much nicer in 20 minutes or so, but the ZSG wouldn't have been too happy with that.  A compromise was needed, that flag would have to go!

Much better! OK, the flag was on its side, but the sentiment was there.  The ZSG (well, the Limmat at least) was sailing under a different flag today.

I must have made the two-hour trip between Zurich and Rapperswil over 20 times in the past.  Seona and I used to have a standard Sunday: a train into Zurich; pick up the Sunday Times; sail to Rapperswil on the boat while reading the paper.  We'd then have a wander around this gorgeous town and perhaps a bite to eat before going home on the train.  Switzerland.  It's a hard life at times!

But of the many trips I have made on this lake, none has been as pleasurable or as much fun as this one.  200 football fans, many of whom are friends happily drinking beer and giving the tourists who happened to be on the same boat something different for their holiday diaries.

Any boat that came within earshot got a song, as did each of the towns we pulled into along the way.  Wonderfully good-natured fun, which is what being a football fan is all about.  The only brief bit of dischord came when the ship's crew decided our mutiny had gone on long enough.  Choruses of boos as they replaced their flag then cheers when a compromise was reached and both flags were flown.

Once in Rappi, we formed up for the march to the ground.  It was the normal thing, Winti fans walking together, singing our songs, and then "Ssshhhhh!".  We were walking past the Knies Kinderzoo (Children's Zoo).  Football is not about upsetting animals so nice and quiet as you go as you pass the zoo.

So a lovely day, a lovely trip with lovely people.  All we needed was a lovely ground and a great game of football and it would have be great day.

Points time.

Getting there 

8/10.  We went on the boat then walked the 30 minutes or so to the ground.  There are plenty of trains to Rapperswil from all over Switzerland, so if you don't want the lovely if somewhat impractical boat ride, that's easy too.  Buses run from either Rapperswil or Jona stations to the Grünfeld. So not a problem at all, even if the stadium is a bit out of the way between Rapperswil and Jona.

Friendliness

4/10.  Oh dear Rapperswil-Jona!  I so wanted to like your ground.  I love Rapperswil, loved the boat trip but reception of visitors just isn't up to Swiss Challenge League standards.  To be clear, I am not talking about the FCRJ fans here.  I didn't meet any of the home fans on the day.    It's the facilities.

Having walked a 30 minutes after several cold beers, a visit to see a man about a dog was very necessary as soon as I got to the ground.  Three "Toi-Toi" toilets (the kind you get on building sites) for a good 200 visiting fans just isn't good enough.  The toilet facilities on the boat were far superior.  Complete segregation from home fans, perhaps done at police or SFA request(?) completed any feeling of friendliness being difficult.

On the plus side, the program is free and similar in standard to FC Winterthur's, which is not anywhere near English standards, but English programs aren't free.

Refreshments

3/10.  At the one refreshment stand, which was completely overwhelmed by the Winti fans on their arrival, there was sausage, sausage or sausage to eat, and beer or soft drinks.  Tea/coffee, sandwiches, chips, hot-dogs were all crossed out.  So waiting time and not much choice.

Fortunately, one of our friends had arranged a pizza delivery.  The pizzas were lovely and delivered by 10-Dieci, a local Ice-Cream and Pizzeria who ironically are the main sponsors of FC Rapperswil-Jona.  The owner of this company, a self-made man, is the president of FCRJ.  He could improve things by bringing his catering expertise into the ground.

Safety

5/10.  The advertised capacity of the ground is 2500.  I think if anything like that figure were there, safety could be a bit tricky.  The all seater stand in the photo is obviously no problem but otherwise there's no terracing terracing at all.  A bit of a crush in the away end should they have a lot of visitors, possibly.  

In this case, the fences that I loath but the SFA love could be ripped down by fans within a minute.  Happily, this would prevent a crush, but unhappily, if the wrong type of fans were there they would prove no obstacle to a pitch invasion.  Then you would have hooligans running around armed with sharp bits of fencing.  This defeats the object of the fences totally.  Just saying, SFA,

View

3/10.  Excepting the stand for home fans, its pitch-level viewing all the way around the ground, so little 'uns at the front and big 'uns at the back!.  At the away end, the crappy fences mean the leaning comfortably on a crush-barrier is a non-starter so it's unsupported standing I'm afraid.

Unsupported standing is tiring.  Seona certainly wasn't happy having walked for 30 minutes.  Her psoriatic arthritis, which precluded any away trips at all last season (the only good reason for the suspension of this Blog) requires her to have a nice long sit down after doing such things.  Standing for a whole game is now not possible for her.  So she sat on the grass for much of the match, unable to see a thing due to the advertising hoardings.  15 Francs for that!  In the winter, sitting on the ground would  be impossible, so we won't be visiting the Grünfeld in the winter months, unless they allow chairs to be taken into the away end!

Time for a rant.  The SFA, the Swiss Football Association, who's acronym appropriately sums up what they understand about football fans impose standards on all Challenge League and Super League clubs.  Not meeting such standards can result in the loss of a clubs license to play in a league.  Such a fate has been met by FC Le Mont.  

Le Mont already were playing their home games 30 minutes by road away from their true home due to their ground not being up to standard.  The stadium they were using, in Baulmes, was perfectly adequate for their fanbase and the challenge league.  Despite the obvious disadvantage of playing home games away in many senses, Le Mont had managed to hold their own in the second flight of Swiss Football.

Sadly, this was ended last season by them refusing to meet the Improvement wishes of the SFA electing to be relegated 3 leagues.  Why would they improve a stadium that was not their own?

Rapperswil-Jona were promoted to the Challenge League last season and gained a license with this ground.  They replaced a team using far better facilities, who did not finish at the bottom of the challenge league.  Some things just don't seem right in Swiss football.

Atmosphere

4/10.  All the atmosphere for this game was kindly and predictably provided by the FC Winterthur Fans.  One of their great choreos depicted our journey to Rapperswil complete with steam ship.  Very cool.

Mumours from home fans were heard when they scored.

Overall 27/40 - Pretty poor, I'm afraid.

The Match

As I may have indicated, I didn't see much of the game.  FC Rapperswil-Jona deservedly won 3:1, with a weak performance from the visitors.  I got a good view of Winti's goal, a well taken strike from Gazeta into the bottom left corner right on half-time.  That was in reply to Mychell and Kubli, giving the home team a two goal lead,

In the second half, Winti improved marginally but on 78 minutes Mychell's legs gave way under the pressure of three defenders near him and he got up to convert the penalty himself.

So in the end, the journey to Rapperswil was much better than both the stadium and the match.  It is very pretty though!

Highlights video here

Swiss 36 No. 33 Stadion Heerenschürli - FC Zürich II

FC Zürich II v FC Locarno

FC Locarno needed our help! The Tessin club needed to avoid defeat against Zürich's under 21s in their quest to avoid a second successive relegation and regional league football.

 

You see, FC Winterthur like FC Locarno and the feeling is mutual. Winterthur always get a great reception in Locarno and the match result becomes more and more irrelevant as both sets of fans end up partying late into the night. So with Zürich just up the road from Winterthur but an inconvenient 4 hour drive from Locarno, we were happy to help. Plus, this ground had so far dodged the Swiss 36 so, two birds with one stone.

 

Locarno's situation was desperate at the start of the season. Lack of funds and players had caused them to only take a single point from their first 10 matches but they have rallied and to still have a chance of survival with two games to go after that start is an achievement. A win today would put Locarno to (at worst) within two points of safety with a better goal difference than the side above them.

 

Zürich II? Well they are not going to win the Erste Liga Promotion but they are in a fight with Sion II to be the best U21 team in Switzerland, so no easy task for the visitors.

 

Anyway, to the visit. We travelled to the stadium, on the outskirts of Zürich and met up with friends, Anna, Harry and Peter. I was a little perturbed by the lack of activity on the pitch. 30 minutes before kick-off and only a couple of players warming up. Strange, but the match officials were jogging up and down so I didn't really pay this too much attention.

 

Noticing my scarf, a fan asked me if it was for YF Juventus. I told him rather indignantly that it was a Locarno scarf and received a "WTF" look. Why would a guy wearing a YF Juventus scarf be visiting a game featuring FC Zürich and Locarno? Mrs. Duck picked up the match heft. FC Red Star Zürich v FC Dardania...Hmmmmm.

 

 

A penny finally dropped with Anna that she had directed several FC Winterthur fans to the wrong stadium. Five of us had arrived already and another five or six were on their way. We piled into a car and headed off for another ground, on the outskirts of Zürich, at the opposite side of the city.

 

First impression - it's a bit green!

Points time.

 

Getting There

7/10. Not too difficult if you head to the right ground to start with! One stop on a tram and a walk through a car park separates you from Zürich Stettbach train station. This station is two stops on urban trains from Zürich main station and one stop from Winterthur.

 

Yeah...green!

Friendliness

5/10. We were a bit miffed at the 12 Franc entry price (same as FC Winterthur, one league higher) to watch FC Zürich's under 21s and even more so where we saw people outside the ground watching for nothing through the fence where normally, there would be a terrace behind the goal. They had better view of this game than we had paid to experience at other grounds.

 

The program is nothing more than a photocopied team sheet. Indeed the program we had picked up from FC Red Star Zürich, two leagues lower was better. The program was free like all match programs in Switzerland but is the worst attempt at a program that we've seen on our travels.

 

Points were won back in the refreshments hall though where everyone was very pleasant.

 

Safety

5/10. The ground is obviously not suitable for any bigger game than this, but it doesn't need to be as bigger games will never be held there. Zürich U21s cannot be promoted out of this league as a U21 side and they do not take part in the Swiss cup so this is as big as it gets.

 

The only minor concern is that in this league, Zürich U21s play Basel U21s. There has been trouble between the rival fans at the first team meetings of these clubs. I doubt the idiots causing the trouble would pick up on a U21 fixture but if they did, with viewing only available on one side of the ground, it could be difficult for the authorities.

 

View from behind the goal. Don't complain - it's free!

View

6/10. No problem other than the only viewing available is on one side of the ground.

 

Atmosphere

3/10. The atmosphere was provided by the 10 or so Locarno fans who travelled along with their 10 Winti-buddies. Nothing from the home support. The surroundings don't help. It's all very green and quite clinical. The ground is an impressive community sports facility but has little identity of being home to a football club, which it arguably isn't.

 

Lots on offer in the restaurant

Refreshments

9/10. I'd like a "Currywurst" please. I answered when asked what I wanted. The lady behind the counter looked at me dumbly. "Currywurst?" I tried again. Still nothing. "Curry.....Wurst". "Ah! Currywurst!" she said suddenly repeating the word more or less exactly as I said it. "Ja!" I said and we both laughed as she explained how she couldn't understand my accent. We then proceeded to have a perfectly normal and fluent conversation, laughing and joking with one another. I get a lot of this! I put it down to the culture shock of meeting an English guy who actually speaks a foreign language fluently.

 

"He can't be speaking German. He's English!"

 

The refreshments reminded me very much of Sportanlage Juchof (YF Juventus). Lots on offer at reasonable prices. The Currywurst itself was pretty tasteless but the curry sauce was delicious so they got away with it.

 

Did Liverpool really play here?

Overall.

35/60. This isn't a home ground rather than a community facility. But it's a good community facility that puts to shame what is available in major British cities. There is no way it could be used for bigger events but it will never need to be.

 

The Match.

We arrived halfway through the first half to find the visitors 1:0 down. That goal had come in the first minute from Marvin Graf. The lead could have been doubled as we arrived when Mario Grgić hit the post from a corner.

 

But boosted by the arrival of more fans, Locarno started to come more into the game. Fabian Felmann in the home goal had to save from Magetti and Stojanov before the latter rattled the post. The deserved equalizer was a little lucky when it came. A huge deflection looped a shot from 25 yards from Eldin Muharemi over the Felmann and into the net. Locarno were now much the better side and should have had the advantage going into the break but Becchio blazed over when unmarked seven yards out.

 

The second half started with a renewed battle in midfield yielding few chances before Locarno really turned the screw after 65 minutes. Relentlessly attacking their young opponents they suddenly were creating chance after chance but were kept at bay partly due to a bit of wastefulness but mainly due to a brilliant performance by Fellmann in goal for the home side. He saved his side at least three times in a frenetic 10 minute period. But in this period Locarno did take the lead. Lorenzo Loiero got the goal from a corner and at this point, the visitors looked the only winners.

 

But Zürich II could still hit on the break and did so in the 73rd minute. Simonyan and Cirelli combined well to set up Aldin Turkes. A draw would not have been the end of the world for Locarno, avoiding defeat could be enough to take the relegation fight to the final game. But it wasn't to be. After 83 minutes, Buono saved well from Marvin Graf's 25 yard screamer but out the ball came and the striker made no mistake with his follow-up.

 

He did however make a mistake in taking his celebration to the corner of the ground directly in front of the Locarno fans. He'd just scored a goal that had probably relegated their club so this was a shocking lack of sportsmanship, style, grace and professionalism. I would have hoped a large club like FC Zürich would teach their future stars this sort of thing. The Zürich players got a shower of beer for their trouble. I don't condone this of course, but I can certainly understand.

 

Locarno couldn't get back on terms in the remaining 10 minutes and so their season is over. Relegation is confirmed but every cloud has a silver lining. Their new league will also include FC Winterthur U21's so the strong relationship between the club's fans will continue.

 

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Swiss 36 No. 32 Stade Sous-Ville, Baulmes - FC Le Mont

FC Le Mont v FC Winterthur

I know, I haven't posted for a while. The tour has gone on, I've just been lazy, so my apologies.

 

Today was a sunny, glorious day for football and I was on the way out to see FC Winterthur play Le Mont and realized that this was a stadium I haven't covered. I've been before but was jet-lagged having just got back to Switzerland from Columbus, Ohio on the morning of my last visit. I was taking a holiday from writing anyway but even if I'd been literally active, anything written would have made no sense at all. I slept from Baulmes back to Winterthur despite Winti fans singing loudly down my ear (I honestly remember nothing of this).

 

So what is the home of Le Mont like? Well, I don't know, because this isn't it. To give Le Mont their full name, it's Le Mont sur Lausanne (the mountain above Lausanne). Their home is Terrain du Châtaignier in Le Mont sur Lausanne, and is 36 km away, (32 minutes by car). Stade sous Ville is the home of FC Baulmes (who else). Baulmes is a beautiful village near Yverdon les Bains, to the North of Lausanne. Le Mont are there for the usual reasons of their stadium not meeting Swiss Challenge League standards, so inconveniencing the home fans is obviously the sensible thing to do.

 

So what is FC Baulmes' stadium like?

 

Getting There

7/10. Not too bad. Trains all the way (direct from Winterthur/Zürich to Yverdon, then a regional train to Baulmes). The stadium is a short walk from the station. The only slight issue, trains are hourly so you may get stuck in a tiny village with nothing else to do other than finding a pub.

Friendliness

6/10. Only let down by the fact that the 30 or so Winti fans were given a very close search. For one moment I was cringing waiting for the snap of a rubber glove but thankfully, my security guard was content with a good grope around the waistband of my shorts. 20 SFr entrance fee is slightly high for challenge league, but a Mother's Day action that let the ladies in free brings it down to extremely reasonable.

 

Once in, these were nice people. The toilets were portaloos but nice ones. Points won back because the lovely lady at the away end refreshment stall obtained some wine for us (always worth an extra point).

Safety

8/10. For me, a stadium that has it right.

No stupid fences.

Terraces that are standing terraces with steps of a few inches rather than a few feet.

The away fans were segregated from the home fans, which was a change from my earlier visit in the season. The segregation was as always understandable but unnecessary.

View

8/10. You could not be closer to the action and with proper standing terraces, at the away end, I could see just fine. The main stand looked like it also provided a good view. If there is a criticism, it would be that I can quickly see the 2500 capacity stadium becoming packed and unpleasant to view football were an attendance to approach that capacity.

 

Atmosphere

5/10. Its all a bit characterless, unfortunately, but it is what it is.

 

Only 350 fans were present and much noise was provided as ever by the 30 or so traveling Winti fans. But credit also goes to a young group of Le Mont fans, one of whom was beating the crap out of a drum. Good for him, they did get heard and noticed.

 

Refreshments

4/10. Bit of a let down in this category. Beer available and wine if you asked (and you should, it was nice and at 15 SFr for a half liter, better value than the 4 SFr being charged for a small beer). Foodwise at the away end it was sandwiches or crisps. Nothing hot. I seem to remember fairing better on my last visit when not segregated from the home fans but I'm only scoring this visit.

 

Overall

38/60. Amazing really. The village of Baulmes has a population of around 1000 and a lovely little football stadium.

 

The Match.

The background to this one was FC Le Mont still with plenty to be worried about. Three points clear of bottom place and relegation but with an inferior goal difference. This match gave them the chance to pull six clear of bottom with 4 games remaining.

 

Winti had just ended an appauling run of one point from 7 games with a home win against bottom club, Biel. But Winti are safe in fifth place with nothing to play for, except not being the worst club away from home in the Challenge league.

It started quite cagily with good possession from Winterthur and the home side looking to break quickly. It was as one of these breaks broke down that Winti took the lead. A ball into the midfield from Hajrovic was moved on to the right side and Tighazoui. The tricky midfielder played a one-two with Paiva and advanced into the area. He could only be stopped by Gilberto Reis stepping on his foot. A red card for Le Mont defender and a penalty dispatched into the bottom left corner by Patrick Bengondo. Le Mont 1 - down with 10 men and 78 minutes to play.

 

Straight forward now then for the visitors? Well, not quite. For the remainder of the first half, despite the extra man, Winti struggled to break through their opponents without an unwelcome offside flag. Le Mont were working hard and opened up Winterthur's defence completely on 24 minutes. Minder was forced into a point blank save and the rebound was crossed to a striker on the far post but thankfully his header could have been a pass back. But Winti had been warned!

 

On 33 minutes, the warning was followed up. A sloppy piece of play in midfield lost possession and Sessolo became the latest player to play at trying to lob Matt Minder from range. For anyone who doesn't know, Winti made the news by conceding a goal in just 5 seconds when Minder was lobbed from the halfway line in a friendly. Every man and his aunt has been trying since. On this occasion the ball hit the angle of post and bar with Minder clattering into the post in his efforts to make the save. He did well to be on his feet facing the rebound but Dubajic's shot into the far top corner was too good.

 

A little slapstick then occurred with Le Mont's trainer being sent to the stands for an over exuberant celebration. He actually returned briefly in a different top, but the fourth official wasn't falling for that one and +1 was added to the attendance in the main stand.

 

Half time came and went and the game continued in the same vein. Winterthur were unable to break a determined home defence while Le Mont were keeping them on their toes with occasional breaks. But you had the feeling the work Le Mont were doing was taking a toll.

 

On 75 minutes Winti thought they had a second penalty when Tighazoui was brought down but the referee was corrected by his linesman and a free kick on the edge of the penalty area was correctly given. The decision became immaterial though as Amin Tighazoui curled a lovely shot in to the top corner direct from the free kick.

 

Now the game was Winterthur's on 88 minutes Bengondo tried his luck from range and rattled the crossbar. On 90 minutes, any doubt over the result was removed. Tighazoui came in one-on-one with the Le Mont 'keeper and unselfishly played in Tunahan Cicek who had an easy finish for 3:1.

 

A reasonable match. Winti made hard work of it but were good winners in the end. And that worst away team in the league title has been lost for now!

Match highlights here

 

 

 

 

 

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Swiss 36 No. 1 - Stadion Schützenwiese, FC Winterthur

"Schuetz-ae-wiese! Schuetz-ae-wiese!" - It's a regular chant heard from the Winterthur faithful at home games. Before I became a Winti fan, I'd never heard of the name of the ground being incorporated into a fan chant or a song (Winti have done both). I still don't know of any other team doing this so the Schuetzi is obviously well-loved by the fans.

So what is it about the ground? Well, as everyone knows, you can't beat a Spaceman!

It's no Bernebau or even Gigg Lane Stadium, but it also isn't an awful multi-sport facility where binoculars are needed to watch your football. It's a traditional, purpose-built football ground, and what's more it's the only purpose-built football ground in Canton Zurich.

The nearest behind-goal terrace to the main entrance is the domain of the noisiest home fans, starting with the Sirup-Kurve. The Sirup-Kurve is a mini-stand for the clubs younger supporters. It's equipped with drums, bells and whistles to get them making noise. We like to train them early in Winti!

Moving along the terrace, the main Winti fan-groups each have their own traditional areas, starting with the Fanatics, then the Seemer Jungs and finally the Bierkurve. Most of the noise comes from this terrace and also be on the lookout for some "Choreo". Winti fans are some of the more inventive in the Swiss Leagues and often prepare great choreographed routines for the entrance of the teams.

In the far corner of the Bierkurve, you come to Salon Erika and that Spaceman. Salon Erika is a unique "art-meets-football" Salon situated in the ground. Its a bit hard to describe, but we like it!

The first long terrace has two tiers, and is home to another fan-group, the Ost-Block. At the end of the Ost-Block terrace you come to the Sulzer Hochhaus, a 26 storey, 90m high-rise that dominates the ground. We affectiontionately know it as the suicide tower. A facility every ground needs to provide fans for that match when they are 0 : 4 down at home, down to ten men and the rain is driving in your face!

The terrace behind the far goal is the domain of our visitors. I can't say too much about it as I've never been there, apart from mentioning an amusing incident when a home-streaker saw the very empty visitors' terrace as his means of escape from perusing security guards. Unfortunately he failed to vault the fence having already thrown his clothes bags over and was nicked in rather embarrassing fashion. He got a straight 10 for planning, but lost it all in the execution I'm afraid!

Tour over and we're back at the Libero bar near the main entrance. This is the social centre of the club, where there's always banter, music and the beer required for precise post-game analysis in the "Dritte Halbzeit" (Third half of the match). The analysis can go on long into the night!

Eating

Anyone who has read this blog before will realize that I've covered FC Winterthur somewhat differently to the other clubs we have visited. No points scores for Winterthur nor is any particular match covered. The fact is that I watch Winterthur every time that I can, home or away so choosing a match seemed strange and when it comes to points, well, I'm biased!

But when it comes to food, I can honestly say that in terms of choice, Winti knock anyone else into a cocked hat! and the quality isn't bad either!

Beer and sausage is a staple diet at all German and Swiss football grounds. Winti offer three types of sausage, not including hot-dogs. Thuringer is a long, thin German pork sausage; the Olma-style Bratwurst is a local veal sausage and then there's cerevalats if you fancy something a little more spicy. They are all cooked freshly in front of you and are delicious. A sausage with bread will cost about 5-6 SFr.

Then we move to pizza. A pizza van with a built in wood oven cooks pizzas for you just like you'd get at the local pizzeria. They are 12 Francs each with toppings any combination of cheese, ham, mushroom and pineapple.

Pork is something I would heartily recommend to eat in any German-speaking nation. They are simply better at pork than the English. At Winti, there are pork skewers basted in herb butter and served with a bread roll as well as a ciabatta stuffed with pork with a sauce of you choice. Both are great and 10 Francs or less.

You can add to this burgers and even fish and chips. Loads of choice at reasonable prices. As is the beer, at 5 Francs a pint, cheaper than you'll get in town.

Getting There

The Schützenwiese is a short walk from Winterthur main station. Simply go through the main subway under the station and when you come up the other side, walk staight on past St. Paul's church. Look left as you pass the church and you will see floodlights. Go there! Another landmark for the stadium is, of course the suicide tower (Sulzer Hochhaus). Head for that!

From the Töss end of town (Ibis hotel), it takes about 15 minutes on foot. Walk towards the city centre. Look for the Sulzer Hochhaus. The Schützenwiese is signposted, but go to the Hochhaus and you are there.

Winterthur, the City

Were it not for the lack of a major stretch of water, be it a lake or a river, Winterthur would be featuring much more on the tourists' agenda for Switzerland. But we're not complaining. Sure, tourists bring in revenue, but they make the place noisier and more untidy too!

Winti boasts a very large predestrianized area in the centre of town stretching from the station all the way through the pretty old town. Eating out is pricey but much cheaper than its illustrious neighbour, Zürich. A decent restaurant meal will cost 20 to 50 SFr a head.

Take-aways are available all over town. I'd recommend Döner Kebabs (they are better then you get in England) and traditional German take-aways like Bretzels and sausages. A kebab will cost around 12 SFr with Bretzels and sausages coming in under 8 SFr.

When it comes to the nightlife, Winti has plenty of bars. Try Paddy O'Brien's Irish bar, not far from the station for a wide range of beers, although a little on the pricey side. There are plenty of clubs with the Salzhaus, near the station topping my list.

 

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