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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Swiss 36 No. 31 - Sportanlage Juchof, SC YF Juventus

SC YF Juventus v FC Zürich II

 

The other Juvé. They were formed in 1992 when Young Fellows Zürich (founded in 1904) merged with Società Calcistica Italiana Juventus Zurigo (1922). The result - SportClub Young Fellows Juventus. We'll call them Juvé! It's fine to do that because there is really no confusing them with their illustrious Italian namesakes. As you might expect, they have a few Italian-speaking fans and they do play in the famous black and white stripes. But this is Zürich's third club. The super league "giants", Grasshoppers and FC Zürich are not able to sell out the 30000 seat Letzigrund unless Juventus from Turin come visiting. So the othe Juvé hardly need Stadio del Alpi.

So what have they got? - Well apparently it isn't good enough. Juvé finished third in the inaugural season of the erste Liga promotion just 2 points behind champions, Schaffhausen. Second, level on points were Basel II, who due to league rules cannot be promoted anyway. Juvé had been told they wouldn't be promoted due to a lack of facilities. How embarrassing would it be had the champions of the SFA's new league been refused promotion?

Points time.

Getting There

 

7 / 10. Where exactly is there? After a frustrating morning trying to find fireworks in Zürich, we'd had to give up the search and find Juchof. The SBB timetable sent us to Zürich Altstetten and then recommended Minibus 307. Now here's where it went wrong. Usually, Zürich buses are great, showing the next 3 or 4 stops on your journey. But that's buses, not minibuses. Minibuses tell you nothing but their final destination. Our phones came to the rescue, telling us that Vulkanstrasse, on which you find Sportanlage Juchof was the first stop.

 

Juchof is indeed on Vulkanstrasse. It's just at the opposite end of Vulkanstrasse to where the Vulkanstrasse bus stop is situated. It is of course situated right bang next to the bus stop called "Juchof" - funny that! So the IPhone gets a 1 / 10 on this occasion. I'm honest enough to give Juvé 7 / 10 in the "getting there" category. I can't penalize them when I'm the idiot, after all, I'm sure the bus driver would have known.

We knew when we'd got to the ground because it's presence was given away by 4 or 5 spectators watching the match from the road behind the goal. Pay your 10 Francs and watch them properly you skinflints! Like all Swiss erste Liga promotion sides, they need your money!

But let's be fair, perhaps their problem was that they could not find the turnstiles. That would be because there aren't any. But there is a gap in the fence! You get in there!

Friendliness

5 / 10. Juvé do get points for being very trusting. Nobody was sitting by the gap in the fence taking any money, but we figured we should pay somebody for our entertainment. An area along the touchline was taped off. Should we go thorough? You can be shot for less in Germany, but the Swiss tend to be a little more chilled about such things so we risked it. Not a word from anyone. We got to the other end of the pitch, went up some steps where we finally found someone eager to take our 10 Francs.

So at least 5 people per week watch from the road so pay nothing. How many more come in and don't pay, either intentionally or because they simply don't find anyone to pay?

Trusting bunch!

Safety

3 / 10. Juchof is what it is - a community sports ground. No terracing to fall down, more "stand behind these railings". The taped off area along the touchline, we later discovered, is simply to give substitutes an area where they can warm up as there are no run-off areas from the pitch. To get to the pitch, the players simply walk from the clubhouse through whatever crowd is present. In short, it's a Sunday League ground, but a reasonable one.

View

3 / 10. See above. No terraces mean that were there a crowd, everyone is on the same level. Unless of course you want to watch from the road, or climb the steps to the clubhouse to watch through quite a hefty fence.

Atmosphere

3 / 10. Bless 'em. The Juvé fans were reasonably vocal and had banners and flags. Couple that with a reasonable turn out for FCZs under 21s and it wasn't too bad. But a meagre crowd is a meagre crowd - I'd say 200 turned out to watch.

 

Refreshments

9 / 10. Surprisingly very good! We had a selection of food and in particular soft-drinks available that would put some of the big-boys to shame. Sure, the clubhouse is more canteen than football club but they have expanded significantly beyond the beer and sausage available at just about every Swiss football club.

 

 

Overall

30 / 60. Sunday League standard - you can certainly understand why Juvé's progress up the leagues is limited by their ground.

 

The Match

Not the best I'm afraid, but maybe if we'd got off the bus at the right stop and arrived on time it would have been better? - perhaps not.

 

True, it was already 0 : 1 when we arrived, Elvedin Causi scoring for the visitors but I can't tell you any more than that. They really should have made it two after 37 minutes when the Juvé keeper, Dragan Djukic went to meet a runner advancing towards the right hand side of his area. The ball was cleverly pulled back to the middle of the penalty area leaving Djukic nowhere but somehow, Ricardo Rodriguez skied his shot.

 

The visitors were made to pay. On 42 minutes, Raul Cabanas curled in a free-kick and the home time were level for all of three minutes before snatching an unlikely lead from the penalty spot before half time. Right-back, Yves Oehri, looking more like the winger he had looked like all afternoon, was brought down as his cross found its mark and was headed home, but the referee had blown for the foul prior to the ball going in the net. David Blumer scored the penalty, sparing the referee the embarrassment of having stopped play too soon.

 

After 55 minutes it was Juvé's turn to miss a "sitter", and this one was even more astonishing than Zürich's "conversion" in the first half. The ball was played wide onto the left where the winger beat his man before pulling a ball back beating the goalkeeper in the process. The ball rolled across the 6-yard area where a Juvé striker was waiting. He swung, he missed. Highly embarrassing, lucky for him, I didn't get his name or he would be speeding eternity in black and white for his error.

 

It was about the only exciting incident of the second half and the game petered out. Final score, 2 : 1 to Juvé. Memorable only for the wrong reasons.

 

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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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Swiss 36 No. 28 - Gurzelen Stadion, FC Biel-Bienne

FC Biel-Bienne v FC Winterthur

 

Live football and live music are two passions of mine. Two passions that normally sit together quite happily without any clashes of interest. But once a season I find myself up a mountain near Bern having a great time listening to bands while FC Winterthur have a fixture somewhere and so try to tempt me away.

 

Last season they were at Locarno. Too far from Bern to really consider leaving the Gurten Festival and returning later. They won 5:0 so that put pressure on this year's decision on whether to miss some of the music.

 

This year Winti were playing Biel-Bienne in a match that re-opened their Gurzelen Stadium. Biel is just an hour away from the top of the mountain, it was a Swiss stadium that we hadn't yet seen and it was a re-opening. Obviously we were schlepping down the mountain.

 

So could the Gurzelen live up to the Stade de la Maldière, where Biel had taken up temporary residence as their stadium was being renovated? Well, as it happens they hadn't done a bloody thing! You see, Biel-Bienne were told by the Swiss FA that the Gurzelen did not meet Swiss Challenge League standards. What Biel-Bienne then had to do was to demonstrate a viable plan for refurbishing the stadium. They didn't have to actually do anything. But they obviously failed to get an acceptable plan together and so were vanquished to Neuchâtel.

 

Points Time

Getting There

7 / 10. As ever no problem at all on the trains but it's not all that clear where to go once where to go once you arrive in Biel. We knew there was a bus, it was just a case of finding where from. Luckily it was Winti fans to the rescue as we bumped into a party of them and were soon on the right bus.

 

Friendliness

6 / 10. The good bit was the stadium security. We arrived direct from the Gurten Festival and so had some things in our Rucksacks that weren't appropriate for a football stadium. But we'd separated what we needed in the stadium from the rest of the junk that we had, and the security guys were happy to look after our bags while we were watching the game.

 

The bad bit? Portable toilets. See what I mean hadn't done a bloody thing?

 

Safety

9 / 10. Not much of a problem with safety. The only fencing separates home and away supporters, which is fair enough. The terracing is at a safe height. The only thing missing for me are crush barriers. Also the stadium allegedly holds 15000 spectators, which might be a few too many.

 

View

9 / 10. The only question would be whether you could see if the stadium was full.

Atmosphere

 

5 / 10. Very disappointing. Apart from the match ball being parachuted in and the banner in the photo, there was nothing to say this was a re-opening. Quite sad really, that the town couldn't turn out to welcome their football team back home. In the event, only 1580 fans did so. Hopefully when renovations are made, more will take interest.

 

Refreshments

5 / 10. The same standard stuff that you get at every Swiss ground but at least all the drinks were refrigerated. The beer was Heinekin, which says it all!

 

Overall

 

41 / 60. No, not as good as Stade de la Maladière

 

The Match

Well with the stadium offering little to write home about, could the match be any better. Sadly not.

 

Winti were coming into the match having lost their opener away at Schaffhausen. On that subject, I'm afraid Stadion Breite is going to have to take some penalty points (not that I'm bitter at all). In the away end of the ground, the first challenge was getting beer. Winti brought 800 or so away supporters with them, which isn't bad for a team who get about 2000 for a home game. First game of the season plus a local Derby, surely a reasonable away attendance could be expected. Well, one beer pump served the 800, very slowly. Many Winti fans missed the entire first half queuing for beer. That takes four points off Satdion Breite's refreshment score I'm afraid. The away fans were also well and truly fenced in. Two points from safety. Needless to say, Schaffhausen will now think twice about beating Winti in our next meeting!

 

But I digress from the match against Biel at the Gurzelen. It all started well enough. Winti soon were flowing in the first half and wave upon wave of Zürcher attacks were being made with very little in the way of opposition. This is why are left the rock festival. To enjoy a sunny day and your team dominating their opponents finishing up 3:0 winners.

 

Well, that's what would have happened had Winti converted the countless chances that they made. Instead they led just by a single goal at half time, scored through a familiar combination of a Stefan Iten cross and Patrick Bengondo header.

 

Happy at half time? Sure, but you did have that feeling that Biel's determination to play absolutely no part in the game couldn't continue. It didn't and the home side were much better after the break. They were more aggressive than Winterthur and were pressing for possession much higher up the pitch. On the hour, Biel der deservedly equalized. Bengondo, back defending was surprised when Sejemovic nipped in from behind him to steal the ball as he was trying to clear. Bengondo pulled his opponent back and the referee pointed to the spot. Di Nardo beat Studer comfortably with the penalty.

 

Seven minutes later and Biel had the lead. A mistake by Sereinig was confounded as he and Patrick Schuler both tried to close down the ball carrier, meaning that somewhere there was a free man. He was actually in the penalty area and Giuseppe Morello found Christian Miani with a simple low cross. The finish was easy.

 

Winti hadn't been able to cope with Biel's improved second half commitment, and it was going to get worse. Janko Pacar, on to try to provide more attacking teeth in the final minutes did well breaking on the left side. A tug back on his shirt resulted in the young striker taking a silly kick at his opponent. Red card and Winti were out of the game. They weren't handling Biel with 11 men, so 10 was a hopeless situation.

 

2:1 to Biel and the pre-season title favourites were looking nothing like a potential super league side.

 

Stop Press

Recently we also had the pleasure of once again visiting the Paul Grüninger Stadium (SC Brühl) for a second round Swiss Cup match. When we went into the ground we noted that tickets were either seated or standing. They were not home and away. Winti fans and Brühl fans mixed happily on the terraces enjoying friendly banter exactly how football should be. That is with the exception of Brühl beating Winti on penalties of course. I can also report Brühl are the first team to react to the rubbish I write here. I noted that Brühl were letting in under 9's for free while at Winti, free entry is granted up until the age of 16. Brühl agreed on the value of attracting supporters while they are young and so have changed their prices.

 

More points are going Brühl's way on friendliness and atmosphere categories (you see, I'm not such a bad loser!).

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