The German language is full of words that mean naughty things in English. Literally across the road from my house is the River Töss. The Töss has spawned further bi-lingual faux-pas like a house called Tosshof and a company called Tossa. Just a few miles away is a village called Langenhard which is close to, but sadly on the Töss. Langenhard on the Töss would have been comedy gold had the village been built a little further down the mountain.
Basing Young Boys in Wankdorf similarly goes just not quite far enough for true comedic gold. Sadly, the team have never been known as Wankdorf Young Boys. But in any case, thank-you Young Boys for giving immature, wannabe comedians like myself plenty to play with (fnar fnar!).
Somebody seems to have told them something though. Between 2001 and 2005, the Young Boys left what was then the Wankdorf stadium to play at Neufeldstadion while the new Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf was built. Its impressive stuff. Allegedly, its Switzerland's most expensive building comprising of not just a stadium, but the Wankdorf Centre: one of the largest shopping centres in the country which is under the playing surface; a 700 space car-park, schools, homes and leisure facilities.
Bern is easy to reach on the train and from the main station, there's a choice of Trolley Bus or train to get to Wankdorf. On the bus, we asked a YB fan where we could buy tickets. "For what?" he asked. Perhaps the fans aren't that bright?
A huge project it may have been, but I'd have thought 350 Million Swiss francs would get something more aesthetically appealling but sadly, from the outside its very grey. I do like the pedestrian area to the side of the stadium though and it was great to see Basel and YB fans socializing in this area.
Here we found the ticket booth and bought our 35 Swiss Franc match tickets. That is pricey by Swiss standards, although still nowhere near the entry prices charged by their illustrious opponents.
In the fan-shop, for which we had to queue mainly because it is tiny and I was pleasantly surprised by the very reasonable prices. 10 Francs for my small pennant. Very fair!
For old time's sake, I watched "Escape to Victory" this weekend and could not help but think the Nazis were taking far less stringent precautions to prevent people going in or out of the football ground than were Young Boys at first sight. The location plus those imposing gates seemed to suggest a good chance of being pulled off to one side by security.
Appearances were deceiving though. Once we got through those very unfriendly gates, courteous security staff searched our bags and allowed us through the modern "Ski Pass" turnstiles. There was not even a second glance at our Burger King "Coca-Cola" cups. The technology used made me wonder why they need those intimidating gates. Security plus a good turnstile system should be enough to prevent any undesirables from getting in the stadium.
Once inside, just like St Jakob's Park, you find you're inside a very impressive stadium. At 31700, capacity its the second largest stadium in the country and, like all Swiss Stadia seen so far, has some space for supporters preferring to stand. Are you watching England!
There's still those bloody horrible fences though, penning in the away supporters and preventing access to the pitch which English fans know can literally be a matter of life and death. The fences again are totally illogical. At the Stade de Suisse, obviously opinion is that idiot minorities will only congregate at the ends of the ground. People in the seats at the sides would never invade the pitch. So there, we don't need the fences.
Points time.
Getting There
8/10. Very easy. Good Trolly Bus and train links from Bern main station. In this case the bus was not particularly crowded. Just a very minor criticism that it wasn't immediately obvious where to go from the Bus stop in Wankdorf. We just followed the crowd.
Friendliness
8/10. If people from Basel are Bäslers and people from Zürich are Zürchers then people from Wankdorf must be....very nice really. No issues at security but enough precautions and the fans, whilst thinking me a bit crazy (see the atmosphere section) were smiling and friendly. Just get rid of that portcullis at the main entrance and Young Boys might become even more friendly!
Safety
8/10. The security guys obviously did the good job that security in Basel found impossible as we didn't see one single flare in the stadium. I didn't get a look at the standing areas as we were at the wrong end of the ground. Its just about the fences, otherwise - fine!
View
8/10. Very good from my seat (10/10) but from behind the fences?
Atmosphere
6/10. 22757 fans makes the stadium just over two-thirds full. Sad that such a big fixture doesn't fill the place but that shows the work that needs to be done in Swiss football.
There was plenty of noise from the Basel fans to our left and it certainly looked like the Young Boys' kop at the opposite end of the ground were trying to do their bit. Everyone else? The photo says it all!
I'm afraid that we decided to try and lift things in the silent group of YB fans around us. A chorus of "Scheiss YB" rang out from the Basel fans to my left so we replied with a chorus of "Sit-Down Shut Up!". I then pointed out to the fans near me that they really shouldn't be allowing the visitors to be getting away with things like that. It had no effect at all, apart from a couple of the YB fans doing the "hand waved in front of your face" thing, which I have come to learn would suggest that they think us crazy.
"Yoooouuuurrrre Shit - HA HA HA" is starting to go down well though.
Refreshments
8/10. Getting there! I had a small, Cheese Ham and Onion pizza at half time which was bloody lovely and at 10 Francs, a good deal. Carlsberg beer was also a welcome change from Feldshitschen, the standard Swiss piss. There were also burgers as well as the standard sausage. There was a bit of queuing where I was but nothing too drastic.
Redeeming Feature
Has to be the way Young Boys allow supporters to mix in those pedestrianized areas before the match. Very encouraging!
Basing Young Boys in Wankdorf similarly goes just not quite far enough for true comedic gold. Sadly, the team have never been known as Wankdorf Young Boys. But in any case, thank-you Young Boys for giving immature, wannabe comedians like myself plenty to play with (fnar fnar!).
Somebody seems to have told them something though. Between 2001 and 2005, the Young Boys left what was then the Wankdorf stadium to play at Neufeldstadion while the new Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf was built. Its impressive stuff. Allegedly, its Switzerland's most expensive building comprising of not just a stadium, but the Wankdorf Centre: one of the largest shopping centres in the country which is under the playing surface; a 700 space car-park, schools, homes and leisure facilities.
Bern is easy to reach on the train and from the main station, there's a choice of Trolley Bus or train to get to Wankdorf. On the bus, we asked a YB fan where we could buy tickets. "For what?" he asked. Perhaps the fans aren't that bright?
 |
| Its a bit....err....Grey |
Here we found the ticket booth and bought our 35 Swiss Franc match tickets. That is pricey by Swiss standards, although still nowhere near the entry prices charged by their illustrious opponents.
In the fan-shop, for which we had to queue mainly because it is tiny and I was pleasantly surprised by the very reasonable prices. 10 Francs for my small pennant. Very fair!
 |
| Welcome to Wandorf! |
Appearances were deceiving though. Once we got through those very unfriendly gates, courteous security staff searched our bags and allowed us through the modern "Ski Pass" turnstiles. There was not even a second glance at our Burger King "Coca-Cola" cups. The technology used made me wonder why they need those intimidating gates. Security plus a good turnstile system should be enough to prevent any undesirables from getting in the stadium.
 |
| Again an impressive stadium. |
There's still those bloody horrible fences though, penning in the away supporters and preventing access to the pitch which English fans know can literally be a matter of life and death. The fences again are totally illogical. At the Stade de Suisse, obviously opinion is that idiot minorities will only congregate at the ends of the ground. People in the seats at the sides would never invade the pitch. So there, we don't need the fences.
Points time.
Getting There
8/10. Very easy. Good Trolly Bus and train links from Bern main station. In this case the bus was not particularly crowded. Just a very minor criticism that it wasn't immediately obvious where to go from the Bus stop in Wankdorf. We just followed the crowd.
Friendliness
8/10. If people from Basel are Bäslers and people from Zürich are Zürchers then people from Wankdorf must be....very nice really. No issues at security but enough precautions and the fans, whilst thinking me a bit crazy (see the atmosphere section) were smiling and friendly. Just get rid of that portcullis at the main entrance and Young Boys might become even more friendly!
Safety
8/10. The security guys obviously did the good job that security in Basel found impossible as we didn't see one single flare in the stadium. I didn't get a look at the standing areas as we were at the wrong end of the ground. Its just about the fences, otherwise - fine!
View
8/10. Very good from my seat (10/10) but from behind the fences?
Atmosphere
There was plenty of noise from the Basel fans to our left and it certainly looked like the Young Boys' kop at the opposite end of the ground were trying to do their bit. Everyone else? The photo says it all!
I'm afraid that we decided to try and lift things in the silent group of YB fans around us. A chorus of "Scheiss YB" rang out from the Basel fans to my left so we replied with a chorus of "Sit-Down Shut Up!". I then pointed out to the fans near me that they really shouldn't be allowing the visitors to be getting away with things like that. It had no effect at all, apart from a couple of the YB fans doing the "hand waved in front of your face" thing, which I have come to learn would suggest that they think us crazy.
"Yoooouuuurrrre Shit - HA HA HA" is starting to go down well though.
Refreshments8/10. Getting there! I had a small, Cheese Ham and Onion pizza at half time which was bloody lovely and at 10 Francs, a good deal. Carlsberg beer was also a welcome change from Feldshitschen, the standard Swiss piss. There were also burgers as well as the standard sausage. There was a bit of queuing where I was but nothing too drastic.
Redeeming Feature
Has to be the way Young Boys allow supporters to mix in those pedestrianized areas before the match. Very encouraging!
Overall
46 / 60
The Match
The match came on the Sunday after Young Boy's 3 : 5 thriller against Liverpool so I was hopeful of a good game and I wasn't disappointed. The first half was end to end stuff with Young Boys coming the closest when Mario Raimondi picked up an excellent long ball on the left and played in Raphael Nuzolo. The midfielder's finish was 5 cm away from being exquisite but instead painfully hit Sommer's far post. The rebound was difficult for an off balance Bobadilla who could only chip the ball straight into Sommer's hands.
Basel were similarly 5 cm from taking the lead although this time it was Alex Frei who was 5 cm too far forward as a very clever set-piece was played in. After shaping to shoot, Diaz instead played in a beautiful chip onto Frei's run, Wölfli saved the veteran's header for Young Boys but presented Streller with a tap in. Fortunately for YB, the linesman's flag was already raised. No goal.
Half time and 0:0 but very entertaining.
A goal was only going to make the match even better and one came within four minutes of the restart. An what a cracker! Lovely passing by put Gonzalo Zorate into space and he finished beautifully. Although YB fully deserved the lead, Basel had always threatened as one goal was never going to be enough. With 15 minutes left, Markus Steinhöfer was played in behind the Basel defence on the left and he crossed for Marco Streller to head home.
There was enough time remaining for the referee to turn down a stone-wall penalty. Winterthur fans know, that happens a lot with Basel.
So 1:1 it ended - and I was thoroughly entertained!
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