Swiss 36 No. 15: Stadio Communale, Bellinzona . AC Bellinzona

AC Bellinzona v FC Winterthur

Stadio Communale.....Community Stadium....it's hard to be inspired isn't it?  But should people judge books by their covers?  Well, the cover says "Grey, characterless multi-sport facility designed by a committee of bureaucrats who believe it is possible to play football and crown-green bowls on the same surface and hell, they are going to prove it!"  In reality, could you have read the first paragraph and saved a lot of time? (and do you really think I will reveal this information now?)

Glorious sunshine in Winterthur as we left and we enjoyed the good weather most of the way down and so had a very picturesque trip.

By the time we arrived in Bellinzona, the weather had changed to a cold drizzle, that was to get steadily worse as the evening went on.

Its not immediately clear how to get to the Stadio Communale but it isn't far either.  We found the way, which took less than 10 minutes by following two of our fellow Winti fans.

At first sight, the stadium looks like a pretty typical, small-club stadium.  By Swiss standards, Bellinzona aren't really that.  Two seasons ago, they were in the Super League.  OK, that's not English Premier League by any standards, but still, this is a leading second-flight club.

Luckily the staff on the gates spoke German and were able to direct us around to the away-supporters section.  No souvenirs  were available.  "He's normally there", said the guy on the gate. "But not today."  Strange.  Perhaps "He" saw the weather forecast and didn't fancy it!

So around we went to the away end and for a very reasonable 15 SFr we were in after a polite search of our rucksacks, and a belated decision to confiscate two Burger King Coffee mugs, we'd received as a freebie.

Points Time

Getting There 

8 / 10.  A couple of signposts from the station would have been nice, but it isn't far to walk so easy enough.

...and this is the Ladies

Friendliness

6 / 10.  No problems at all with the Bellinzonans although we only spoke to stadium staff.  This was no fault of ours or the Tessiners.  

That toilet is a mess though.  The gents wasn't much better and there were no lights.  Certainly way less than you would expect in Switzerland.  Also the amount of facilities has to come in question.  One ladies toilet plus two urinals and a toilet for the lads for all away fans (Winterthur brought about 150 with them).

For the final impression of friendliness, consider that the refreshment stand for the away fans is outside of their pen.  Refreshments are served through a hole in the cage.

However, Bellinzona won a point back.  After we had forgotten our coffee mugs, someone called to us as we were going around the front of the stadium on our way out and handed them back to us.  Nice of them!

Safety

Oh Boy!

3 / 10.  That mention of pens and cages kinda gave things away didn't it?  Going into the away end at Bellinzona was like going back in time to the away terraces of English football in the early 80s.  The away fans are penned in like animals with high fences and locked gates all around.  

Add the toilets and the refreshments, poked through the bars of the cage and you have the bloody awful treatment of the away fan that contributed to the massive problems English football did have in the bad old days.

Terrace height is OK and they didn't put barbed-wire on the top of the fences but come on Bellinzona!  You obviously have no clue on how paying customers should be treated!

The Football is over there - somewhere

View

2 / 10.  So, we have the fences the athletics track and then there's a TV tower.  Sure, the view  would be better at the sides of the ground, but our view was sadly poor.  The only way to see anything was to stand at the top of the terrace.

I have no idea why the Burger King mugs were taken away from us.  An Olympic Javelin thrower would have struggled to throw the mug onto the pitch from where we were.

Atmosphere

7 / 10.  Excellent from the Winterthur fans who were as fun and as vocal as ever despite miserable conditions.  I didn't hear too much from the Bellinzona fans.  Although the reason for this was apparent, there were around 1700 Tessiners in the stadium, so I'd have hoped for more.

Refreshments

3 / 10.  Only sandwiches were poked through the bars of our cage.  Again - not much effort for the visitors.

Overall

29 / 60.  About as bad as I've seen on the tour!

Redeeming Feature

Frankly, I'll give it about as much thought as Bellinzona give their visitors.

On the first impressions?

Grey - Not really in fact (good for Bellinzona) they do use the stadium to advertise the club with a large "Forza Bellinzona mural on the main entrance.

Characterless - Not at all, although I tend to avoid people with this type of character!

The rest - sadly, I think I was spot on!

Celebrate in Style

The Match

Aha!  I knew there was something enjoyable about the evening.  Bellinzona were on the end of a 5 : 1 stuffing at the hands of Winterthur.  I suggest all visitors to the Stadio Communale do that to them, at least until they learn to improve their facilities for away fans.

It didn't look like it was going to be so one-sided in the first half.  The visitors took the lead on 15 minutes.  Emir Lenjani played in Luca Radice.   Out came Alain Bieri and fouled the midfielder.  No mistake from the spot from Kristian Kuzmanovic.

But the Tessiners are not second in the league for nothing.  They rallied and eventually equalized.  On 33 minutes, the ball came off Christian Leite's post for George Ivanischwili to poke home a rebound.  A good game with the home side in the ascendency at the break.

So at half time, was it an inspirational team-talk from Boro Kuzmanovic or was it motivation gained from attacking a soaked but happy band of away fans who never shut up all match.

Well, it took Winti until the 67th minute to get back on the scoresheet, so sorry Boro, I'm going with the fans.  Emir Lenjani put in the perfect cross to Patrick Bengondo, who, realizing that all defenders had tracked his run, headed back across for the unmarked Kris Kuzmanovic to double his tally.

10 minutes later and Bengondo and Lenjani combined again to put the game beyond doubt.  Bengondo's clever ball over the top allowing the Kosovan to finish impressively.

In the final 10 minutes, Winti really put that gloss on the scoreline.  Sven Lüscher made it four before Kris Kuzmanovic was credited with his hat-trick after firing in a free-kick.

Great stuff from Winti and a very reasonable pay-back to the fans who suffered the elements and that stadium.