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| A waterpark with a difference, pre-match |
I arrived in Basel early, certainly early enough to get to the stadium to buy a ticket before I went off exploring. Shame then that at 3pm the stadium was completely shut. Was I even in the right place though? From the outside, it looks like a mixture of flats, conference halls and a shopping centre – all of which it is. And that’s not even the bit wot looks like a huge metal buboe bulging from its armpit. But inside, there lurks a football stadium, and a smart one at that. The two ends are two-tiered, while a huge three-tiered stand skirts around the corner at one end. But what time was kick off?
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| A small clue there's a football stadium somewhere... |
I’d read somewhere it was 7 o’clock, but I chose to disregard such information. Surely it was an 8:45 KO, given the lack of openness at St. Jakob Park. So I pootled around the streets of Basel, wandered along the river (what sights!) and eventually doubled back on myself, all the time unworried by what time the match was to start. Easy life. I got there 7:30. I knew the match had started cos I could vaguely hear some sound through an exit. (Bloody good soundproofing, all these flats, conference halls, etc).
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| Basel ultras |
I’d missed half an hour. Thankfully, the players, no doubt aware of my misfortune, had evidently refused to open their account. Within minutes, I’d seen the only goal of the game. A tasty move from right to left ended with a flick on to a player who drove it home from the edge of the box. It was like rugby (in the rare event of some skill shown), where the defending team (Maccabi) were dragged too far to one side and 3 or 4 sideways (yet forward – as all passes in rugby are: if you run and throw a ball sideways, it will still go forward because of your momentum). Sorry…where was I? Yes, swift sideways passes and it left the last attacker all on his own to dive…sorry…finish it in the far corner. Something like that anyway. And that was it.
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| Half-time fayre, Basel-style |
No more scoring, a couple of near misses, a few brief flirtations and that was that. A comfortable home win though it should’ve been 2 or 3. The fans? Maccabi brought a smattering among the 12,523 who attended. By far the busiest area was the fankurve behind the goal, where I sat, but it was still a case of peas rattling around a tunnel. When I asked for the cheapest ticket, the lady apologised. ‘But it will be with the Basel fans.’ Which brought me to another irritation; cos I couldn’t buy a match ticket earlier, I’d scrimped on my Swiss francs all day cos I didn’t know how much I’d need to get in. (Later on, I found I coulda bought a match ticket from the club shop.) Anyway, everything else in this town was expensive, so why not the football? In the end it was 19 CHF (£13). Job’s a good un. And I managed a cheeky upgrade too, sneaking upstairs for the 2nd half and having a wonderful view.
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| Random bunting under the stand |
The ultras made a decent rattle till tailing off late on. Still, with virtually no away fans and the other stands less than densely populated, you’re whistling to yourself really. So, I’ve a few francs left and while technically still in Switzerland, Deutsche Bahn just made me pay for a coffee in Euros. Grrrrr! Understandable, I s'pose. In my pocket I now possess change in pounds, euros, zlotys and francs. I’m liking the sound of a common European currency more and more.
The basics:
match: 19 CHF
Sausage and a beer: 12 CHF (£8 – like in England, but worse!)
programme: small, but free
badge: none in club shop
= 31CHF(£22)
The Tunes:
The Three E.P.s - The Beta Band
several episodes of 'Fighting Talk'
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| Room for several little uns... |
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| Does what it says on the tin. And it is a tin. |
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| Impressive triple-decker |
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| Sunset over St. Jakob |
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| You are here! |
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| Somewhere in there is a footie stadium waiting to get out |
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| Selfridges, Birmingham...or St. Jakob Park? |
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| Sektor D. You have been told. |
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| Lower tier behind the goal |
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| Upper tier behind the goal |
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