15 June 2008 – Euro 2008 Fan Zone in Geneva

 

 

UEFA Euro 2008 Austria-Switzerland.  Part of a very good year in sport for Spain as they took the title from Greece by beating the Germans 1-0 and Xavi Hernández was named as the Castrol Player of the Tournament.  The vast majority of matches in the tournament hit a very high standard of play and it was both frustrating yet refreshing not to see England there.  The down side for a British national is obvious but the upshot was being able to watch some really good football without being too worried about the overall outcome.

 

As one of the host cities, Geneva was a great place to be.  With the Czech Republic, Turkey and Portugal playing their games at the Stade de Genève, the large Turkish and Portuguese communities here were making the city come alive.  In fact Geneva, being such an international city, came alive to the sounds of horns and cheering almost every night.  This was also largely due to the Fan Zone in Plainpalais where you could go down to watch the matches outside on big screens, eat good food and have a few beers or caiprinhias.

 

15 June 20088 was the beginning of the round up of the group stage.   Group A was to be concluded tonight and this being Switzerland’s group, a few of us went down to the Fan Zone to watch.  We weren’t down there to see the Switzerland – Portugal game however.  Both these teams’ destinies had already been decided. What was more interesting was the fight for second, between Czech Republic and Turkey, to make the knockout stages.  Both teams had beaten Switzerland and lost to Portugal and scored and let in the same amount of goals in total.  This was already a knockout game that could have gone to extra time, and would have done, if Nihat Kahveci only scored one late goal that night.  Once his second went in it was clear that ten-man Turkey were through and Geneva wouldn’t sleep for another night.

 

We left the Fan Zone that evening soaking up all the atmosphere of the slightly subdued Portuguese celebrations (owing to their loss to Switzerland 2-0) and exuberant Turkish crowds.  In the midst of all the celebrations a Swiss reporter, working for the Swiss-German television station SF2, was interviewing some Turkish fans so I decided to go and listen in.  Before I knew it the microphone and TV camera are on me (wearing my Suisse T-shirt) and the guy is saying, “…and here we have a Schwiizer fan… bla bla bla…”.  My response, in Schwiizer-Deutsch, was, “Sorry I didn’t really hear or understand what you just said.” followed by an awkward silence, me shrugging my shoulders in a ‘what am I supposed to do now kind of a way’ and then me walking off.  I imagine I am on a TV recording somewhere looking like a total prat.  Oh well, life continues.