Not sure we would have chosen this name for a street food van. But if the supporters of the Swiss team wanted to stock up on fries on Saturday morning, it was at “Pommes Pervers” that it happened. The fortuitous translation did not prevent a massive line from forming in front of the sign, as in front of all the other stalls in the area where Swiss fans had met. “We will probably need a little more staff to serve the beers on Wednesday before the match against Scotland,” smiled Jérôme Lambert, the head of the Swiss delegation.
The mobilization of Swiss supporters on this Saturday of Euro kick-off for them is impressive. With the 10,000 ticket holders for the duel against Hungary already listed, it would not be surprising if several thousand were added to the final count. A large part of these beautiful people had therefore arranged to meet at 10 a.m. in a corner of the Stadtwald.
Those who weren’t completely sure of its location just had to follow the music. Nearly a kilometer around resounded the hit that earned Nemo victory at the last Eurovision, but obviously also the Swiss song, as well as a number of more or less well-known and more or less folkloric pieces from the Swiss German repertoire. “The Swiss Germans are the majority. If we want to set the mood, it’s normal to think of them first,” explained Luca Bonnet, the Neuchâtel DJ responsible for heating up the red wave.
A red wave with a strong Alemannic sound, therefore, but which did not fail to remember that there were other national languages in Switzerland. When the procession set off towards the stadium in a particularly long procession, a few “All together!” and “Forza Svizzera” emerged from the crowd. Warm atmosphere, which passers-by had the opportunity to immortalize. Unlike what happens in club football, no one was there to yell at onlookers who took out their cell phones to film the scene.
It took the procession about an hour to reach the RheinEnergie Stadion, where Switzerland faces Hungary from 3 p.m. Among the particularly amusing scenes seen: a group of people from Basel visibly very proud of their “Fondue better than goulash” sign; a cardboard Shaqiri downing a Coke and armed with a cape sewn from a Swiss flag; and this gigantic palette of free beers, which came from who knows where, but whose arrival was celebrated like a goal from the Swiss team. Finally, to be perfectly sure of the comparison, we will wait until 3 p.m. If Switzerland rises to the height of its fans, it should not have too much difficulty finding the fault.
