Month: October 2021

What a great day for football in Switzerland – XXXV Swiss Bowl (If my Roman Numeral knowledge serves me correctly that is 35 … thanks to my second-grade teacher Sister Anna Maria at St. Ann’s of Newark, NJ!)

Yes, football has been alive and well in Europe and Switzerland in particular for a long time!

The weather was just beautiful for a fine double header of football at Basel’s great Sports Complex!  Sunny and warm October afternoon just perfect to watch the top teams in the U19 division and Senior A-League division square off to see who are the best!

The Basel Gladiators and the Calanda Broncos played in the Junior final and that was followed by the Big Game – which pitted the Bern Grizzlies against the Calanda Broncos.  The Broncos had both of their teams playing on this Championship Saturday.

Many of the teams in the SAFV (Swiss American Football Verband) are well managed clubs.  The Broncos, Gladiators and Grizzlies certainly fall into that grouping.  Very good players supported by solid coaches and thoughtful administrative personnel.

Personally, I feel the Thun Tigers also fall into this category as well.  Our first year president Nadia took over a sound group from Dan Frey and she continues to strengthen the board and develop our core with innovative ideas and common sense!

The future is bright for our team located in the beautiful city of Thun on the Thunersee at the mouth of the River Aare!  Great things are being achieved right now and there is much more to come!

My friend Stephan (the Tiger Senior team coach) drove Nadia (Madame President) and me from our town to the city of Basel for the game.  Driving along the highway I was looking out at the sun drenched (Hey I was an English major I need to put some of the Muhlenberg education to work … plus I always wanted to write “sun drenched” hah!) countryside.  Although I rarely reflect too much … I had to think …If you would have told me five years ago I would be living in Switzerland and coaching football – well I would never have even considered it possible!

But here I am … having an experience of a lifetime while waking up every single day in a post card! Continually making new friends and being able to coach and learn more about football than I ever thought possible.  Yup DNP (“Damn Near Perfect”).

Both games were exciting and the teams battled like you would expect top teams would.  Many people expected the Broncos from Chur to prevail in the Senior game and they did.  Their Junior team was undefeated and although Basel gave them all they could handle the Broncos one that one as well.

There was a very good crowd and it truly was a festive atmosphere throughout.  A  great grill and plenty of beer to be had — but still have to say the Thun Tiger Grill Masters are the best.

My friend Mike had his merchandising area set up (more about “swag” later).  Just an excellent arrangement!  Anything you could want from Swiss football available.  T-shirts, footballs, trinkets, souvenirs and everything else.

Another friend Claudio is the President of the SAFV and he had to be proud of this special day in Switzerland.  His ability to pull off such an impressive event is certainly a feather in his cap and will undoubtedly draw some more attention to our steadily growing niche of football.

In the four short years I have been privledged to be part of football in Switzerland it is so impressive to see the improvement in the game.  The number of players continues to grow dramatically and the level of play is markedly better.  This is due to many factors, but much credit goes to the coaching fraternity that is beginning to flourish here.

Again, you also have to credit the clubs as well.  With presidents like we have in Nadia, my friend Olaf of the Zurich Renegades, Fulgenzio with the Midland Bouncers and so many others.  There are even greater things ahead for the SAFV and the players within its ranks.

Like I said the two games were great as the teams fought it out on the sun dappled field (always wanted to say “sun dappled” as well – thanks to being that Muhlenberg English major!)  What a great afternoon!

For me – another great part of the day and evening was catching up with so many friends I have met here in Switzerland.  Toi say that football is a small community … well yeah to some degree.  I enjoyed sitting in the stands with Stephan and Nadia.  Joined by my “Paul Bunyan-like” friend Renato (St. Gallen’s Bears) and former Swiss national coach Michel.

Then running across Claudio (SAFV president), Mo Boller (Calanda assistant)  Danny (Calanda), Olaf and Alonso (Zurich), John (Bern) and so many others.  Just a great day for reminiscing and visiting.  There are so many others I saw as well.

One highlight was catching up with my good friend Walti from Calanda.  He has so many championship rings his fingers are stretched.  We had a fantastic time having a few beers and reliving our times one the Swiss national staff.

Just a wonderful day of football for a broken down old coach.

I have to mention my friends who are referees as well.  As football expands anywhere you need great people stepping up to officiate the games.  Guess what without refs – there are no games.  I visited with many of these men and women before the game … so proud of them as they also build and get better.  Special recognition to my old friend Jenns who has always been supportive of the Swiss football community – but also of my adventures here.

Then, there is my friend Sergio who is one of the best sports photographers in Europe.  He was taking photos of the game and we had several laughs about our friendship and the state of football in Switzerland.  The guy has an amazing way of capturing the game in pictures.

Last, but not least my friend Mike.  He runs an outstanding merchandizing enterprise in my second homeland.  I turned over a Michigan State hoodie and I made out even better.  A hat, Swiss national football jersey with my old college number (31) and my name emblazoned on the back.  How can you beat that.  I owe him some more stuff from the US after that.

Trust me … an exhausting – but wonderful sun splashed (hah … another English major phrase) day here in the Alps!

 

A great way to open up the Playoff season for the Thun Tigers as they defeated the visitors from Lugano by a big score.  The visitors had to come four hours by bus to take on the purple clad Tigers on their home pitch at Lachenstadion on the banks of Lake Thun.

The Tigers were just too much for the tired Rebels from the canton of Ticino.  The defense stopped the opening drive and forced a short punt giving the Tigers good field position to start.  It only took a few plays and Thun had jumped out to a lead.

This pattern continued throughout the first half as the outmanned Rebels were unable to mount any serious attack on the Thun defense.  The visitors also found out that there was little they could do to stop the versatile and well balanced Tiger offense.

Nic continued with his outstanding season under center with his accurate throwing and timely scrambles – pushing the home team to a big halftime lead.  Lugano just had no answer for the three-headed monster that is the Tiger running game.  Timeo, Noah and Luca were just unstoppable carving out huge chunks of yardage everywhere on the field.

The receivers were also very active with everyone chipping in catches and key blocks everywhere.  To say the offensive line was good would be understating the power they show on the field.  Mathieu and Marcel have coached these guys to play at a high level and they do.

Defensively the Tigers were just stifling … Albin’s crew completely closed off a pretty good offensive group that did a good job of utilizing formations to try and confuse our defense.  But that just wasn’t going to happen with our two experienced safeties – Renato and Daniel making adjustments and insuring that we were aligned correctly throughout the game.

Albin has great support with his defensive coaches – Toni and Rolph.  They help their positions throughout the game and free him up to concentrate on calling the game.

Really the Tiger defense chipped in with several big plays – interceptions, sacks, fumbles and solid tackling.  Plus, a blocked punt that resulted in a touchdown.

Honestly, just a very solid team win from beginning to end!

***

A really neat thing about coaching football is you make friends everywhere.    A few years ago I assisted coaching the Swiss Junior National Team in the European regional championships in The Netherlands.  It was a tremendous experience.

Now, on the Lugano team there were two players who played for the Swiss Junior National team and they contributed to a big win against the Dutch in Amsterdam!  After the game we had a great visit.  Also reconnected with one of the talented Rebel receivers (who by the way is a plastic surgeon in his real life)!

It was fun to see our players on the Tigers who also played on that Junior National team of Switzerland see their old friends who played for Lugano.  We may be opponents on the field – but there is no doubt about our close friendship we developed a few years ago!

***

Although I am scheduled to leave before the next playoff game a week from now – this team is destined to continue on their march forward.  They play with great passion and have a great sense of togetherness as a team.  This community can certainly be proud of the Tigers.

I have learned so much from the entire Tiger organization – the club management, coaches and players of the U16, U19 and the big guys of the “Erste Mannschaft!”  Just been a great experience!

As Ric Flair would exclaim “Whoooo!”

A few more days in my second homeland and it will be time to start some new (mis)adventures.  As the late great Jerry Jeff Walker had said … “Just keep on for keepin on!”  No doubt that that is going to happen!

Just “Keep On!”