The next Zurich derby will be held on Saturday. Picture: www.imago-images.de
November 27, 2024 13:53November 27, 2024 13:58
Many fans still have fond memories of the last Zurich derby. The sporting aspect sometimes becomes secondary. Fans of FC Zurich and Grasshoppers in particular made headlines – right next to the stadium: S-Bahn rammed into Harder Bridge, banners stolen and more. Police remain vigilant.
Among other things, the last derby was the reason for a public relations offensive by the head of the football club. On Tuesday, three newspapers (“Tagesanzeiger”, “NZZ” and “Blick”) conducted interviews with FCZ president Ancillo Canepa and security chief Luca Maggi on the topic of the derby violence .
On the same night it was revealed that the two fan camps wanted to meet at the Josef Weissstadion ahead of the derby and march from there to the stadium. The GC's website shows the meeting point as 4pm and the FCZ's meeting point as 4:30pm. Südkurve first announced its plans on its website, and GC fans soon followed suit.
Josefwiese is actually GC Terrain
Surprisingly, Josefwiese is not actually the domain of FCZ fans. Before a game you will usually meet near the Letzigrund tram stop, before a derby you will usually have a good time in a bakery or a Fritschiwiese and then you can go to the stadium without having to cross the tracks.
Josefwiese, on the other hand, is traditionally a meeting point for GC fans; jumpers cross the tracks to Letzigrund via the Duttweiler Bridge.
There are still some unanswered and unclear questions regarding the choice of locations for the two fan camps:
- If FCZ fans do meet up at Josefwiese, they will have to cross the Hardbrücke on their way to the stadium. If this happens, will the entire hard bridge have to be closed to public transport?
- Is this a provocation from FCZ fans? Do you want to show GC fans that Zurich is “their” city, so they can “meet” at Josefwiese, knowing they are in the majority? How did GC fans react to this?
- How did the police react when two fan camps gathered at Josef Weiss? Will there be violence?
- Or is this basically a provocation from two fan camps? Do you just want to keep the police on their toes?
What is the purpose of this event?
It's unclear what the intent behind the action was. There are several possible scenarios:
- Scenario 1: FCZ fans get together the day before the derby to discuss and then announce different places to set the mood before the game, such as a bakery. Afterwards, GC fans will meet at Josefwiese as agreed.
- Scenario 2: It is a deliberate provocation to both fan camps. Just like in January this year, fan camps across Switzerland announced that they would hold a rally in Bern to protest against collective punishment. This move put the police on alert at the time, but it turned out that they were just trying to cause chaos and had no real intention of staging a joint protest.
- Scene 3: FCZ fans deliberately provoke. Watching the show before the game at the traditional meeting point for GC fans will mark the fact that Zone 5 is now “in the hands of FCZ”. However, this also increases the risk of another riot if GC fans react to provocation. This scenario is supported by the fact that the GC fans only announced the meeting point when the Southern Curve had already announced that they would meet on Josefwiese. Usually the gathering place for GC fans is not announced so early. So scenario 3 is the most likely.
What both fan camps actually intend to do with this event remains to be seen.
It was unclear whether city police were aware of the fans' plans. Watson's request remained unanswered until the article was published.
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25 world records in Letzigrund, Zurich
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25 world records in Letzigrund, Zurich
August 28, 2009: Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia), pole vault, 5.06 meters.
Source: keystone / Walter Biery
PSV fans march in Zurich
Video: Watson
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