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The England contingent in Switzerland woke to sad news on Wednesday morning : Sue Klesniks, a legendary Lionesses fan and a great friend to many of our community, me included, lost her battle with cancer on Friday.
Rachel had already DMd me before we met in the Old Botanical Gardens for the fan photo. She looked thoughtful when she said hello to me. I met Nic and Sophie. Nic was talking about the ethics of supporting a women’s side; she reckoned that if you support a professional men’s club then you should also support that club’s women’s team. I was able to pass her test, having bought a season ticket for Portsmouth Women for the new campaign, but I had to point out that, for example, Manchester United had no women’s side until 2018. She conceded that, but said fans of Man Utd men supporting Man City or Arsenal women still get up her nose - “there’s stand-alone women’s teams you can support if your men’s team hasn’t got one.”
There wasn’t time to mention one complicating factor that I’ve noticed for years : exiled fans. Standard practice appears to be that people support a men’s team from where they come from originally, but if they’ve moved away from that area, they support a women’s team from where they live now. My pal Martin, for example, Yorkshire born and living in Gloucestershire, follows Leeds United men and Bristol City women.
Deb called us all to gather in a group for several photos behind the fans’ array of flags. We were filmed singing ‘We love you England, we do’. She said a few words about Sue and we finished with a photo of us all saying “Sue!” the way we used to greet her. I walked over to Leanne, who was very friendly with Sue. I just said hello and Leanne said “Rubbish, isn’t it?” I hugged her.
We walked over to the Lionesses HQ at Kraftwerk, where the mood about that night’s game with the Netherlands was optimistic. There were a couple of Portsmouth FC flags up in the beer garden so I got a friendly Geordie to take a pic of me with one of them. Rachel Brown-Finnis, another former Lionesses goalie, was the day’s special guest, and we got another visit and more tunes from the England Band.
I headed up to the stadium and asked a couple of staff outside about the merchandise. They said the stalls were inside the stadium. I was hoping to meet Charley and Kalli from Portchester Ladies Reserves so messaged them to let them know I’d arrived. Charley replied that they were in ‘a bar near C18’. As that was a section of the stadium, I assumed that they were at one of the bars inside the ground so passed through security and the turnstile into the ground.
Whoops - Charley messaged again to say their bar was outside the stadium.
Knowing they’d be there a while, I went in search of programmes, and a scarf for Kimmy who’d asked me to get her one. I ended up wandering into a Dutch section before finding an ‘Official Fan Shop’, but none of the orange-clad fans gave me any trouble.
I went back to the point just inside the turnstiles for the English section, got a drink from a nearby stall and waited. Finally Charley, Lisa, Kalli, Chantelle and Bella arrived. Cue hugs and kisses all round. They told me about their time between the matches staying in the mountains, where that day Bella had fallen off a mountain bike. Lisa bought drinks for her, Charley and me and we chatted until we heard the team line-ups being announced and decided we’d better head for our seats. They, alas, were in a different block from me.
As it turned out, my seat had gone, and was occupied by an apparent member of a group sitting together. As I had on Saturday, I just bagged a vacant one nearby, but this time someone actually had that seat assigned and it wasn’t long before she arrived. I attempted to stop by a couple of empty seats two rows back but was told “Two girls are sitting there”.
So I was on the staircase in no man’s land when the teams lined out ready for the anthems. I got my photo standing on the stairs, then made my way to the next block, hoping I might see the Portchester gang and that there might be a spare seat by them. The first spare seat I sat in again soon got claimed by a couple who were assigned to sit there, but there were two spares right behind me and the lady next to them gave me a hand up to climb over.
As it happened, I’d landed with a great view right above the goal - and I was right in front of the England Band. The expectations of myself and the Portchester crowd had been a little tempered with the news that Carter, leaden-footed on Saturday, had kept her place, and that the only change was Toone in for Mead. But from the get-go this was a very different England side from the France game. The Lionesses dominated and their pressure told halfway through the half, when a Hannah Hampton pass from her own goal crossed the halfway line and was seized on by Alessia Russo, who slipped the ball to Lauren James who put us in front with a rocket.
Later in the half Georgia Stanway volleyed home England’s second. The second half was a party of the England Band leading us in Sweet Caroline, “Sarina!” to the tune of Tequila, Football’s Coming Home Again and 3 Lions, as Lauren James swept home from close range to make the points safe and Ella Toone put the icing on the cake. We all stayed on after the game to applaud and serenade the team.
After two of the football special trams had gone, I wasn’t able to get on the first no.2 tram to arrive because there were still so many people at the stop and a lady in a hi-vis judged the tram full just before I got to the doors. Another football special arrived and she told me to get that one. I explained to her in German that I needed a particular stop that the no.2 stops at. She just replied that this football special went to the main station - where I wasn’t going - but waved me on. I guessed I’d better board it and work out where I needed to change. In the event, the football special did call at the stop I was looking for.
Having underestimated how expensive Switzerland is, I’m running lower on funds than expected so decided against going back to the HQ to watch France v Wales with the others. I headed on back to the hotel, got a cold drink from the take-away and watched the Wales game in my room. Genuinely gutted Wales lost 4-1, but things are looking hopeful for England, fingers crossed…
Travelled on to St. Gallen yesterday. There’s an Aldi a short walk from my hotel there, and their range of own brand beer, St. Gotthard, includes ‘Panaché’ - a lemon beer like Radler - for just 75 Rappen a can. Kushti.
There’s no British channels on my hotel room telly here (except BBC World News) so I had to watch Finland v Switzerland on Swiss TV. It was worth it to hear their commentators go bananas when Switzerland equalised in injury time, putting them through to the quarterfinals.
Went moseying around the Abbey Quarter today and met a few Welsh fans. We exchanged good wishes for Sunday and complimented each other for making the effort to support the ladies.
Rachel had already DMd me before we met in the Old Botanical Gardens for the fan photo. She looked thoughtful when she said hello to me. I met Nic and Sophie. Nic was talking about the ethics of supporting a women’s side; she reckoned that if you support a professional men’s club then you should also support that club’s women’s team. I was able to pass her test, having bought a season ticket for Portsmouth Women for the new campaign, but I had to point out that, for example, Manchester United had no women’s side until 2018. She conceded that, but said fans of Man Utd men supporting Man City or Arsenal women still get up her nose - “there’s stand-alone women’s teams you can support if your men’s team hasn’t got one.”
There wasn’t time to mention one complicating factor that I’ve noticed for years : exiled fans. Standard practice appears to be that people support a men’s team from where they come from originally, but if they’ve moved away from that area, they support a women’s team from where they live now. My pal Martin, for example, Yorkshire born and living in Gloucestershire, follows Leeds United men and Bristol City women.
Deb called us all to gather in a group for several photos behind the fans’ array of flags. We were filmed singing ‘We love you England, we do’. She said a few words about Sue and we finished with a photo of us all saying “Sue!” the way we used to greet her. I walked over to Leanne, who was very friendly with Sue. I just said hello and Leanne said “Rubbish, isn’t it?” I hugged her.
We walked over to the Lionesses HQ at Kraftwerk, where the mood about that night’s game with the Netherlands was optimistic. There were a couple of Portsmouth FC flags up in the beer garden so I got a friendly Geordie to take a pic of me with one of them. Rachel Brown-Finnis, another former Lionesses goalie, was the day’s special guest, and we got another visit and more tunes from the England Band.
I headed up to the stadium and asked a couple of staff outside about the merchandise. They said the stalls were inside the stadium. I was hoping to meet Charley and Kalli from Portchester Ladies Reserves so messaged them to let them know I’d arrived. Charley replied that they were in ‘a bar near C18’. As that was a section of the stadium, I assumed that they were at one of the bars inside the ground so passed through security and the turnstile into the ground.
Whoops - Charley messaged again to say their bar was outside the stadium.
Knowing they’d be there a while, I went in search of programmes, and a scarf for Kimmy who’d asked me to get her one. I ended up wandering into a Dutch section before finding an ‘Official Fan Shop’, but none of the orange-clad fans gave me any trouble.
I went back to the point just inside the turnstiles for the English section, got a drink from a nearby stall and waited. Finally Charley, Lisa, Kalli, Chantelle and Bella arrived. Cue hugs and kisses all round. They told me about their time between the matches staying in the mountains, where that day Bella had fallen off a mountain bike. Lisa bought drinks for her, Charley and me and we chatted until we heard the team line-ups being announced and decided we’d better head for our seats. They, alas, were in a different block from me.
As it turned out, my seat had gone, and was occupied by an apparent member of a group sitting together. As I had on Saturday, I just bagged a vacant one nearby, but this time someone actually had that seat assigned and it wasn’t long before she arrived. I attempted to stop by a couple of empty seats two rows back but was told “Two girls are sitting there”.
So I was on the staircase in no man’s land when the teams lined out ready for the anthems. I got my photo standing on the stairs, then made my way to the next block, hoping I might see the Portchester gang and that there might be a spare seat by them. The first spare seat I sat in again soon got claimed by a couple who were assigned to sit there, but there were two spares right behind me and the lady next to them gave me a hand up to climb over.
As it happened, I’d landed with a great view right above the goal - and I was right in front of the England Band. The expectations of myself and the Portchester crowd had been a little tempered with the news that Carter, leaden-footed on Saturday, had kept her place, and that the only change was Toone in for Mead. But from the get-go this was a very different England side from the France game. The Lionesses dominated and their pressure told halfway through the half, when a Hannah Hampton pass from her own goal crossed the halfway line and was seized on by Alessia Russo, who slipped the ball to Lauren James who put us in front with a rocket.
Later in the half Georgia Stanway volleyed home England’s second. The second half was a party of the England Band leading us in Sweet Caroline, “Sarina!” to the tune of Tequila, Football’s Coming Home Again and 3 Lions, as Lauren James swept home from close range to make the points safe and Ella Toone put the icing on the cake. We all stayed on after the game to applaud and serenade the team.
After two of the football special trams had gone, I wasn’t able to get on the first no.2 tram to arrive because there were still so many people at the stop and a lady in a hi-vis judged the tram full just before I got to the doors. Another football special arrived and she told me to get that one. I explained to her in German that I needed a particular stop that the no.2 stops at. She just replied that this football special went to the main station - where I wasn’t going - but waved me on. I guessed I’d better board it and work out where I needed to change. In the event, the football special did call at the stop I was looking for.
Having underestimated how expensive Switzerland is, I’m running lower on funds than expected so decided against going back to the HQ to watch France v Wales with the others. I headed on back to the hotel, got a cold drink from the take-away and watched the Wales game in my room. Genuinely gutted Wales lost 4-1, but things are looking hopeful for England, fingers crossed…
Travelled on to St. Gallen yesterday. There’s an Aldi a short walk from my hotel there, and their range of own brand beer, St. Gotthard, includes ‘Panaché’ - a lemon beer like Radler - for just 75 Rappen a can. Kushti.
There’s no British channels on my hotel room telly here (except BBC World News) so I had to watch Finland v Switzerland on Swiss TV. It was worth it to hear their commentators go bananas when Switzerland equalised in injury time, putting them through to the quarterfinals.
Went moseying around the Abbey Quarter today and met a few Welsh fans. We exchanged good wishes for Sunday and complimented each other for making the effort to support the ladies.
