EURO 2008 INFO

Not all football fans are lucky enough to have a ticket for the Euro 2008 football championships. Many will watch the matches on giant screens in so-called “Fan Zones.” Organizers of Geneva’s Fan Zone tout it as the largest in Switzerland. But, as WRS’s Jordan Davis found out, some neighbors aren’t feeling the Euro fever.

A couple times a year Geneva’s Plaine de Plainpalais plays host to the circus or a carnival.

But it’s mostly known for stagnant puddles. And dog droppings.

For the Euro 2008 fan zone, special precautions had to be taken.

FABIEN STAUFFACHER: “We are not going to accept dogs. Because we don’t want to clean every day.”

Fabien Stauffacher’s a project manager with NEPSA. That’s the company in charge of putting together the fan zone.

Stauffacher says the first order of business was clearing out the dog droppings.

STAUFFACHER: “We cleaned, we came with the bulldozer. And we decided to put gravel everywhere so it would be more pleasant.”

With the gravel laid, workers are now building tents to house the fan zone’s forty or so restaurants. Each serving cuisine from different countries in the championship. Next comes the giant TV screen to show the matches. And the concert stage for headliners like French superstar Yannick Noah.

For now, though, a fan zone visit is all about imagination.

STAUFFACHER: “Here where we are. Yannick Noah will be on the 6^th.

DAVIS: “He’ll be standing right here where we are? I don’t see a stage here.”

STAUFFACHER: “Yeah, but it’s going to be built in three days.”

(WALKING)

STAUFFACHER: “Here we are in the backstage area. In about two weeks it will be impossible for you to get back here. So enjoy.”

DAVIS: “I’m savoring every moment.”

Once everything’s built, organizers estimate the plaine will hold about 60,000 fans. Stauffacher says a discreet security presence will keep things from getting out of hand.

But not every one around Plainpalais is feeling the Euro fever.

Three times a week shoppers come to Plainpalais to fill their baskets with fresh produce.

One flower seller points to the chain link fences around the fan zone.

(FLOWER SELLER IN FRENCH)

He grumbles that the market’s parking areas are now blocked off. He sees the fan zone as a hassle. 

Others worry what the neighborhood will be like with the fan zone drawing tens of thousands of football fans.

A few storefronts off the Plaine, the café-bookstore Livresse serves up coffee and books. And artisinal beers.

VERONICA JUD: “Probably we will have all the drunks coming in.

Veronica Jud co-owns the shop.

JUD: “But I’m not sure we will be happy about that.”

DAVIS: “Not really the crowd you usually have.”

JUD: “No not at all. It’s not that I’m thinking there’s going to be a lot of hooligans. But, they’re making too much fuss out of this.”

For Fabien Stauffacher… he’s hoping neighbors will warm up to the Fan Zone in time.

STAUFFACHER: “We just ask people from Geneva just to wait for one month because we will build something that they have never seen before.”

At the very, very least… a Plaine de Plainpalais with nary a dog dropping in sight.

Jordan Davis, World Radio Switzerland, Geneva.