Window display at Goette Optik on Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich

Screen image of Credit Suisse Bancomat

Window display at Landolt-Arbenz on Bahnhofstrasse

The final game of the World Cup is being played as I write, and it made me think of Switzerland’s participation. I am not a soccer follower at all, but my husband and our two sons certainly are, and so I pay a certain amount of attention. It’s hard not to pay attention to the World Cup, because, as seen in just two of the window displays on Bahnhofstrasse, EVERYONE is following the World Cup. My husband, not a nationalistic type at all, I have never known him to fly the Swiss flag for example, hung this banner from our terrace:
Since we are in Switzerland, the accompanying text is in 3 languages: Wir alle sind das Team; L’equipe, c’est nous tous; La squadra siamo tutti noi — in other words, we are the team. Switzerland made it through to the second game, but lost to Argentina. The country had been so unified in their support of the team, and more remarkably, seemed even more proud and more solid in the support of the team following their defeat. The Achterkette Blog in the Neue Zurcher Zeitung wrote that their super strength wasn’t enough (for a win) but that the team were heroes nonetheless. The national team was praised for their tough defence and strong unity.

Screen message of Credit Suisse Bancomat: Only winning would have been more wonderful. Thank you for giving everything you had.

It could also be seen as a representative of how an immigrant population can be integrated even in a country as tiny as Switzerland. When it is remarked on that there are very few members of the national team who are originally Swiss, the return comment comes back, well, Switzerland has a foreign population of more than 23%. Within Ian Lovett’s report in the New York Times was a posting by Andrew Das who wrote “Something tells me Gelson Fernandes didn’t grow up in lederhosen.” In fact, he was born in Cape Verde but arrived in Switzerland when he was 5. More than half of the Swiss team have dual nationalities. At a time when the SVP (Swiss Peoples Party) anti-immigration policies seem to gain more and more momentum, as with the success of their referendum extending immigration quotas (my posting from February 13), it is heartening to see the whole-hearted, whole nation support of our very international Swiss National Team.