When Swiss soccer fans hurled game controllers onto the Stade de Suisse pitch, they protested an issue much bigger than Esports

It was always expected to be a big match.

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“It’s Young Boys versus Basel,” said Christof Flück, a BSC Young Boys supporter. “It’s a classic in Switzerland.”

 

On Sunday, September 23, the two sides met at the Stade de Suisse in Bern, Switzerland; the home of BSC Young Boys. The atmosphere was tense, but the game was expected to be a thrilling contest.

 

“People were in the stadium really early,” Flück said. “The home curve [where the ultras sit] was packed already almost an hour before kick-off.”

 

The home team lived up to its billing. BSC Young Boys led 4-0 at the hour-mark, and when the game ended, they emerged victorious 7-1.

 

“The atmosphere was just awesome,” Flück said. “We were cheering and chanting until long after the game ended. It was a big party.”

 

For Peter Zweifel, an FC Basel supporter, it was a horrible experience.

 

“During that 90 minutes, I had the feeling that I wanted to walk away a lot of times because 7-1? It’s just devastating,” he said.

 

As impressive as the scoreline was, it wasn’t the soccer game’s biggest story. During the match, fans engaged in a protest by throwing tennis balls and game controllers onto the pitch. Fans also unveiled several banners voicing their distaste of Esports, including a giant choreography (a.k.a. tifo) of a pause button.

 

Their source of annoyance wasn’t a specific player, rival, or referee though. Rather, it was something that extended beyond their clubs and the sport of soccer. They were protesting against Esports.

 

“At the beginning, I didn’t understand that it was a protest,” Zweifel said. “I just saw Young Boys fans throwing tennis balls onto the field...and after the half-time break, FC Basel fans were doing something very similar.”

 

“I only found out at half-time what the protest was about,” Flück said. “When it was still 0-0, a couple told us to make way for the tifo, and then they interrupted the game with the tennis balls and some controllers.”

 

As out of place as it seems, these protests are not uncommon in Switzerland. For almost two years, Swiss soccer fans have vocally and physically engaged in protests against Esports.

 

“The protest isn’t really new,” said Oliver Zesiger, a co-head researcher for the game Football Manager in Switzerland. “Especially Basel fans have protested Esports since its inception at the club.”

 

These protests aren’t simply about Esports, though. For FC Basel supporters, Esports is just a part of what they believe to be a bigger problem with the club.

 

“It’s a general question of how the club markets itself to the audience,” he said. “They question if everything the club does is necessary in terms of marketing, and Esports is just the big name in this.”

 

Protests have been led by FC Basel’s Ultras. These are hardcore fans who engage in activities such as tifo-making and lighting flares. They usually sit in the club’s supporters’ section or fan-zone.

 

“They’re protesting against the commercialization of modern football,” Zweifel said. “They’d like to preserve football the way it used to be, without all those ads and half-time break shows and Esports.”

 

The ultras consider themselves traditionalists and they fear that the club is soiling its identity by moving towards more materialistic causes.

 

“The ultras feel that they’re being marginalized,” said Steve Last, a Swiss journalist with 20minutes.ch. “They feel that the club is turning into a brand and a product, and that it’s losing its heart.”

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But if the fans are worried about their clubs becoming commercialized, why are Esports in particular being brought up?

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“This Esports thing is sort of a symbol [of it all],” said Florian Raz, an editor at the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger. “It’s a fear of the traditional fans that the club and the fans are going different ways.”