15 June 2019 – Pruntrutermatte Park, Basel (24°C)
By Jason Ransome (BDAFC)
As players and spectators began to arrive at Pruntrutermatte Park in Basel and the excitement started to build, people started to wonder, had Basel settled in enough after Round 2 to have a home ground advantage? Were powerhouses Geneva going to use this round to cement a spot in the grand final? Were Winterthur, the league underdogs, going to use this round to draw a line in the sand and snatch a victory?
Another big question on some people’s lips was, will the appointment of Darren Waldron, a Basel player and coach in Zürich, as the full-time coach of the Northern Bears be the catalyst in stopping Geneva’s dominance in the Reserves competition? With many new players for Waldron to work with, it was always going to be an uphill battle. But the guys and the girls from the Bears worked really hard for all four quarters and there were some great plays that would have definitely provided them with some confidence for the next round. Playing in the Bears team from Basel were first time player Justin Roberts, John McBride and Basel’s long-time member Patrick Keller. Despite the Bears’ best efforts, Geneva were once again too strong, posting a 50-point win.
The first Senior match for the day was between Geneva and Basel. It was always going to be an interesting match as Geneva had not brought many players up from Geneva this round and Basel were missing their coach Hadleigh Fischer and most of their backline players through injury. Geneva got on the front foot early and danced around Basel’s defence effortlessly with Kim Keedle from Geneva slotting a couple of early goals from full forward. Basel’s captain, Jack Flynn, made a quick change putting first-time player Florian Häfner from Zürich in the backline to stem the flow of Geneva goals. Häfner was just the tonic Basel needed and proved quite handy in opposing Keedle’s dominance down forward. But this did nothing to stop the onslaught from the rest of the Geneva team cruising to a comfortable 112-point victory.
There was no time for Basel to lick their wounds as they had their second and final match for the day straight after against an energised Winterthur hungry for their first win of the season. After previous close battles, this was always going to be an exciting game to watch. Right from the beginning it was an arm wrestle. Swiss national player Wim Zimmerman dominated in the ruck for Winterthur and was well supported by Matt Burgener and ex-WAFL player Dave Secomb. Basel’s Häfner was once again great in defence and was supported by Swiss representative Svenja Müller and Patrick Doyle. Basel’s skipper Flynn singled out Müller for her solid efforts in the first half. The scores remained close for the second half but a couple of late goals from Winterthur got them over the line in a well-deserved victory, winning by 18 points.
The last game of the day between Winterthur and Geneva was another blood bath with Geneva comfortably beating Winterthur by 88 points to round out a perfect day for the Jets. Geneva coach Tommy Ross showed once again why he is a contender for this years Best and Fairest award with his foot skills and dominance on the field.
After the games had finished it was time to thank the umpires and commence the boat race. In the absence of AFL Switzerland umpires Jason Ransome and James Olle, Geneva’s Tommy Ross and Joel Aitken and Basel’s Darren Waldron stepped up and umpired the round.
Basel got some redemption in the boat race comprehensively beating Winterthur and Geneva.
All clubs were extremely lucky that the rain held off until after all the matches before the heavens opened up and bucketed down.
See you all at Round 4 in Geneva.
Jason
