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Switzerland: Floods dampen Thun's UEFA Champions League delight [Thu Aug 25th, 2005]
Thun (Reuters) - The small Swiss town of Thun came back to earth with a splash this week as record floods threatened to put a dampener on the local football team's UEFA Champions League exploits.
Working to an annual budget of just 5.5 million Swiss francs (US$4.31 million), FC Thun pulled off one of the competition's biggest upsets by reaching the lucrative group stage at the expense of Swedish champions Malmo.
Official celebrations were put on hold, however, while the town continued to struggle with floodwaters brought on by unprecedented levels of rainfall across central and eastern Switzerland.
Thun has so far been spared the worst of the flooding that has already claimed at least four lives nationwide and caused an estimated one billion francs' worth of damage.
As they sought to salvage belongings from their homes and businesses on Wednesday, many of Thun's citizens seemed unsure if they should be sighing or smiling.
"It was an amazing night for the football club," shop owner Sibylle Graf said as water poured into the basement of her riverside multimedia store.
"The people here haven't had much of a chance to really celebrate though. There was some partying in the streets last night, plenty of car horns beeping, but mainly we've had too many other things to deal with."
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"I had a ticket to the match but had to sell it as soon as I got called out," volunteer fireman Urs Stettler said with a shrug as he approached the end of a 17-hour, through-the-night shift. "It was very frustrating not to see the game but I was getting text messages from a friend every time Thun scored.
"Fortunately the flooding here in Thun has only damaged property, so once things get back to normal we should be able to look ahead properly to the Champions League games."
Despite the 4-0 aggregate win, FC Thun had problems of their own to face, with their dilapidated Lachen stadium still up to a metre underwater -- the team have been playing their European matches in Bern's new 32,000-seat Wankdorf stadium, because their own ground does not meet Champions League standards.
That means that the likes of Real Madrid or Manchester United will not be coming to Thun itself even if they are pitted against the Swiss side in the group stage draw, but town officials remain confident that the team's success can still have a knock-on effect for the region as a whole.
"The last few days have been indescribable because we've really been torn between all the euphoria surrounding the football and all the upset for the people who've lost their homes," Thun mayor Hans-Ueli von Allmen said.
"But the positive effect of what FC Thun have achieved will continue to be felt once the water levels get back to normal -- I've already had messages from people all over Europe who've heard about the club's achievement and we're already starting work with the town's marketing department to see how best we can use this opportunity."
TRAINING BASE
FC Thun's Champions League foray could hardly have come at a better time for this picturesque medieval town.
With its attractions often overlooked by tourists hurrying to reach the Alpine access points afforded by neighbouring Interlaken, Thun has historically relied on its role as the main training base for the Swiss army, with the armaments and machine industries also underpinning the local economy.
Army cuts and a string of mass redundancies hit the town hard during the 1990s, however, and the closure of the regional bank made headlines worldwide.
"The Swiss broadcasting corporation sold more television footage with that bank closure than with any other story in their history," recalled von Allmen. "People just couldn't imagine that a Swiss bank could go under and I heard that the pictures were picked up by 86 foreign broadcasters, which was extremely damaging to the town's image.
"We have managed to turn things around again now and not just in the sporting arena. The town made a concerted effort after all the setbacks to attract small new businesses to the region and we have also put a lot of investment into developing Thun as a culture destination.
"Now, FC Thun's efforts will really give us a chance to show all that off to the whole of Europe," von Allmen beamed just before a flood-related power cut plunged his office into darkness.
Just like its football team, the town of Thun now has a confidence and vibrancy seemingly out of proportion to its modest size -- although visitors should probably wait a few days if they want to see the town at its best.
(US$1=1.276 Swiss Franc)
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