The DadLadTour (Now Actually In Switzerland)

Day 1 (Part 3) – Zürich – Excitement Builds For The Match

The Match – The Lionesses take on The Netherlands

July 9th 2025

The queues to get into Stadion Letzigrund are rammed. Thankfully our designated gate is not as busy as those we’ve just passed. We are quickly inside.

A wide boulevard (?) sweeps around our end of the stadium – probably its entirety, I don’t check – encircling the seating blocks. This open concourse helps lend a pleasant, relaxed vibe to the match build-up.

But I’m not relaxed at all.

The Lionesses need to win or they go home after the group stage. No amount of pleasant and airy boulevards-slash-concourses could quell my growing nerves.

I go searching for block 11 where our seats are to be found. Huge numbers, painted white on a black wall encircling the seats, indicate I’m in the correct place. I go to the right of a break in the wall, and locate row 28. Moving along it – excuse me, sorry to be a nuisance, can I just get through, please – only to find people are already in our seats!. I look at the numbers to each side of this interloper. I check my ticket in the UEFA app. Yes. These are our seats.

“Seat 20?” I ask the seat thief.

“Yeah.” He answers.

Peering at the app, I say, “20? Row 38? Block 11?”

“No, this is 10.” The seat thief replies. “Block 11’s over there.” The now reformed seat thief points leftwards.

I apologise and retreat – me again, sorry, excuse me, always one isn’t there. Enroute to our correct block I see Liam looking at his ticket and about to go into the block I’ve just vacated.

“We’re in 11, over there.” I point at the block on the left.

“But this is 11.”

“Trust me, it’s not. It’s 10. Our is there.”

I show him what I missed earlier when looking for the row numbers.; they also clearly show which block it is.

“I went wrong too. We’re second row from the back. About half way on. You go find them and I’ll sort out the flag.”

I head off on flag duty leaving Liam to claim the correct seats.

I head down to the front assessing where best to place our flag. Despite planning the trip, and our flag, for many months, I’ve always had doubts over being allowed by stadium officials to actually hang flags. We encounter no issues at all in the three stadia we visit.

Flag in place, I head back up the stairs and move along the same row as before – second row from the back. I’m now in the correct block. Phew! But Liam isn’t in the correct row. He’s sat on the back row. Fool!

“That’s not our row.” I say in exasperation. “This is us. Next to last row.”

“Thought you said row 28?” Liam answers.

“Yeah, I’m on 28.”

“I’m on 28.” Liam declares.

“But, this is the same row I was on over there.” I look over at the “wrong” block I was originally in and wave my arm drawing an imaginary line along the two rows to indicate what I mean.

People around us – predominantly England fans – take an amused interest as we discuss this latest conundrum.

I head back to the end of the row to check the little metal signs. Considering I spent four decades making signs of all types, it seems I’m terrible at actually paying attention to them. It appears that block 10 has an extra row of seats and Liam, now ensconced on the back row of a shallower block 11, is on the correct row and in the correct seats.

Fans around us seem to be enjoying themselves as they watch this farce – my farce – play out. Embarrassed once more, I hoist myself over the seat backs into my correct UEFA designated row (28!) and seat.

But I don’t even sit in my seat during the entire game. That low wall I mentioned finishes just above the height of the seat tops and makes an excellent perch. We decide to sit on it. It elevates our view and is quite comfortable.

Two young women in the seats to my left have been entertained by our shenanigans and we fall into conversation – How do you think the match will go? Can England do it? I see Toone is in for Meado – that type of stuff.

One of them supports Arsenal. Boo! The other, like Liam and I, is a Manchester United Women fan. Yeyy! They came out last Friday and are here for a week. Lucky lasses. We keep up a steady but intermittent chat during the build up and match proper.

From my lofty wall perch I look around at my surroundings. Stadion Letzigrund is excellent. I like it a lot. The stadium is amazing.

I was worried after seeing an image sent from a friend-of-a-friend who was here to watch Saturday’s match game with France. He was sat close to the front and he had an awful view of the match. Adding to my concerns, from the television coverage, the stands seemed very shallow.

Thankfully our view from the back row is splendid. Our sight lines are unobstructed and the pitch lays bathed in late afternoon sunshine below us. It really does look amazing. 

A huge swathe of oranje fans sit to our left. As per the walk, they are in fine voice. They seem super confident. I wish I was. There’s that song again. Naar links, naar rechts. Darn, it’s catchy.

We England fans respond with a nervous chorus of “Sweet Caroline “ but our efforts pale in comparison with the roar from the oranje chorus.

Then, standing on that wide boulevard behind us, I spot a shock of blonde hair atop an England shirt. It’s an instantly recognisable barnet; messy and mad but absolutely perfect. It’s only Leeds lass and top women’s footie fan, Maisie Adam! Mere yards from us – less than half the distance from goal-line to penalty spot. I eagerly nudge Liam.

I like Maisie Adam a lot. She is extremely funny and knows her football. A proper Yorkshire lass. But #SonInLawNo1 and #DaughterNo1 are really big fans; they’ve seen her live shows a number of times and love her BigKick podcast.

Like a shot, Liam is off his wall perch and dashing over for a “selfie with Maisie”. She seems relaxed and perfectly amenable to the suggestion. Liam points towards me and I snap some shots of the happy couple as they smile in my direction. Maisie is so sweet and she is so good (so good) about being snapped by random weirdos.

Spotting Maisie is trés cool. I was only listening to her podcast yesterday during my final packing. Seeing her has helped to calm me. My gathering nerves are reduced a little. But, as with my airline-friendly backpack, this reduction is teeny-tiny sized.

#LuckyOmenNo4

Kick-off….and, by heck!, I’m nervous, anxious, fretful. Im just this side of “bricking it”. If our girls lose tonight then The Lionesses Euro trip will be over just as our DadLadTour is beginning.

Please don’t let that happen.