One of the pleasures of going to see a live match in England and continental Europe these days is the lack of fan segregation.

After leaving Wales in 1984 and returning to England in 2006 to attend a professional match again, I was shocked by how fans were allowed to mingle together in the streets outside the grounds. Inside the Premier League stadiums, the away fans were put in their corner surrounded by stewards. But before and after the games, the fans from both teams could be seen standing and walking next to each other with no aggro or insults traded.

Such is the difference between English football in 1984 and 2006. Not having been to a top tier professional match in England for so long I was stunned by how much things had changed.

I experienced the same thing at the Holland against Italy match at Euro 2008. While I didn’t expect the supporters to be herded into the different stands as was common in the late 70s and early 80s, I was surprised by how there was little to no segregation in the Wankdorf Stadium in Berne. Sure, there was the Italian end and the Dutch end both at opposite sides of the ground where the official supporters club stood. But throughout the remainder of the stadium Dutch fans sat next to Italian fans and neutrals.

This is definitely the modern day football experience where hooliganism is becoming extremely rare except for small clashes. Fans of all ages and races sitting together in stands without trying to attack each other.

All of this happens though with Big Brother playing a large part behind the scenes. In the build up to the Holland against Italy match, there were several helicopters circling around the ground conceivably looking for trouble or possible terrorism. There are also lots of security cameras in key locations watching for trouble. And there’s still quite a big police presence lurking from a distance and waiting to pounce if any trouble kicks off.

Watching the Turkey against Croatia match, it was hard not to notice the large presence of stewards behind each goal. Their presence seemed excessive especially the three rows of stewards standing in front of the Croatia end. There was a noticeably smaller presence in front of the Turkey end. Before and after the match there were some isolated clashes between fans, but looking at the large numbers of Turkish and Croats throughout the other parts of the stadium, everything seemed to be pretty calm, thankfully.

While it’s refreshing to see fans from both sides — whether it’s in the Premier League or Euro 2008 — attend a football match without the worry of violence happening, there is a little part of me that misses the tension and the abusive chants between opposing sets of fans. Now the atmosphere feels more like a company picnic party. Everyone’s there to have a good time but it’s all so sedate.

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Experiencing Euro 2008 from the comfort of your home, office or local pub is so different than seeing the game live in person. But what goes on inside a stadium in the buildup to a Euro 2008 game?

For the first round of Euro 2008 matches that began at 2.45pm ET, most — if not all — of the stadiums televised the noon ET game on the giant screen TVs to encourage fans to get to the stadium early and to reduce traffic congestion in the buildup to the match.

When I watched the game between France and Romania on the giant TV screens before Holland played Italy in Berne, there were two problems. One, it was very difficult to watch a game on a giant screen TV no matter where your seat was in the stadium. Two, the stadium organizers had a DJ playing music throughout the game so it definitely took away the atmosphere of the match. But luckily we didn’t miss much as the French played an absolutely boring game against the very physical Romanians.

I was really impressed with the pre-match events organized by the Swiss. Sure, there was the predictable dancers running across the pitch carrying banners to pump up the crowd. But there was also a host who spoke to the crowd in English and explained what would happen in the build-up to the match. He then introduced two men. One spoke in Dutch to the Oranje army. The other man was Italian and spoke in his native tongue to his fellow countrymen.

Both the Dutch and Italian men tried to pump up their fans. The English-speaking host then explained how he wanted the Dutch and Italian fans to work together to ensure that the match was celebrated in the spirit of the game.

He then got the fans involved in a novel crowd participation game. A very large canvas sheet in the shape of a soccer ball was given to the Dutch fans at one end of the stadium. The host then encouraged the fans to pass the soccer ball canvas over their heads to the opposite side of the stadium where the Italian fans stood. The object of the game was to see if they could get it to the other end within 60 seconds.

While it was fun to watch the fans fumble the ball, it was definitely a good exercise to get the crowd working together as a team.

As the time sped forward toward kick off, the DJ continued to spin his records. The Italian and Dutch fans tried to sing above the din of the music but to no avail. The blasting music was detrimental to the atmosphere in the ground. By the time the game was almost ready to kick off, the fans were singing but not as loudly as they could have been. I really feel the music was to blame for this.

The site for all of these pre-match activities was Berne’s Wankdorf Stadium. Despite it’s laughable name, the ground is one of the best smaller stadiums I’ve ever visited. Recently rebuilt in 2005, the ground looks boxy from the outside, but inside it’s quite compact while still allowing enough leg room in the 32,000 all-seater. What surprised me was how well designed the concourse was than ran beneath the upper deck. The restrooms, for example, were as modern as what you’d expect to find in most larger hotels. And the way the concourse was designed allowed for easy flow of football supporters in and out of that corner of the ground.

Other than the annoying DJ, I give the Euro 2008 stadium experience at Berne’s Wankdorf Stadium a massive thumbs up.

Here’s a brief video I shot of the Dutch friends we made in Bern. It’s one of those delightful football songs that’s almost impossible to get out of your head after you’ve heard it.

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Here are just some of the 57 photos that are in the Euro 2008 photo set from EPL Talk. Be sure to view the slideshow or view all of the images separately to read the descriptions. Enjoy.The above picture was taken at Zurich’s train station. Picture of Julius Caesar look-a-like above was taken outside Bern’s Wankdorf Stadium.“Hup Holland, Hup!” Dutch fans party like no other.Teams line up for the national anthems of Italy and Holland.German fans celebrate their win over Poland after watching the match at the Zurich Fan Zone.

I arrived safely in Zurich this morning after almost 24 hours of traveling from the States. I’m exhausted but so glad I’ve made the trip.Surprisingly Zurich hasn’t caught football fever yet. The city is pretty silent although the city centre and shops are busy with tourists. So far, though, it seems that most of the football fans haven’t arrived. With Romania scheduled to play France tomorrow in Zurich, I’m expecting tomorrow will be a different experience entirely.After arriving in Zurich this morning around 9am local time, Oleg Zhovnir (winner of the free ticket to accompany me on the trip) and I walked from the train station to the hotel, checked in our luggage and then proceeded to tour the city.The first stop on our tour was the Fan Zone, where the two matches today will be shown on giant screen televisions (one of which is suspended on the water of Lake Zurich). Vendors selling beer and food line the Fan Zone area, but it’s still several hours before kickoff between Austria and Croatia.We decided to get a bite to eat and something to drink at a vegetarian cafe near the lake. Without a doubt, the weak American dollar is killing us. A glass of tap water was $3.50 and a sandwich $7.50. But I’m not surprised.Walking through the city, we saw very few football fans. A few Romanian fans wearing jester hats, a German wearing his national shirt sipping coffee in a Starbucks and a few supporters of Czech Republic. If it wasn’t for all of the Swiss stores with their Euro 2008 themed window displays, a tourist dropped into the city wouldn’t realize that the biggest tournament in the country’s history is taking place right now.I asked the hotel receptionist what the atmosphere was like yesterday and she replied that it has been very calm so far, and confirmed with me that everything seems very Swiss, i.e. sedate and organized.We took a few minutes to walk through the Euro 2008 Official Superstore alongside the Zurich Stadt Haus. Official replica shirts here are $120 for Portugal and $100 for other countries such as Sweden. Everything, as I mentioned before, is super expensive.The headlines on the newspaper stands here are all talking about Frei, who was taken off at half-time in yesterday’s opening match due to his injury. The sight of Frei crying his eyes out due to the realization that his Euro 2008 tournament was presumably over is on the front pages of some of the leading newspapers.I’m planning on taking a nap for a couple of hours to rest up for the Fan Zone festivities tonight which are only 1,000 yards from my Helmhaus hotel. Feel free to post any questions you have about the atmosphere in the comments below. But suffice to say, everything here is ghostly quiet and calm thus far.View the slideshow of Euro 2008 images from Zurich.

Newark isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you picture Euro 2008, but EPL Talk’s Euro ’08 Adventure has to begin somewhere. After being jarred by my 4:45am wake-up call today, I kissed the wife and kids goodbye and jumped on the plane from Palm Beach International Airport in Florida heading to New Jersey.Due to the “wonders” of modern airlines, I now have a ten hour layover until my flight leaves from Newark to Zurich. I feel like Tom Hanks in that movie where he gets stranded at the airport (“The Terminal”). I’ve been strolling around the terminal looking for a sports bar that’ll show today’s opening matches of Euro 2008. I’ve found one but it isn’t open yet.Problem is that the sports bar has just one TV set. There’s no guarantee that they even get ESPN Classic, and I’m guessing there’s some major American sports event on today that people would rather watch than soccer. I may end up calling my wife to plug in Slingbox so I can watch the Euro 2008 games from the airport via the WiFi connection.It’s hard to believe than in less than 24 hours I’ll be in Zurich. Before then, though, I have today’s matches to look forward to as well as meeting up with a new friend, Oleg Zhovnir (winner of the extra Euro 2008 ticket I have to the Italy against Holland game on Monday night in Berne).The realization that I am, in fact, going to Euro 2008 is beginning to settle in. It helps when I look at the Swiss Francs that arrived on my doorstep yesterday and of course my ticket to Monday’s match. My seat for the Italy against Holland game is near the corner flag (section A3, see seating chart).Berne’s 32,000 capacity stadium probably has the funniest name ever: Wankdorf Stadium. What’s the name of the club who plays at the ground? The aptly named BSC Young Boys.Follow my European adventure between now and Tuesday via this site. You can also follow me on Twitter.

It’s not easy being a soccer crazy fan living in South Florida where the closest Major League Soccer team is exactly 1,000 miles away. Believe it or not, but the last professional match I attended was way back on November 25, 2006 and that was Fulham against Reading in London!

Thankfully my drought will end in seven days when I travel to Switzerland to watch Italy against Holland, two of the best teams in the world, play each other in Berne at Euro 2008.

Planning a trip to Europe is easier than ever thanks to the Internet. Or so you would think. I depart on Saturday from West Palm Beach to Newark, where I have a long layover. I’m hoping to try to catch the two opening matches on Saturday in an airport bar. Later that day, the next leg of my journey takes off with an overnight flight to Zurich, where I arrive early on Sunday morning.

So far, so good. I’ve secured a hotel near the Fan Zone in the Zurich city center. I’ll have a chance to drop off my bags and watch the two matches that day on giant screen TVs — one of which will be placed on a floating platform on top of Lake Zurich. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen for the Swiss authorities.

The itinerary for Monday will include the one hour train journey from Zurich to Berne, the Swiss capital. The match doesn’t kick off until later that night so there’ll be plenty of time for sightseeing, taking in the atmosphere and watching the crazy Dutch fans who I will never forget from my first interactions with them from World Cup 1994 in Orlando.

The tricky part about the travel plans is trying to find a hotel in Berne after the game. It’s impossible. The Dutch and Italian fans have bought every possible hotel room in the vicinity of Berne. The city itself only has a population of 127,000 so you can imagine how few hotels are even in the area.

There are trains running through the night from Berne to Zurich, so I contemplated returning to Zurich that night after the match. Easy, right? Except that every single hotel room in Zurich is booked that night too in preparation for the Tuesday match between Romania and France. I even tried booking hotel rooms near some of the train stations that have stops along the way from Berne to Zurich, but all of those are booked too.

What I may end up doing is staying up all night. My flight leaves on Tuesday morning at 10:30, so I could party through the night in Berne with the Dutch and/or Italian fans. After going so long not experiencing a real live soccer match, the thought of staying up all night doesn’t bother me at all.

Depending on Internet connection, I’ll try to report live from Switzerland via this blog and the EPL Talk Podcast, so be sure to follow my journey to Europe and back. My plan is to capture what the atmosphere is like in Switzerland and describe it to you through words and sounds as well as photographs. It’s going to be one hell of a trip and I can’t wait.