![The beginnings of Swiss football were bumpy. On and off the pitch.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/schweizer-fussball-anfange-titel-300x225.jpg)
When The Beautiful Game was still quite grim
In the early days, Swiss football had to contend with some unusual challenges. Stakes in the middle of the pitch, a lack of opponents and mockery and derision in the daily press. A look back at the difficult start of the sport on grass.
![Early football was also a battle against molehills and mouse holes. Football players in western Switzerland, around 1900.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/Fussball-Wiese-GBE-168934_LM-146576-300x200.jpg)
![Football boots of Ricardo Zamora, active between 1914 and 1938.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/alte-fussballschuhe-300x258.jpg)
Delays and problems with space
![At the end of the article, the referee is thanked, which is rather unusual in football.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/artikel-zeitung-109x300.jpg)
The thing with the rules
![F. C. Basel team photo from 1898 with John Tollmann (centre row, sixth from left).](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/fc-basel-mit-tollmann-300x178.jpg)
![The Swiss football champions of 1899 was the Anglo-American F. C..](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/Cover-Sportblatt-213x300.jpg)
A lively club life
Total club life: Recording of the FCZ yodelling quartet with Hans Enderli, around 1920. YouTube
"Schweizer Sportblatt" newspaper digitised
The Schweizer Sportblatt existed from 1898 to 1900. The Museum of the FC Zurich owns a complete collection of the newspaper. This has been digitised by ETH Zurich and is publicly accessible on e-periodica.