Background information
Interstellar to return to the silver screen in IMAX theatres
by Luca Fontana
"If you do that, we'll arrest you"
8.4.2019
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Alessandro Aellig
First, he took Zurich by surprise with the skate scene. Later, cities queued up to become part of the movement. With "Monday Night Skate", Jürg Hauser started something much bigger than originally thought almost 20 years ago.
"They're really cool," says Jürg Hauser when he sees my tattered roller skates from the 90s. His skates also have a good patina and must be 15 years old. That's fitting, because we're looking back. Jürg is the man who started a movement almost 20 years ago with "Monday Night Skate", which also appears in our TV advert. Today, at 49, he is coming out of a kind of skate sabbatical. Since 2017, he has no longer been the organiser of the event; in recent months, other things have taken centre stage and the skates have been in the corner. We do a few laps together on Zurich's Turbinenplatz while my colleague Alessandro Thüler takes photos. Jürg's movements quickly become smoother, his smile broadens and the sun shines brightly. Perfect conditions for reminiscing.
Back to the 90s!
At the end of the 90s, you were part of the skater scene that met every Monday evening at Bürkliplatz. How did that work?
Jürg Hauser: There were maybe 15 of us, all really good skaters, and we just set off through the city back then. If someone shouted "right!", "left!" or "down the stairs!", then that's what we did. It was wild, but good.
And by no means a mass event. How did you come up with the idea of changing that and organising an event for everyone?
From time to time, I took along colleagues who weren't part of the scene and didn't ride quite as well. They said afterwards: "Once and never again, that's not possible!" It was too extreme for them and I thought that was a shame. I knew of organised skate events in New York where the route was predetermined. So I thought: all right, let's do it!
That's easy to say. But you also just did it and went ahead without any agreements with the city.
You honestly don't think about things like that at that moment. You just set off, the streets are ours. Although we rode on the pavement a lot at the beginning. But we got more and more involved and no longer travelled through the city unobserved.
(Takes a piece of paper out of his pocket and reads out:)
"Record attendance with over 160 skaters!"
That was in 1999, when we were still travelling illegally and the police said: "You can't do that. You have to have a licence.
And did you have one?Of course we wanted to drive a lot, actually every Monday. And the city offered us a maximum of four dates per year. We had meetings throughout the winter, discussed and looked for solutions. But on 1 May 2000, the first Night Skate of the season took place unofficially because we couldn't come to an agreement with the city. The announcement was: "If you do this, we'll arrest you."
An appealing starting point...
Of course it was! And we were prepared. We had photographers and everything. If they had really come and locked up 100 skaters, it would have been the best publicity. Imagine that! Then we would have been all over the press. We almost hoped it would happen. But of course it didn't.
The city just let it happen to them?
They couldn't control us anyway. That's why we speculated that they would prefer it if they knew who was doing it and who their contact person was. Two weeks later, we had the authorisation.
Was that the moment when you thought: "This is going to be really big."
We thought we were already big with our 160 participants. And that a few hundred would be cool. But that it would be so big... no. It wasn't foreseeable and it was really thanks to the spirit of the times that it turned out like this.
A glass-half-full type
It turned out that way? There's a bit of understatement when Jürg talks about it. His manner is likeable from the ground up, he hardly ever uses the word "I" in our conversation. He hasn't come to stroke his ego, he says "you just did it", emphasising the "we" and the favourable circumstances. But even then, you still need someone to generate the necessary momentum and make things big. A glass-is-half-full type who sees the possibilities and at the same time has doer qualities. Jürg was the right man in the right place at the right time.
You became president of the "NightSkate" association, which you had to found in order to get the licence. What kind of work did you have to do?
There were six of us and it was basically a lot of fun. You lived in this skate world anyway, so you're happy to do it. For example, one big task was to define the routes before the season. We skated them ourselves and looked at them with the city. Then they might say: "No, that's not possible. We'll tear up the road." And we had to reschedule again. But once the planning was in place, things started rolling.
What was it like when you were able to skate on closed roads for the first time, accompanied by the police?
When you're a skater from the scene and suddenly the police come for you to ensure your safety... it's cool! But we had to make a compromise. We actually wanted to ride every Monday. The fact that it was only every second Monday was the toad we had to swallow at the beginning. In hindsight, it's so much better. We were able to take a breather and there was no overkill.
Starting instead of taking a breather
If you wanted to skate through the streets on a Monday evening, it was soon no longer only possible in Zurich. First, the Bern Sports Office approached the night skate organisers, then Winterthur showed interest. By 2005, Basel, Lucerne, St. Gallen, Aarau, Baden, Biel, Chur, Geneva and Zug had followed suit. It was the triumphant advance of an idea that also turned Jürg's life plans upside down. He actually wanted to wind up his IT company and take a year off. "I was done with IT, it was far too impersonal for me," he recalls. Instead, he dedicated himself to professionalising Night Skate, took care of national sponsorship and pushed ahead with the communication concept. As things were moving so quickly, he was happy to get involved and found his purpose as an independent event and marketing manager.
Was there a moment when you had the feeling that everything was getting too much for you?Not at all. But other tasks came along and then you realise that the fun is over a bit. We designed the first flyer in Word and just printed it out. Suddenly you have to do proper advertising. And when it comes to money, things get serious. Two things were important to us in the team: participation in Night Skate is free and we have to enjoy it. Towards the end of the season, it got tougher and tougher. But together we managed to keep it fun.
Which moments were particularly fun? Where so many people come together, there are bound to be lots of great stories.
For example, we heard about a Night Skate couple who had their first child. You think: It's amazing what has come out of this idea. But basically every Monday was unique. At peak times, we had 8600 participants in Zurich. It's incredible to get so many people off the couch and onto the street. And they had this opportunity because we organised it. That's what has stayed with me the most and has fascinated me every time. Every time. It was surreal.
Drivers sometimes feel like they're in the wrong film when the roads are blocked for the Night Skate. In the current Galaxus advert, one driver almost despairs at the skaters. A realistic scene?
The scene in the advert is still harmless. When we had over 8000 participants, the junctions were closed for about 40 minutes. I can understand that one or two drivers didn't find that so cool. Fortunately, nobody ever got violent. But almost. We always had police officers on inline skates who travelled behind us and could intervene if drivers acted stupidly. The "Skating Police" was set up especially for this and was very popular with people. They still exist today.
But it's also a nice statement when the cars on the road get the short end of the stick.
That was a reason for many to come. The streets belong to us! We were allowed to go practically anywhere we wanted. Except on motorways.
At some point, the skate boom was over and the number of participants declined. Do you think Monday Night Skate will still be around in 20 years' time?
It's hard to say, but I think so. I think it's great that it still exists at all. I would never have thought it. We used to have an average of 5000 or 6000 people in Zurich. When there are only 2000 or 3000 left, you think: Is it still worth it? Then you have to think about it and say: Wait a minute! That's still 2000 people you're motivating to do sport and go out. Hello? Of course it's worth it!
Yet at some point you reached the point where you didn't want to carry on
The routine simply sets in, everything repeats itself from year to year. It lost its appeal for me, I could no longer put the same energy into it. I thought that was a shame and I wanted someone to come in with new energy. But you also want to put your "child" in the right hands. I was happy when I finally found someone who would continue to run it in the same spirit.
At the beginning, you said that you hadn't been skating for a long time. Will we see you at a Monday Night Skate again this season?
It was a deliberate break. I've been Mr Night Skate for long enough. When new people take over, they should have the chance to do it without distractions. I could only hang up my skates, otherwise I would have been the centre of attention again. But it's quite possible that I'll pop in again this year.
At least for the 20th anniversary, you founders have to manage that.
(laughs) That's right! You're giving me ideas! We really should do something in 2020.
If you're already skating and don't want to wait until 2020, you can find out about upcoming dates at nightskate.ch or on Facebook. And you can find out what else is going on with me here in my author profile.
Michael Restin
Senior Editor
Michael.Restin@digitecgalaxus.chSimple writer and dad of two who likes to be on the move, wading through everyday family life. Juggling several balls, I'll occasionally drop one. It could be a ball, or a remark. Or both.
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