Górnik Zabrze 0-4 Legia Warszawa
Ernest Pohl Stadion
Att: 3,000 (0 away)
05/12/14
This was a trip that was a long time coming, in all honesty. I'd long wanted to visit Poland, and when Liam and I discussed this for the first time way back in August I snapped at the opportunity. Having landed in Katowice earlier in the afternoon, we made our way to our hostel. After a wander round Katowice and grabbing our lunch for the princely sum of 25p, we headed for the station to get a train to Zabrze. There was slight confusion at the ticket office, with no one speaking English. Thankfully a passerby noted our plight and translated. Before long we were ticket in hand (£1 single) for the half hour journey north. Well, via the newsagents when we saw they had Ultras magazines on sale.
In the research into the trip we'd been warned not to use Polish trains due to their poor standard, as such we were slightly apprehensive. We needn't have been, what we got was a modern train on time, infinitely better than many we'd travelled on in England beforehand. From Zabrze station it was a 30 minute walk to the ground. Emails to the club beforehand had seen us secure press passes, with Liam running a well known Youtube account and being a student member of the National Union of Journalists. As such we didn't have to worry with Karta Kibica's, rather it was to a side gate where we presented our passports in exchange for a pass. We were shown to a side room where bibs were obtained and tea presented to us. Anticipation grew and we headed pitchside to set up.
The ground is in the midst of redevelopment, as it has been for the past few years. Even in its half-complete state it's quite an intimidating venue. Having opened in 1934, it plays host to one of the most successful teams in Polish football, with 14 league titles and 6 cup wins. The only remains of the original ground is the main stand, coincidently this is the only stand that is opened for spectators. With a capacity of 3,000 you could say it was a two-tiered affair. The front portion is uncovered, with the block to the left hand side housing the Ultras. The rear section doesn't quite run the length of the pitch, and is covered. I can't imagine the views are too great, due to the amount of supporting pillars. The other 3 sides are the shells of what is to come in the next chapter of the stadium. Two tiered uniformity, although from the outside it strikes me that it'll have a similar look to Lille's ground.
I'd deliberately given myself no prior knowledge of what standard of football to expect, and as such I was pleasantly surprised. Both sides played the ball on the ground, meaning the game was end to end and highly enjoyable. Not only that, but there were very few fouls so it seemed like we were just watching attack after attack. The final scoreline was extremely harsh on the hosts, but I guess you could see it coming after the first two goals. The first the defence were caught unlucky when the ball bounced off the inside of the post and straight into the path of an onrushing attacker. The second was an obvious contender for goal of the season, with a 30 yard shot dipping under the bar. Even those around us were applauding. The second half the game was killed off, with two more goals coming off the back of the hosts defence pushing further up the pitch leaving Legia to capitalise.
After the game we made our way back to the station. Some strange stuff happened on this walk. Firstly we saw a man carrying a chicken in a cage leaving the ground. Now I'm not 100% on the story behind this, but having seen the searches and security cameras about the ground, I have no clue how someone got a chicken in. I can only assume that it was something to do with the club. Determining that we wouldn't quite make the bus back in time we headed for a taxi parked up. We didn't ask a price, I don't think we spent more than £4 on a taxi all weekend. I did have to give him our destination, however. I speak about 4 words of polish, even now (Cider, yes, Beer, Stadium), so conversing was always going to be difficult. When asked if he spoke english he confirmed that the only other language he knew was German. Liam and I looked at each other with that 'Oh, f*ck' expression. Time to put into practice me GCSE german. Thankfully he got the jist of what I was saying, and we were on our way to the station. Only then did I remember we didn't want the train station. Upon saying so the taxi driver can only be described as less than pleased, dropping us at the side of the road close to our initial destination. Not that we minded, as our bus stop was only round the corner!
An hour later we were in the kebab shop in Katowice having an amusing conversation with some Polish lad who spoke English as if he was a character from Downtown Abbey. All highly amusing, do you know what I mean?*
*I'm not one for including private jokes, but those that hear this story will smile.
In the research into the trip we'd been warned not to use Polish trains due to their poor standard, as such we were slightly apprehensive. We needn't have been, what we got was a modern train on time, infinitely better than many we'd travelled on in England beforehand. From Zabrze station it was a 30 minute walk to the ground. Emails to the club beforehand had seen us secure press passes, with Liam running a well known Youtube account and being a student member of the National Union of Journalists. As such we didn't have to worry with Karta Kibica's, rather it was to a side gate where we presented our passports in exchange for a pass. We were shown to a side room where bibs were obtained and tea presented to us. Anticipation grew and we headed pitchside to set up.
The ground is in the midst of redevelopment, as it has been for the past few years. Even in its half-complete state it's quite an intimidating venue. Having opened in 1934, it plays host to one of the most successful teams in Polish football, with 14 league titles and 6 cup wins. The only remains of the original ground is the main stand, coincidently this is the only stand that is opened for spectators. With a capacity of 3,000 you could say it was a two-tiered affair. The front portion is uncovered, with the block to the left hand side housing the Ultras. The rear section doesn't quite run the length of the pitch, and is covered. I can't imagine the views are too great, due to the amount of supporting pillars. The other 3 sides are the shells of what is to come in the next chapter of the stadium. Two tiered uniformity, although from the outside it strikes me that it'll have a similar look to Lille's ground.
I'd deliberately given myself no prior knowledge of what standard of football to expect, and as such I was pleasantly surprised. Both sides played the ball on the ground, meaning the game was end to end and highly enjoyable. Not only that, but there were very few fouls so it seemed like we were just watching attack after attack. The final scoreline was extremely harsh on the hosts, but I guess you could see it coming after the first two goals. The first the defence were caught unlucky when the ball bounced off the inside of the post and straight into the path of an onrushing attacker. The second was an obvious contender for goal of the season, with a 30 yard shot dipping under the bar. Even those around us were applauding. The second half the game was killed off, with two more goals coming off the back of the hosts defence pushing further up the pitch leaving Legia to capitalise.
After the game we made our way back to the station. Some strange stuff happened on this walk. Firstly we saw a man carrying a chicken in a cage leaving the ground. Now I'm not 100% on the story behind this, but having seen the searches and security cameras about the ground, I have no clue how someone got a chicken in. I can only assume that it was something to do with the club. Determining that we wouldn't quite make the bus back in time we headed for a taxi parked up. We didn't ask a price, I don't think we spent more than £4 on a taxi all weekend. I did have to give him our destination, however. I speak about 4 words of polish, even now (Cider, yes, Beer, Stadium), so conversing was always going to be difficult. When asked if he spoke english he confirmed that the only other language he knew was German. Liam and I looked at each other with that 'Oh, f*ck' expression. Time to put into practice me GCSE german. Thankfully he got the jist of what I was saying, and we were on our way to the station. Only then did I remember we didn't want the train station. Upon saying so the taxi driver can only be described as less than pleased, dropping us at the side of the road close to our initial destination. Not that we minded, as our bus stop was only round the corner!
An hour later we were in the kebab shop in Katowice having an amusing conversation with some Polish lad who spoke English as if he was a character from Downtown Abbey. All highly amusing, do you know what I mean?*
*I'm not one for including private jokes, but those that hear this story will smile.