Futbol- The European Experience

We will take every opportunity for new experiences here. Friday was Solidarity and tonight was a Futbol game.

We purchased tickets to Lechia Gdansk (Lechia.pl) vs Poznan. Both are Top Polish Division teams. It is our first futbol game in Europe. The game is familiar to us, as our Natalie is quite a good player/goalie on quite a good team- The Pride. So, I know the basics.

However, in Gdansk you have to dress properly to see a Lechia Gdansk game, and that involves team scarves. Everyone wears them at the games regardless of the weather.

We had heard that futbol games here can get pretty rough- so Lisa did not want me to take the younger kids (or her). So it was Ben, Natalie and I.

We got off at our tram stop and immediately saw what people were talking about. As we walked up to the stadium, we saw a number of young lads stumbling about, relieving themselves anywhere, and other bodily functions flying here and there. One guy made it almost to the entrance before he collapsed. We watched him and even rooted for him to make it, as he swaggered left and right, just before he went down. This is all before we even got into stadium, so we are definitely not at the Heritage Soccer Complex in Johnson County.

It was interesting weather, about 40 degrees and raining which adds to the excitement. This is a very old stadium, built in 1927. It was at full capacity even with the cold rain.

There are four sections to the stadium. There is a “posh” section under a roof. They don’t even stand during the game. Another section, called the Prosta consists of wild but not dangerous people. This is where we sat.

The third section is the self-proclaimed “hooligans” section. The name is apparently well deserved. I had been warned not to get tickets in this section. They said the Prosta section got wild, and had lots of four letter insults being hurled at the other team. But my kids would not be able to understand since the profanity is in Polish.

The hooligans section gets very wild and is not for kids, they shoot off auto flares and other pyrotechnics and are well hydrated. People even get Lechia Gdansk Hooligan’s tattoos. I guess everything goes (or has gone on) in the hooligans section. At Heritage Park at home, the closest thing we have to a hooligans section is where the Klimas’ sit... :)

Yes, this is a pic of the hooligan's section. These fires are not coming from the field- but from the fans in the stands.

The final section is for the other team’s fans. This I found fascinating. Not only is their section separated from the rest of the stadium by a 10 foot high metal fence with prison wire at the top, BUT also 50 police officers in FULL riot gear stood between the guest section and the home sections. I am talking black shields, helmets with masks, everything. Apparently there is a history of trouble between the hooligans and the guest fans.

We had great seats. For food, there is only one option, hot Kielbasas on hard rolls (which is perfect for a Polish futbol game). These were great. Now the stadium does not sell alcohol, but most of the fans had their nippy bottles with them (I forgot mine).

During the game, the fans stand and constantly sing songs and chants in unison. We need to find the words to these songs, as everyone knows them. Not a minute of the game goes by without the crowd singing or chanting. They also wave their scarves back and forth. Quite a scene to be right in the middle of (disclosure- a couple of these fan pics I pulled from the internet- as we were in the middle of this).

To me, watching the crowd was more fascinating than the game itself. In the end Poznan and Gdansk tied 0-0.

After the game, we boarded our train with all the other fans. Here is something else I have never seen- a police paddy wagon with lights on, followed behind our train and stopped with us at every stop. We got off at the fifth stop with the paddy wagon sitting right there. It followed the train as it left. I assume this is a reminder to all the riders to be on their best behavior.

The kids enjoyed the game and another slice of European life.