Stadion Ludowy, Sosnowiec
May 22, 2021
First time I heard about Zaglebie Sosnowiec, I knew almost nothing about Polish football. My friend told me about some guy from the area, who supported Zaglebie even though GKS Katowice was playing top league football. Admittedly, I had a very vague idea about the Silesian metropolis and that it actually consists of several cities with their own teams.
Zaglebie ground is a classic of communist Eastern Europe stadium architecture so I wanted to check it for quite a while. Besides, an early kickoff was an attractive proposition. Another option was to go to Tychy but the game was sold out due to the Covid limits and the fact that GKS Tychy was still in the running for automatic promotion to Ekstraklasa. I had no issues with buying a ticket from Zaglebie website and chose uncovered stand for 20 zloty, while the covered stand was 40.
It’s a short comfortable train ride to Katowice from Krakow. Then you can either take a local train, or use buses or trams to commute to Sosnowiec. But I wanted to check out Rozwoj Katowice game, their stadium seemed not very far from the center, so I started walking there. Pretty soon it started raining heavily and I had trouble finding the ground using Google maps. Turns out it was not a stadium but an indoor hall with tennis courts that is marked as a football ground. Besides, it looks like their stadium is permanently closed. And only then, standing in the pouring rain I realized, that Rozwoj game was scheduled to play somewhere outside Katowice altogether. Always double check before you head somewhere.
So with the pouring rain I had no other options than take a direct bus to Sosnowiec. There was no cover from the rain when I reached my destination and noticed that it’s quite a walk from the bus stop. Apparently, it’s much nicer if you take a local train to the center of Sosnowiec . My route was along a road and then some garages with Zaglebie graffiti on them. I was soaking wet when I approached the ground. I went to the first turnstile and thankfully my wet ticket printout was fine enough to scan. I went inside the ground and only then realized I was at the covered stand. I had no desire to move and stand under the rain, so I decided to stay under the cover as nobody seemed bother to check my ticket. So yeah, 20 zloty saved, woohoo! I instantly loved the stadium. It’s an old school ramshackle oval ground with proper floodlights and some other structures from the bygone era. I am so happy I managed to see it before the team moves to a new ground.
Predictably, there were not too many who decided to head to see a football game in such a miserable weather but respect to those few who actually stood in the uncovered stand. Among them were loyal Zaglebie ultras that brought a few banners. I am not sure about away support, there were some people who stood slightly separate but they had no visible colors or banners. I assume they were Jastrzebie as it’s a short trip from there. Despite the weather, lots of people were actually drinking beer. I went to see what was on offer in the little cabin. Turns out they only had beer and grilled sausages but I was in the mood for some hot tea.
Back on the terrace I met two groundhoppers from Switzerland. They turned out to be Grasshopers fans and we watched the game together. I learnt a lot about the Swiss scene and Zurich in particular. And finally I was able to find out whether Swiss fans support their national teams when it mostly consists of Albanians now. And I’m happy to report that the answer is NO, they do not support their national team. I’m actually glad because Switzerland is usually given as an example of success due to many non-swiss players there. But I’ve always felt that success does not necessarily mean it is right. Naturalization is the worst vice of modern football and that’s where I draw the hard line. If you are against modern football, you cannot be supporting and tolerating this.
Both teams were close to the relegation but virtually safe, so nothing was ever in jeopardy during this game. Zaglebie was firmly in control and had a comfortable 3-0 victory. GKS did not mind this at all as the only team to go down this season was always going to be poor GKS Belchatow. So home fans were delighted to see a win.
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