July 29, 2023
Ekstraklasa
A visit to Poznan was long overdue. Finally I had both teams playing home over the weekend and I could just return home to Krakow with a very cheap Ryanair flight.
But first I had to take a train to Poznan and then change to a local train that would bring me to Grodzisk Wielkopolski. That's where Warta Poznan plays these days. Almost immediately I ran into some issues as my train was diverted, but thankfully a replacement train was already waiting for us, so the delay was not critical and I still made it to my hotel in Poznan, left my bag and proceeded to a little town about an hour away.
Warta Poznan is an old and historic team that fell on hard times, lost their stadium and now play in wonderful little ground that became famous in early 2000s.Those were the glory years of the unbelievable story of Dyskobolia. The team got a rich owner and played top level of football in Poland and in Europe. Manchester City fans definitely remember the team and the town where they got eliminated by Dyskobolia in the UEFA Cup. Then Dyskobolia managed to win the Polish Cup and finished runners-up twice in the Ekstraklasa. The success was clearly unsustainable and on top of that the team was accused of some shady activities, so the fall from grace was hard and rapid. Now they are playing in the lowest tiers of Polish football and their stadium is a home ground of Warta Poznan.
I was really excited to see the stadium and its heritage wooden grandstand. Finally I approached the end of my long journey as all the fans in my train exited at the station next to Grodzisk. To me, it seemed quite far from the stadium, but the locals should know better and so I followed them. A good 20-minutes walk and I could enter the ground at last. It's indeed a very curious stadium that is a mish-mash of old and new. I had bought a ticket to the main covered stand as weather forecast had rain for the day.
It was obvious that Warta is clearly the distant second team of Poznan. There is no organized support section, a good portion of attendance consists of kids. There were a few adult fans who tried to start chants but they quickly dissipated and even the drum did not help much. But my main gripe was that the old stand is essentially covered from the view by some kind of makeshift TV tower and other facilities. I understand that you need those to play in Ekstraklasa but the whole experience is greatly diminished.
There was a whole full section of away support. Gornik is a very well-supported team, so no wonder here. The game was extra boring and literally nothing was happening on the pitch. I think it was the second time I saw Lukasz Podolski and he just does nothing whatsoever. I am actually surprised any time I hear that he plays well in Ekstraklasa. He was completely anonymous at this match. Football was very dire but I still saw 2 home goals somehow. First Warta scored from a penalty at the end of the first half and then, after having no chances at all, just scored from the corner at the very end of the game.
I left with a few minutes left to properly photograph the beautiful stand. Unfortunately, I could not approach it as the Police closed off the route to the away stand, and the steward did not let me walk over to it from the opposite side. Unfortunately that left me quite disappointed. Moreover, it started to rain and I had to walk all over again to the same very station that I cam from. Thus, I did not even visit Grodzisk Wielkoposki but I was happy to tick off the ground which is quite difficult to get from Krakow. I took a train back to Poznan where another game was waiting for me the next day.
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