Polish Soccer Fans: Bunch of Damn Hooligans or an Elusive Species?

As the Polish preparations for the Euro 2012 precede from truly shambolic to little-more-than-pathetic (compared to Ukraine, they seem on the ball and ahead of schedule) I come to wonder if Poland is really, truly jazzed about it.

My unscientific, broadly assumptive survey consists of me talking to my students. I interrogate them about their feelings about the Euro 2012, Widzew vs. Legia, and soccer in general. Coming into Poland, I presumed that they would be nuts about soccer. Technically, they are. They have fans that riot and scream and yell, but the rub is, is that I haven't met any of them. I have had class after class, student after student, and all of them claim to apathetic to soccer in any way shape or form. Most couldn't care less about the Euro 2012; they think it'll be an embarrassment for Poland and a hassle with all those pesky tourists clogging up the roads and subway and spending their money. Their apathy is appalling. Fans of soccer they may not be, but they need to look around them and see the massive investment in Poland's infrastructure. Plus, this is the chance for Poland to take center stage (Ukraine will most likely be limping behind, partially in Poland's shadow in the limelight.) Already, the UEFA has threatened Ukraine that Poland might have to host the bulk of the matches (Poland has confirmed they are ready, willing, and able) if Ukraine doesn't pick up the pace. The National Stadium is being transformed from a crumbling pit that hosts a flea market to a big muddy pit to a beautiful new stadium.

The Poles put up more of a fight against each other than against invading Germans and Soviets. (Oh, that's right. I went there.)

To say that I don't know any fans is a lie. A low-down, dirty lie. I actually know one, and he's a huge fan of Widzew Lodz, and an even bigger fan of AC Milan. He gave me a Widzew Lodz scarf, which I proudly displayed in my room. I was warned to never wear it in Warsaw or else I'd "get my ass beat."

I was later informed that Poland has a "league" of fighting armies or whatever. A hundred half-naked fans of one soccer team meets in a field with a hundred equally-half-naked fans of a rival soccer team, and they proceed to do violence upon each other. Sounds fun. This truly brings hooliganism too a new level.

To be honest, with all this talk of hooligans, and the silence of apathy, the most raucous display of fandom was on a bus in Kraków: a few youths chanted "Jazda! Jazda! Jazda! Biala Gwiazda!" Nothing too out of the way of fans in New England chanting, "Yankees Suck!" on the subway, at concerts, at Red Sox vs. KC Royals games, inaugurations, and Ted Kennedy's funeral.

Widzew Lodz

Widzew Lodz is a soccer team in Lodz. They have a history with Legia Warszawa, who is their arch-rival, and their matches can often reduce to mayhem. Lodz also has a second team, ŁKS; however, the two teams of the city are also rivals, and each has fans within its own section of the city. These fans are nuts (and I do mean nuts.) I used to think that the Red Sox–Yankees rivalry was intense, but these guys top even that. I decided to do a little photo essay to show you some of the graffiti (which is EVERYWHERE) supporting Widzew and slandering ŁKS.

Widzew was founded in 1910. This is a very common sight for graffiti.

The Star of David takes the place of the 'K' in ŁKS. Apparently, in Lodz, is an insult to call someone a Jew. Most graffiti like this has the Star of David since it's common to call ŁKS and their supporters Jews. I think the chant went like this: "ŁKS, Jude! Jude! Jude!"

By Boat

I decided to take a day trip to Lodz. So, I meandered on down to Warszawa Centralna and bought myself a ticket for the 9:20 AM train. Lodz is probably the closest big city to Warsaw so the train ride is only about an hour and half. I lucked out in getting an almost-empty compartment, and the ride was rather enjoyable. M met me and we went about the city. He claimed that I had seen everything Lodz had to offer, but I said that there must be something else.

The Polish countryside by train.

The great mural of Lodz.

As I stated before, Lodz is an industrial city. It's what you envision when you think back to Communist Europe. Lots of brick and poured concrete buildings. The roads are rather rutty and are dotted with potholes. The day was foggy, which set a good mood to see Lodz, especially since most of our day was spent in cemeteries.

A break from the normal concrete flats. Here's a wooden house.

Lodz is home to the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. I didn't even see a large part of it, but I did get to walk around a slight bit. It's huge. You have to pay four zloty to get in and you aren't allowed to take pictures (I did, but don't tell them!) Cemeteries are so interesting here, they have so much character. All the graves in the Jewish Cemetery face towards Isræl, whereas the ones in the Christian cemetery are all higglty-pigglty.

They all face Israel.

Apparently they had let part of the cemetery go, so brush had grown up all around some of the graves. Now there is an effort to clear it all out. There's also a field for the 40,000 victims of the Lodz ghetto.

Markers of the final resting places for the Jews of the Lodz ghetto.

Israel Poznanski was once one of the richest people in Lodz. He was a textiles magnate and his palace is now a museum, which I highly suggest visiting. His mausoleum is huge and dominates over all other graves in the cemetery.

Izrael Poznanski's Mausoleum.

The inside of the dome atop Poznanski's tomb.

Lodz has a charm that's a little different from other cities. David Lynch apparently is in love with the city. He walks down the street and enters every alleyway he can. It reminds me of my days of flipping through an old National Geographic and seeing pictures from the Eastern Block. There is no real Old City in Lodz, even though the city was mostly spared the ravages of the Second World War (unlike Warsaw or Breslau/Wroclaw.) It has a gritty, grayness that is actually very satisfying to see. There are changes, but not the changes one sees in places like Krakow and Warsaw.

Lodz

Łódź (Woodge), which means "Boat" in Polish, is located in central Poland. Most people don't really think of it as a beautiful city. Factories ruled there. Huge garment factories, when Poland was the Southeast Asia of the world. There are not any royal palaces or gigantic castles with majestic overlooks. There are tons of brick buildings which were once used to exploit the limitless peasantry that inhabited the area.
David Lynch is said to have a fond love for the city. He even bought a defunct power plant (in which I actually spent the night.)

An inhabitant has called it, "The City of Sex and Business," but I found this to not really be the case.  Apparently it has quite a lot of business, but it is still dwarfed by Warszawa.

Of the two times I've been there, I've been to the decrepit power station and to several museums.  One was the old concentration camp.  Much smaller than most would think of, it used to be an old factory.  Another was called the White Factory, part art museum and part factory model where they display machines used in the textile business.  An old palace built by a textile baron was very interesting.