Their players have only just received their first income since July, and even that is still not enough to make a decent living: this is not the Premier League, not even Portsmouth. But even this small mercy for the players was all thanks to one fan, whose last will was to donate some money to his beloved club.

The story of Hutnik Krakow’s faithful fanbase doesn’t start there, though.

They used to face the likes of Henry and Barthez at Monaco, and they also own the highest score of all Polish teams in the history of the UEFA Cup — a 9-0 win against the rather obscure  Xazri Buzovna from Azerbaijan. Yet their European adventures from 1996 are just a legend close to fading away nowadays. Hutnik Krakow may be leading their 4th league group at the moment, but they may soon vanish from the football map.

Hutnik Krakow’s Rise

Established in 1950 by the socialist authorities, Hutnik was supposed to provide entertainment for the working class of Nowa Huta — the first town to be built from start to finish in Poland following socialist urban planning ideas. Just as Nowa Huta, with its immense Lenin Steelworks, was seen as an unwelcome gift for nearby Krakow’s citizens, Hutnik’s stadium was a nightmare neighbour for the pictoresque Cistercian Abbey.

Since Nowa Huta’s incorporation into Krakow in 1951, the club had to settle for being the outsiders in the football landscape of the city, which already hosted several successful teams. Without much history or success, Hutnik and its following had to work  hard to forge an identity for themselves.

Over the course of time, the working class club from Krakow’s most unliked district has done well to prevail and earn a few honours. Though cynically called “wellies” due to the working clothes worn by steelworks employees who have made up much of the fanbase, the club have managed to garner some prestige: Hutnik qualified for the UEFA Cup in 1996, beaten by star-loaded AS Monaco.

Hutnik Krakow’s Supporters Stand Up

After success came a sudden and dramatic demise. Relegated in 1997, 2000 and 2008, they have ended up in Poland’s 4th league, now millions in debt and unlikely ever to return to their former heights. But one thing the club does have, though, are faithful supporters who have shown remarkable spirit over the recent seasons.

Forget about stars in luxury cars, Hutnik fans have lent one player a bike so that he could attend training. They have offered shelter to several others who had nowhere to live and couldn’t afford to rent an apartment. They have also prepared sandwiches for junior players and covered injury treatment expenses. In June, they collected money during one game so that their players could go for the second leg of a tie a day earlier instead of taking a long and tiring bus journey right before the match. Some of them are even organising blood donation charities.

And most recently this month, came a show of a new level of faithful support: An anonymous elderly supporter called the club, informing them he was offering a reward for the players if they won the next game — of nearly $2,000. The coach and administration staff were stunned – no player had received a wage for over two months, and only several of the oldest were told of the unexpected bonus. After a difficult 3-2 win in Andrychow, the coach asked the players to wait in their lockerroom, while he and the team’s captain went to the fan’s house to collect the prize.

It turned out the supporter, who had lost his leg in an accident, is elderly and suffers from a very serious disease. For years he had not been to any of Hutnik’s games due to his condition, but after every game his voice was heard on Hutnik’s office phone asking for the final score. He also read the papers, listened to the radio and asked his neighbour about recent affairs. Now, expecting to pass away soon, he chose to donate his money to aid beloved Hutnik.

Michał Karaś is an occasional contributor to Pitch Invasion. Find him at Stadiony.net. With credit to Piotr Jawor’s coverage of Hutnik Krakow in Gazeta Wyborcza.

Its full name is the “Great Derby of the Royal Capital City of Krakow”. No wonder the shorter “Holy War” is used more commonly. And it fits better too. Two weeks ago marked 100 years since this all officially started: Wisla Krakow versus MKS Cracovia, perhaps the most intense derby in the world.

When I first came to Krakow, my friends advised me to stay home on Holy War day. Not without hesitation, I went shopping and passed police in riot gear here, there and… everywhere. It’s a game everyone talks about days before, but when it finally comes Krakow seems like an ocean just before the storm — abnormally silent.

It’s surely not The Biggest Game in the World, as such. No chance, with stadium capacities of 6,000 and 20,000. In a few years both grounds will be rebuilt, but will still not match any of the great rivalries worldwide in terms of the scale. It won’t compete with the Old Firm games in terms of frequency, either. But I doubt even the Old Firm could produce an experience comparable in terms of intensity. In fact, when I bought tickets for a few Scotsmen two years ago, they left the stadium by half time feeling their lives were threatened.

My club is Wisla Krakow. People call it Biala Gwiazda (White Star). Cracovia call us “dogs”. For 40 years Wisla was owned by the communist police, and “dog” is a common term of abuse for police officers in Poland. Cracovia are known as Pasy (Stripes) or “Jews”. That’s a consequence of Cracovia’s supposed Jewish roots. Fans of both clubs have learned to live with these bitter nicknames. Wisla fanatics often use the dog theme, emphasising the positive traits (bravery, loyalty, commitment), such as in the flags “Furious Dogs” or “Fidelity”. Meanwhile, Cracovia’s hooligans actually called themselves “Jude Gang” and their stadium’s nickname is “Holy Ground”.

The stadiums are a stone’s throw distance apart, just across a meadow. It looks nearly absurd when supporters are loaded into buses near one of them and escorted by armored vans to the other. They could easily walk there within five minutes. But it’s not called Holy War for nothing.

Bigger than World War

The term “Holy War” was at first used to describe the rivalry of Krakow’s Jewish teams, Makkabi and Jutrzenka. A defender from the latter club later joined Cracovia and during the derby game against Wisla he is supposed to have told his teammates, “Come on guys, let’s win this holy war!”. The phrase was then integrated into a song and became popular.

Cracovia was set to meet Wisla on September 2nd, 1939. However, due to German aggression, the players were sent to battle and at least 21 never came back. When the Germans took control of Krakow, they prohibited all sporting events. Being declared by Hitler as the capital of the General Government, Krakow was the base for up to 50,000 German soldiers.

But even this didn’t stop the rivalry. The “conspiracy championships of Krakow” were hosted mostly by small grounds in the outskirts of the city, but still attended by hundreds or even thousands. Needless to say, being caught during an event like this could mean death. But it was only in 1942 that the derby did not take place. The Nazis had been informed about the time and place and so the game was abandoned when German forces started arriving.

In 1943, over 10,000 people came to cheer for their teams as the Holy War was decisive for the Krakow conspiracy championship. When the referee gave Cracovia a penalty kick four minutes before full time, Wisla players attacked him. A moment later the whole audience was engaged in a huge fight. The battling crowd started moving and reached the district headquarters of the German SS in Podgorze. The only thing that saved people from being sent to nearby Auschwitz was the fact that the SS was governed by a former Austrian football player. When he had heard that this riot was a result of the derby game, he said: “Supporters? Then let them fight…”.

Just 10 days after Krakow’s liberation, when the war was still going on in Europe, the city which had lost over a quarter of its population was again excited by the Holy War. The game was far from perfect — it lasted only an hour — and Cracovia’s team was incomplete, whilst the referee was a Wisla fanatic (history had come full circle — the first official game in 1908 was refereed by a Cracovia player).

Nothing will tear us apart

In the early 70s, Cracovia’s position started deteriorating rapidly. Year by year they were relegated, ending up in the local league. The club was stuck there and so the Krakow derby had to take a break. But supporters couldn’t stand that thought. They convinced authorities to celebrate the first Holy War after Krakow’s liberation by hosting an annual anniversary derby. As the games were played in late January, the timing didn’t collide with league schedule. It didn’t count in the league; it was about who would be calling themselves Pany (Masters) for the next year.

These matches were played annually until 1990. That year brought perhaps the most unbelievable scene in Polish fan culture’s history. Police officers clashed with supporters, which isn’t surprising in itself. But the police intervention after the game was widely judged as far too brutal. Therefore, they were counterattacked by Cracovia hooligans and, most surprisingly, by Wisla’s fanatics as well. Side by side, supporters of both clubs had pushed police far into the city centre and later trashed the USSR consulate, where some of the escaping policemen had sought safety. This time the Krakow derby was prohibited for good, and no more anniversary Holy Wars have been played.

To cope with the remaining demand, the rector of Jagiellonian University organized a game in 1993. Thankfully for the rivalry, soon after that Cracovia advanced to the second division and Wisla was relegated from the top flight, so both teams could finally meet again in the league. However, Wisla soon went back up to the Ekstraklasa and so no games have been played for seven years.

In 2004, when Cracovia returned to the top flight, the first derby in the Ekstraklasa for 20 years was to be played. The game ended goalless, but for many what was happening off the pitch was more important. Over 1,600 policemen were sent to secure the game and citizens were officially asked to “avoid strolling and watch their backs when leaving home to consign the garbage”.

The dark side

The Holy War tends to have a literal meaning for some. When Wisla reserves were playing Clepardia in the Polish Cup, they had to come to a district dominated by Cracovia fans. Before the game Clepardia players supposedly told their rivals: “They’ll get you after the game anyway”. Just after the final whistle, a group of up to 40 hooligans attacked the Wisla players. According to some witnesses, they were armed with knives or even axes. Before police came, several players had to run between the blocks for safety.

I’ve heard and read a few times that the first victim of the Holy War was the wife of a Cracovia fan in 1930s smothered by her husband in the stadium. She was supposed to have asked him just before full time: “Which team is ours?”. This might be an urban myth, but the fact is, when a couple of people approach you in the street, the last question you want to hear is “Who do you support?”

Krakow’s districts are strongly divided and the map of football sympathies resembles a chessboard. One district supports Wisla, the other Cracovia, with fans of third division Hutnik being a rather outnumbered minority. If you wander around the housing estates, you’ll notice various graffiti indicating whose estate it is. Those are probably the most dangerous places, rather than the stadiums: Mateusz ended up with his brain out. Filip stabbed. Kamil with an axe in his back. Michal died under baseball bats. And the list goes sadly on.

Legia fans recently refused to go to an away game in Krakow “in the name of principle”. Wisla’s and Cracovia’s firms are the only two that haven’t signed the “Poznan agreement” a few years back according to which firms nationwide don’t use weapons in fights.

The Derby Itself

The atmosphere at the Krakow derby is hard to compare with anything. It’s one of the few games when you can see the whole stands jumping. No matter if it’s Cracovia’s “Kto nie skacze, ten za Wisłą” (Who’s not jumping is a Wisla supporter) or Wisla’s jumping chants. This is where you will see a sea of hands in the air whenever the capo tells to raise them. This is the game when chants are thundering onto the pitch. This is simply the game of the season, the game ultras are preparing weeks or even months before. When Cracovia returned to Ekstraklasa, “Ultra Wisla” prepared several different choreographies for one game. When Wisla celebrated their centenary in 2006, they made around 700 flags especially for that game.

And so to the final result of the 175th Holy War: on the pitch, 2:1 to Wisla, making them the Pany. Off the pitch, 15 seats were trashed in the away section, several enemy scarves were burnt on the fences and two minor riots with police and security came after full time (one in the home section, one in the away section). After the previous seasons, this sounds almost like a picnic.

Photo credits: mi… on Flickr.

Seing Nazi symbols inside Polish stadiums always scares me. Why would anyone in Poland praise the people who, if succeeded, would gladly wipe the country and it’s people out? My first-hand experience is that this is very uncommon, although I can’t deny the problem exists.

During my five years on Wisla Krakow’s fanatic terraces, I’ve twice heard such disgraceful chants sung by a couple of isolated individuals. One is “Our role model is Rudolf Hess” and another “We have a hero — Adolf Hitler”, which sadly rhyme in Polish, making it even more grotesque. I did not hear these during games, but somewhere near the stadium. That would be it for any nazi connections. I’ve also seen a few photos in the press showing small banners with similar content, mostly during lower division games, where security is far from perfect and clubs are happy if anyone comes to the stadium at all.

Racism in general is, unfortunately, more common. Throwing bananas onto the pitch still happens occasionally — I recall a few cases during the last decade. Monkey chants also happen from time to time. These are, of course, deeply deplorable acts and need to be eradicated. The question, though, is whether racism is as wildly prevalent in Polish football as the BBC report ended up concluding, with the studio panel suggesting 20% of fans are racist.

Legia Warsaw

The central evidence related to racism in Bose’s report came from Legia Warsaw. The club’s chairman stated that 15-20% of Legia fans were racists, a remarkable figure if true. What you might not know is that Legia’s board are in deep conflict with the supporters’ association and the ultras group. Their war dates back to the Vilnius pitch invasion in 2007, which was also reported on Pitch Invasion. After this crucial game, Legia started banning fans from the stadium. Among 21 bans given directly after the disorder, only 14 were to those who took part in it. Others, as the club informed supporters, were given to people who “had been notoriously violating the stadium regulations”. These were to Legia’s ultras group “Nieznani Sprawcy” (Unknown Perps) responsible for flares and flags inside the stadium: nothing to do with racism. Some of their displays have also been shown here on Pitch Invasion previously.

This is the reason why the fans were protesting at the game shown on the report, and since they’re doing surprisingly well — managing to have most football fans nationwide on their side even some media support — it’s very convenient for the Legia chairman to paint them as racists en masse. But there was little evidence produced to support this assertion.

After the BBC report, the Polish newspaper Super Express accused Legia’s authorities of having no proof for their allegations, as did another of Poland’s biggest newspapers, Dziennik, which expressed doubts that the Legia chairman knew what he was talking about. Supporters have seen little evidence that Legia are really interested in tackling the problem.

The studio discussion after Bose’s report also blurred the issue. Scenes of chanting in the stadium, led by a capo, were portrayed as shocking. Yet this was not racist chanting. Players claim they love it when the stadium roars and almost 6,000 fans from “Żyleta” (“Razor Blade”- the terrace mentioned in the report as one not to go to) chant in unison. In the video shown, there are no Nazi/fascist/racist chants and, according to Super Express, Legia fans cannot recall last time when anything like that took place. It seems the BBC studio panel mistook a capo leading chants — something seen around the world in many leagues including MLS, but not in England — for some kind of fascist movement.

On the one hand it’s rather sad that the reporter only listened to the club chairman’s side of the story. On the other hand, it’s hard to blame him for only hearing one side. Supporters do not have much sympathy for journalists, who put them under constant attack, thus making it unsurprising the ultras did not wish to meet the BBC reporter.

The Background to Football Hooliganism

The BBC report also failed to examine the connection of racism and hooliganism in football to broader societal issues. This does not excuse any remaining racism on the terraces, but the solutions to the problem goes deeper than the panel suggested. Poland is a formerly homogeneous society undergoing a considerable change in terms of diversity. This is not a problem football can solve as easily as the panel seemed to think.

When compared to England, the BBC report failed to explore the legacy of 50 years of communism. One huge obstacle this period has left in Poland is a lack of trust for public institutions. Under the communist regime, the government was the enemy and police a tool used to smother any signs of inappropriate activities. At that time, football stadia were one of the few places with a relative freedom of speech. Football violence seemed honorable when opposed to the aggression of the police. This is still the case today. The rival fans of Cracovia and Wisla have united only a few times in history — once after the Pope’s death, for common mourning, and at other times, against the police. If there is any enemy worse than most bitter football rivals for fans, it’s the police. When a football supporter is attacked or robbed, the police are still the last institution he would turn to.

This makes addressing the issue of inappropriate behavior very hard. The police are still not gaining any respect, as even the Polish Ombudsman says that abuse of authority and unprovoked violence by police officers goes on today.

The Polish football association (PZPN) isn’t doing much better. Match delegates tend to have problems in the interpretation of symbols in some flags and banners and sometimes their decisions turn regular fans against them, not just the hardcore ones.

Laws similar to those applied by Margaret Thatcher are currently being introduced, like high fines, stadium bans and 24 hour courts for hooligans. The question is, will this really help if the whole system isn’t working right?

As the report also said, there has been improvement on the terraces over the years in any case. This week, when my fellow football fan saw the report, she told me: “Oh dear, I forgot these guys exist. The reporter was pretty lucky to find one that would prove his theory.” Nowadays, racism and nazi connections are not approved by most football fans. As the Polish sociologist and fan culture expert Jerzy Dudala said, this is more about showing off than about really knowing and understanding the meaning of certain symbols. Education is certainly needed to help eradicate all remaining racist behavior, even more than indiscriminate draconian action.

Euro 2012

As they discussed Euro 2012, I wondered why the report was mixing up league football with national teams. Poland has literally two kinds of audiences. The atmosphere at Poland’s games is hard to compare with league football. Each time a big tournament comes round, the media worldwide scare half of the globe with talk of Polish hooligans and afterwards it seems like the threat had been exaggerated in the first place. Did any violence or racism erupt at Poland – Costa Rica game during the last World Cup? There was nothing unusual, and all the media covering this event praised the atmosphere created by over 30,000 Poles.

The past few years have seen huge changes in Polish football. New stadiums are rising, standards of safety and comfort at football grounds are improving and so is the behavior of football fans. A protest of Polish ultras that might have evolved into a riot a few years back was now even backed by the media and resulted in a debate over what should and shoudn’t be allowed at football grounds. Whilst more progress need to be made, scaremongering reports with little informed opinion in them do not particularly help.

Photo credits: mbozkera and barket nowicki on Flickr