Stadion Im Ernesta Pohla
Franklina Roosevelta 81
41-800 Zabrze
Poland
Ground Number: 1352
Saturday 21st September
Gornik Zabrze 3-0 GKS Katowice
Gornik Zabrze 3-0 GKS Katowice
Estraklasa
GORNIK ZABRZE - A BRIEF HISTORY
The club was founded in 1948 after several smaller sports associations – KS Zjednoczenie, KS Pogoń, KS Skra, and KS Concordia – were merged into a single organization, which took the name "Górnik", the Polish word for "Miner", reflecting the fact that Zabrze was an important coal-mining centre. In 1950 Górnik joined the Opole Silesia regional league. In 1952 the club was promoted to the Polish Second Division. Their first season here saw them finish as runners-up, eventually winning promotion to the top tier in 1955. They were champions by 1957 and have won the Polish top flight 13 times. Their most successful period was between 1962 and 1967 when they won the title five times in succession. They've not troubled the top two spots since the late 1980s, the best recent finish was 4th in 2018.
The Polish Cup is a similar story, Gornik Zabrze have won it six times including five times in a row between 1968 and 1972, the last time they lifted the trophy. Domestically, they also won the now-defunct Polish League Cup in 1978 and the Polish Super Cup in 1988. They have embarked on a number of European adventures, not least when they reached the Cup Winners Cup Final in 1970. They beat Olympiacos, Rangers, Levski Sofia and Roma before losing 2-1 to Manchester City in the final.They also reached the Quarter Final of the European Cup in 1968, losing to eventual winners Manchester United. Probably the best-known past player to play for them is towering central defender Jerzy Gorgon who made 236 appearances for the side, plus 55 caps for Poland. He helped Poland to 3rd place at the 1974 World Cup in West Germany.
MY VISIT
Back when I decided to go to Poland this weekend, Gornik Zabrze was always going to be the main event. The main reason was the late kickoff and the fact that it was a derby game, which allowed me to make the most of my trip to Poland by visiting many games. I also found a nicely priced hotel with good reviews and they were helpful and responsive in helping me with a couple of questions via email. So much so, that I eventually decided to base myself there for two nights after my original game at Bohumin looked unlikely to go ahead due to the severe flooding in that part of the world. Getting a ticket was fairly simple once I had waited for them to go on sale. The Polish ID requirement for mass events could have proved to be an issue but in the end, the system was happy for me to provide my British driving licence number instead. They took normal payment cards, unlike some which were restricted to Polish residents. As they were only selling the tickets as a two pack for the next two games, it was the most expensive of the trip at £19. But considering some teams in England in the sixth tier charge more than that, I wasn't bothered.
From my second game, I got a Bolt taxi to my hotel, wanting to dump my bags and have a shower. I did both, spending around half an hour in the room before heading out at 7. It was a 35-minute walk to the ground, so I had a good bit of time to spare before the game. I have a look for the club shop, basically a small table and buy a pennant that works out at around £6. It's my first piece of merchandise of the day. The atmosphere was quite relaxed and friendly between the fans with some mixing. There was some good pre-match atmosphere building by the announcer. There was a minutes silence for a former player and a nice Pyro display from the away end.
Gornik were on top early on and they took the lead after a few minutes thanks to a low-drilled shot by Lucas Podolski. There were tifo displays and even a load of fireworks from the home end, though I'm not sure how official a lot of it was. It was a great atmosphere in any case. Katowice tried to up the ante and they thumped a shot against the left-hand post on 26 minutes. A few minutes later, Zabrze came close to doubling their lead but the goalkeeper just stopped it from going over the line. They doubled their lead just after half time, Josema with the goal on 48 minutes. On 64 minutes Podolski scored almost a carbon copy of his first, another great strike. This promoted the usual thing of the announcer reading out his first name and the crowd shouting 'PODOLSKI!' in unison. The fan displays had been incredible, something you wouldn't get in the uptight UK despite some rogue attempts in non-league. One common thing between the two was quite a few fans leaving early, something I've never understood the point of. But overall, a great experience and atmosphere for this derby.
THE GROUND
Stadion Im Ernesta Pohla is a work in progress with the far side being incorporated into the stadium bowl at present. Still, what is there already is a venue with good facilities. The atmosphere for this derby game was excellent. It is not a huge distance from the town but food options at the ground are limited, as was transport back to my hotel. There's a fair amount of parking. Merchandise is restricted to a small table from what I saw.
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