The Old Fashion Man Club

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It was bright and sunny for about 20 minutes on the Sunday morning. The ability of the weather to change was a lot faster than it took to descend from our elevated tower block abode. 27 floors was a long way down. There was a number of opportunities to get a shot of the Palace of Culture in bright sunshine, but the time taken to get down and across the road defeated me on every occasion. Warsaw was soon shrouded in low cloud and mist. The fitness room in the hotel looked the other way over the 2012 National Stadium. Alas that too, never really displayed it's red and white exterior panels to the full effect.

The Warsaw Uprising Museum is free entry on Sunday. A logical choice. We sought out the last remaining piece of the Warsaw Ghetto Wall en route. A short brick stretch of a maximum of say 30 metres remains, sandwiched between apartments on Sienna Street and in the corner of a car park. The Uprising Museum proved slightly more tricky to locate, although that was as much down to poor planning than the difficulty factor. The bonus was that in amongst the banking quarter, a few glimpse of old derelict more original flats remained. The old and the new side by side. The remaining old flats retained steel cages to catch the melting snow and prevent it hitting passing pedestrians. The cages now doubled as alternative rubbish facilities. It was 10 am by the time we arrived - opening time. It was free, but in a throw back to employment creation a ticket still has to be acquired from the booth. Ho, hum. The museum had opened before 10 am judging by the crowd already inside the entrance. The lack of an entry fee had obviously an appeal. I was interested in the subject. I wanted to be more interested than I transpired to be. The layout however left an element of confusion. There was plenty of English language translation, but it did not flow. The subjects meandered back and forth with no obvious timeline. We came to the conclusion that the average Brit mind must work in a different more logical and orderly fashion. This had been evident at the airport on the outbound journey, as we watched a middle aged woman "excuse me" her way right to the front of the queue. It was no fluke, as she repeated the trick at passport control at Warsaw Modlin.

We headed back to the hotel to ditch the SLR camera. I figured that it wouldn't be welcome later in the day at Legia Warsaw. The next port of call was the Pepsi Arena to get tickets for the Ekstraklasa clash with the no so mighty Podbeskidzie Bielsko Biala. The ticket process in Poland can be quite complicated, given that all persons buying a ticket need to have their ID documentation registered, the name is then recorded on the ticket and the two are matched by the burly security on entry to the ground. The initial process takes time, so it is not simply a matter of wandering up and handing over a bit of cash. We drew the short straw and landed a ticket booth, where the English was a bit limited. I think to be fair we got far superior service than would have happened if a Polish only speaker had rolled up at an English club. The other half has been a bit nervous about some of my recent foreign football excursions - a few too many flares in the photographs, I fear - so we opted for the top price seats in the opposite stand to the prawn sandwich VIP crew. 65 zloty seemed fair enough to ensure comfort and safety and the whole operation was a lot less fuss than a recent outing to the regional 4th Division to see Resovia Rzsezow. Legia clearly court the foreign visitor, given the information on the front of the ticket office in English, German, French and Spanish.

The Pepsi Arena has been extensively reconstructed and covers quite an extensive area with training pitches, as well as a mini tennis stadium. The basketball is presumably in the arena directly over the road. A few bits of Ultras graffiti were evident under the bridge as you approach, but the rest of the complex was a bit corporate. A swanky looking bar sits next to the ticket office. The Museum was closed on matchdays. The Fan store was doing a brisk business in various souvenirs. The guy in front of us seemed delighted with his military tee shirt with Legia written on it. A programme was on offer - 5 zloty - and very thoughtfully, came with a correct sized bag to put it in complete with Legia logo. Pin badges available. The day was set. I scouted the correct entry gate to minimise complications and routes later and we set of for the Lazienki Palace.

The park entrance was a mere 10 minute walk away from the Pepsi Arena. The Sunday crowd were out walking and feeding the seagulls. I know it is a very long way from the coast, but the adaptable birds obviously find it a better home than freezing by the Baltic waiting for Sopot to spring into life in the summer. Jan Sobieski had a statue on a bridge - fair to say he has quite a few - directly facing the Palace on the Isle. It was open, but required a ticket. Tickets were free on Sunday. We went through the now familiar process of getting a ticket from a separate booth and walking back to the entry point. It was a pleasant half hour diversion, but once gain largely recreated from the rubble of 1945. The seagulls successfully got in the way of the distance photographs. The Orangery was under renovation and little else was open. We retreated for a late lunch of soup at the top of the Park away from the Pepsi Arena, that was very substantial. A few older Legia were enjoying their pre-match routine of drinking to excess. A table of English lads finished their beers and went to buy a ticket for the game. A large group of lads stood outside a bar on the opposite side of the road under the watchful eye of a few of the Warsaw Constabulary. A series of other Police minibuses passed in convoy towards the ground to take up their positions. All else was quiet. I suspected that there might be a booze ban within a distance of the ground, but as we headed in the direction that appeared not to be the case. A large group of Legia ultras gathered around a bar under the dual carriageway. Once again, the Police looked on but there was no sign of any aggression or disturbance. It would perhaps be slightly different, if the visitors brought a large following?

A long queue had formed outside the ticket booths, as we headed to the turnstiles. We thought it would be prudent to get in fairly early to avoid any last minute crush. The crowds had generally stayed away though and the official attendance was a mere 12,600. with a mass following in the Podbeskidzie sector of about 20. The turnstiles and ID check was painless and a family friendly concourse behind the stand was geared towards American fast food sales. If you'd not had your fill of souvenirs in the main shop outside, more opportunities were available at the sizeable premises behind the stand. The other half complimented the quality of toilet facilities. The arguably fearsome reputation of Legia and Polish football in general was nowhere to be seen. The football was best described as average. Legia were bigger and physically more powerful than their opponents and despite some pretty passing by the visitors, the home team just brushed them aside with ease. The highlight of the night was without doubt the display by the Legia ultras behind the goal to our right. A huge wolf head flag was unfurled, accompanied by much red and white flag waving. The banner at the foot of the stand proclaimed:"In the dark of the night, in the darkness of the woods, they met the call of the fatherland"

"In the

dark of the night, in the darkness of the woods, they met the call of the fatherland"

A series of red flares were lit to add colour and in an accurate piece of choreography, 2 flares were positioned behind the eyes of the wolf. A wall of noise accompanied the display, which was every bit as impressive as anything seen on our trips to Red Star and Partizan in Serbia in the last couple of years. I'll leave you to hunt out your own video on Youtube to get the full effect. The initial display over the ultras dismantled the components and re-hung their usual flags and banners. In among the sample were Nieznani Sprawcy, which translates as the Unknown Perpetrators and the Old Fashion Man Club, which needs no translation. The former are the main choreography boys behind such as the display we had just witnessed, although subsequent press reports suggest that they have gone into hibernation in the last few days after being fined for their use of pyro against Podbeskidzie. If it is any consolation to them and was their last stand, the other half was most impressed and pronounced it very entertaining. Alas, she forgot to press the record button on the tablet, as she happily filmed away. The Old Fashion Man Club presumably concentrate their efforts against the prawn sandwich brigade.

A swift was back to own and 25 minutes later, we sat down to dine on our pierogi. A well known and common chain purveyor of the food parcels had a special offering to accompany our meal - "mulled wine with species". We declined. We'll see how long it takes their marketing people to change that advert.

We left Warsaw with good thoughts of many things - Legia, Modlin Bus, Zywiec, pierogi et al. It is a shame that we couldn't add a well known brand of the Accor chain to that list, after we discover that they have made an unwarranted addition on to my credit card. I await their further comments, after I have expressed my concerns and disappointment to the good people at their Loyalty Card help desk people!

Appendix

Date: Sunday 1st March 2015 @ 1800 Hours

Pepsi Arena, Warsaw

Attendance: 12,661

Referee: Paweł Gil.



Legia Warsaw 3 - 0 Podbeskidzie Bielsko Biala

Scorers: A Ryczkowski 12, O Duda (Penalty) 53, Orlando Sa 91

Legia Warsaw: 12. Dusan Kuciak - 19. Bartosz Bereszyński, 25. Jakub Rzeźniczak, 15. Inaki Astiz, 17. Tomasz Brzyski - 21. Ivica Vrdoljak, 3. Tomasz Jodłowiec - 33. Michał Żyro, 16. Michał Masłowski (50' 8. Ondrej Duda), 45. Adam Ryczkowski (69' 18. Michał Kucharczyk) - 70. Orlando Sa.

Subs: 34. Arkadiusz Malarz, 4. Igor Lewczuk, 6. Guilherme, 8. Ondrej Duda, 9. Marek Saganowski, 18. Michał Kucharczyk, 23. Helio Pinto.

Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała: 33. Michal Pesković - 10. Marek Sokołowski, 27. Adam Deja, 16. Pavol Stano, 26. Bartłomiej Konieczny - 90. Kristian Kolcak, 8. Piotr Malinowski (46' 18. Bartosz Śpiączka) - 30. Piotr Tomasik, 7. Maciej Iwański (63' 77. Maciej Korzym), 5. Frank Kwame Adu (79' 32. Adam Pazio) - 14. Damian Chmiel.

Subs: 1. Richard Zajac, 18. Bartosz Śpiączka, 21. Tomasz Górkiewicz, 22. Artur Lenartowski, 32. Adam Pazio, 37. Robert Mazań, 77. Maciej Korzym.

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Photos

Lazienki Park
Statue of Jan Sobieski