A Hull Hoppers Foreign Jaunts #No 26 Śląsk Wrocław 1 - 1 Podbeskidzie Bielsko - Biała Stadion Wrocław , Wrocław, Poland, 17th March 2013, T Mobile PZPN Ekstraklasse. After our previous trip to Poland in March 2011 and our first meeting there with Journalist Michał Trela, the Hull City fan from Bielsko – Biała, we invited him to come across to see a Hull City match at the KC Stadium. He duly arrived in August 2011 to see the Hull City v Crystal Palace match and a tour of Hull and the East Riding in the couple of days he stayed here made a very favourable impression on him of the area. He went back home after a very nice holiday and our friendship was even more enhanced. By March 2013 we had decided it was about time we made a return visit to Poland and as Michał was trying to see Podbeskidzie at all the Ekstraklasse grounds, it gave us the opportunity to meet up with him and see a game at one of the grounds used in the previous year’s European Championship. We travelled from Hull to Robin Hood (Doncaster – Sheffield) Airport where we caught a Wizzair flight to Wrocław Airport. A taxi drive into the centre of Wrocław took us to our rather smart looking hotel in plenty of time to have virtually a full day to look round this superb city. Wrocław is a very nice place and has an interesting history too. The city has been variously part of Poland and Germany over the centuries and until 1945 and the end of the Second World War was known as Breslau in Germany. After the end of the war the Polish boundaries moved further west, with Poland gaining some territory from Germany, including Breslau, in the west whilst losing territory in the east to the Soviet Union. One of the cities lost was Lwów, now Lviv in the Ukraine, which was the birthplace of Polish football and home to some of Poland’s oldest clubs, such as Czarni Lwów and Pogoń Lwów. Most of the German population of Breslau was moved out of that city into the new German boundaries, whilst the people of Lwów were moved into the newly renamed city of Wrocław. The city is a wonderful place, bright and colourful with superb market squares containing cafes, bars and some of the best restaurants you could wish to find. Wrocław, in addition to the newly built European Championship stadium, boasts two other grounds, which we walked to have a look at. The first ground is the old ground of the city’s Ekstraklasse club, Śląsk Wrocław, the Stadion Oporowska. Śląsk Wrocław played here until the new stadium was complete in 2011, but the ground is still in use for football. It holds just over 8,000 spectators and consists of a full length stand down one side, with open seating on the other three. The second stadium we visited was the Stadion Olimpijski. This is a large stadium with cover all round the seating and terracing, a speedway track round the pitch and must have looked very impressive in its heyday. It also has a claim to fame in that it is a stadium that has hosted the home internationals of two different countries, Germany before the war and Poland after. It still looks pretty impressive with its arched entrances and the sheer size of it. The following day we met up with Michał, who was on reporting duties for the game, and his girlfriend Agnieszka, and he showed us further round this marvellous city. It was good to meet up with him again and chat about Podbeskidzie, Polish football and, of course, Hull City. We all took a taxi to the brand new Stadion Wrocław for that afternoon’s fixture between Śląsk Wrocław and Michał’s home town team, and our Polish side, Podbeskidzie Bielsko – Biała. Michał and Agnieszka left us at this point to enter the press area of the stadium and we entered through the normal turnstiles. The ground itself is an absolutely superb venue, very modern, 43,000 all seater stadium that ranks with many of the great venues throughout Europe. The game was also good with the high flying home side being more than matched throughout the encounter by a very hard working, skilful Podbeskidzie side that, at that time, were in the bottom three of the league. Podbeskidzie took a deserved lead in the second half and were looking like they would hold out until they conceded a goal very late in the game. However, that should not deter from what was a stirring performance from the visitors. We flew back to Robin Hood Airport the following day after what had been a flying visit, but nevertheless a very enjoyable one among good friends in a really lovely part of the world.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 19:49:55 +0000
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