Terrace Radomsko: A polish regional derby

Words: Alex Webber

Images: Alex Webber

Adjusting to Poland’s footballing schedules and timetables takes years – aside kick-off times that often border the insane, there’s the small matter of the calendar itself: whereas the winter pause grinds on forever, the summer break passes in the blink of an eye – really, I’ve had longer hangovers.

So yeah, while Brits are getting giddy about football’s return, my season out in Poland is already well underway. But with my scorecard of games blurring almost indistinguishably into one, I’ve had little time to process H1 of 2023, let alone revel in what turned out to be one of my favourite seasons on record.

Yeah, it was a banger, and in many ways my last match before the three-minute summer holiday served as a beautiful microcosm of all that came before.

For the final act of the season, I made the journey out to Radomsko for a regional derby in the country’s fifth tier.

Having last met in the league around 20-years back, the mounting tension marking the lead-up finally broke when the visitors, Belchatow, finally arrived.

©Alex Webber/ Terrace Edition. RKS Radomsko vs GKS Belchatow.

Though issued with 150 tickets, Belchatow took 360 and this travelling contingent was greeted warmly on arrival by a gathered band of enthusiastic locals. Rushing police lines to engage in a brief skirmish, the pre-match japes sent the mercury soaring.

With the atmosphere nicely set to boiling point, what followed was a game played out in a boisterously hateful atmosphere that seemed almost incongruous given the charming appeal of the stadium itself.

Bounded by sawn-off floodlight pylons – an awkward reminder of Radomsko’s fleeting foray into the top-flight two decades back – it’s a spectacular place for the stadium geek, composed as it is of random odds and ends: a tight away pen masked by protective netting; an abandoned stand rife with towering Triffid-like plants; a main tribune filled with dusty seats; and a home terrace more akin to an upended concrete oblong.

Stormy in atmosphere, it was to this backdrop home and away fans took turns to unleash fusillades of pyro: green smoke bombs from the away fans, and yellow and blue flares from the home. Not all pyro shows are equal, and this one was nothing if not a staggering tribute to lower league passion.

More than just a feisty way in which to sign off on my season, it was also another reminder to adapt my football manifesto – higher leagues be damned, may the rest of the year be devoted to uncovering the diamonds concealed in the rough of Poland’s obscure leagues.

Onwards.

Alex is on Instagram: @polskifootballculture

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