Gee, Hats off to Legia Fans

Polish Football Supporters, well known for their courtesy and manners, are often seen buying each other flowers before games. Many are late into the stadia as they practice their elaborate curtseys outside one last time and compare collections of pot pourri. President Tusk has vowed to crack down on this national embarrassment in the run up to Euro 2012, by outlawing leather jerkins.

I’ve blogged in the past about attending Legia Warszawa games. I wasn’t able to go to Legia’s Europa Leaue game last week against Hapoel Tel Aviv because I was sick, so I missed  a great game which Legia won with a last minute goal to make it 3-2 as well as a live screening of the latest football controversy. Watch this video to see the “opraw” (giant banner) which was briefly unfurled in the “Zyleta” (Razor Blade) tribune (stand, what Americans call bleachers).

Bad taste, offensive or.... ? It doesn’t take long to work out that unfurling a banner saying “Jihad Legia” at a game against an Israeli football team might not go down too well. Amid the reaction, the Legia Supporters group subsequently issued a rather weasly statement in the face of threats to identify and ban those responsible. Elsewhere commentators are wondering whether this is a sign of a not-so-latent “fascism” in the kibice (supporters).

I can only report what I observe: the Legia games I’ve been to are incredibly  (and surprisingly) safe. There is much less aggression and personal abuse inside the stadium than at English grounds, and none of the sick dread of hostility that builds up before the games.  The blokes are massive, but the atmosphere is family friendly, and the level of support is astounding.

I have observed two incidents of racism during the games I've been to. One, when a black player for Lodz Widzew was substituted and the guy in front of me turned to his mate and briefly made a monkey noise. It was disgusting and repellent but it was one person, if that’s a small comfort. The second was against Spartak Moskva when the entire crowd was chanting “Russia is a Whore” at the away fans.

Let’s face it, Legia fans aren’t the only football supporters  in Europe to get away with abuse which goes past bad taste and well beyond the bounds of decency. But they could probably do with getting a PR officer in at the moment. 

I get the impression – rightly or wrongly – that the Government is only really cracking down on fans, like banning attendance at away games, because Euro 2012 forces it to. So whilst there is talk about identifying and charging the culprits, you still have to walk past large graffiti saying “Warsaw Fans Hooligans” on the way to the game, and hooligan/ultra terminology is used frequently on clothes and in songs.

I put this latest controversial act down to a “this will look badass” mentality rather than some attempt at political/anti Semitic imagery. Polish football fans do borrow terminology and imagery from outside their own country and this fits the pattern. But it’s bad taste and stupidly provocative – about right for football fans, some might say.

Poland’s relationship with its chuligani is complex. I wonder if there's a small part of Poland’s national psyche which needs the chuligani just as much as its repelled by them.