DJ’S JOTTINGS – NUMBER 27 (Poland Part I)     Matchday images (3) >Sleza Wroclaw>  >Slask Wroclaw>   Poland is virgin territory for me, even though the flights from Stansted to Wroclaw are with Ryanair not Virgin. Fortunately, in a land where vowels are rarely requested on ‘Countdown’, we have assistance with the language due to one of our party having Polish parentage. The first rule is that most words sound nothing like they appear that they should.    The modern Poland was only formed in 1919, having previously been part of Germany, Russia and Austro-Hungary. It was a communist state until 1989 when the uprising in the Gdansk shipyards led by Lech Walesa, spearheaded the revolution. The country covers 120,000 square miles and has a population of 39 million.   We stay at the Hotel Polonia, a large old communist-style establishment, lying just south of the old town. Undergoing modernisation at the time of our visit, but still with plenty of character: rattly old lifts that seem like a gamble each time you use them, long sprawling corridors and large rooms with the most basic of fittings. Have time for a couple of beers at just over £1 a pint before heading off for our first football action.   Sleza Wroclaw play at Intakus Park, next to the zoo on the east side of town. The main side has 12 rows of plastic seats laid on a concrete terrace with a grassed standing area to the rear. The terracing opposite is closed off with only a marquee for officials on this side. Bar tables surround an open-air sausage stall at one end. The venue is quite colourful with even the security fences painted red and yellow. The entrance fee is10 Zloty (about £2.20). Sleza are a fairly new team, playing in one of the two regional II Liga’s, at the third level of Polish football. Towards the top of the table at the time of our visit, they are very disappointing as they slip to a 1-0 defeat against bottom of the league opponents, Victoria Koronovo. The crowd is estimated at just over 150.   Football was introduced to Poland when English textile engineers went to Lodz in 1890 with the first clubs soon developing in Legnica, Wroclaw and Gdansk as well as Lvov. Between the two world wars, Lvov (now Ukraine) and Vilnius (now Lithuania) were within Polish borders. The first national league dates from 1921 with a cup competition starting 30 years later. Generally the teams from the industrial areas have dominated. The national team had a good period after winning the Olympic tournament in 1972. Brian Clough’s ‘clown’ Tomaszewski defied England in qualifying and Poland finished 3rd at the 1974 World Cup. This achievement was repeated in 1982 with players such as Boniek, Deyna, Szarmach and Lato to the fore. Since the collapse of communism the game has suffered from corruption, hooliganism, low crowds and a lack of money, but that wasn’t going to put us off.   Our Saturday evening entertainment is an Ekstraklasa (top division) match between Slask Wroclaw and Jagiellonia Bialystok. The Stadion Slaska (Oporowska) lies just south-west of the city centre, has a reputed capacity of 8,346 and is supposed to be all-seater. However, most of the 8,000 crowd stand throughout the game. Only the main side has cover and the ends consist of fairly small sections of temporary type ‘seating’. Typically east European imposing floodlight pylons lean in at each corner. A major upgrade of the ground is imminent, possibly sacrificing character for comfort.   Slask won their only league title in 1977 and went on to reach the last eight in the European Cup. Both they and Jagiellonia were just above half-way in the table at the time of our visit and produced a decent match, Slask playing the better football and winning 2-0.   Wroclaw is the 4th largest city in Poland, located towards the south-west of the country on the River Oder and is capital of the historic region of Silesia. Prior to the Second World War it was known as Breslau and part of the German province of Lower Silesia. It was declared ‘a fortress city’ as the Red Army (not Man U) fought to take it and almost totally destroyed in the conflict, but restoration was later carried out to good effect and there are many interesting churches and other buildings to admire. The main square has an almost Belgian feel to it. Our group visits several bars, including Spiz Cellar that has its own micro-brewery.   Wroclaw is one of the cities to be used when Ukraine and Poland co-host the 2012 European Championship finals and a brand new stadium is being constructed beside a motorway on the edge of town. The city even has an Olympic Stadium, built for the 1936 games. A certain Mr A. Hitler then decided that Berlin would provide more of a showpiece so moved them. The stadium still stages speedway meetings, but an official tells us that is not used for football, even though there are goals and even corner flags in place !!   A 200 kilometre drive takes us to the industrial city of Lodz (pronounced something close to ‘woodge’) for our final game on the Sunday. The 12,160 capacity LKSU Stadion is next to the main Lodz-Kaliska station on the western edge of the city. It is a large oval shaped ground with terraces curving round each end to meet the seated side stands. The only cover is a basic tin structure over the front half dozen rows of the main stand. 25 Zloty gains entry with a further 2 Zloty for a decent programme.   LKS Lodz was formed in 1908. League champions in 1958 and 1998, cup winners in 1957, they are just above half way in the Ekstraklasa for the game against Piast Gliwice. Not a great match with a single goal winning it for the away side, watched by a crowd of 5,000.   Return to Wroclaw, pausing at a roadside restaurant for sustenance, including the local delicacy ‘pierogi’ and have a couple of beers back at base, before returning to good old blighty on the Monday morning.   Updated 11/07/10