“Lucky people and smarts”. It was the most important match of Polish football. For $ 6

“Prater was sung in all Viennese waltzes. Many of us hoped that fans would also sing about it this year,” wrote the correspondent of Przegląd Sportowy, Jan Wojdyga. As one of the few Poles, the match between Manchester City and Grnik Zabrze had a chance to watch the match at the stadium in Vienna. There was not much to sing joyful songs by the fans. Although Górnik lost 1: 2, according to journalists and the players themselves, he was not a much worse team than the English. Some of the participants of that meeting who have lived so far claim that they lost this match not on the pitch, but outside it. They are angry with a missed opportunity and sad that the most important day of their club career is nowhere to be found.

300 minutes of marathon and only one week to the final

This final of the European competition was paradoxical in a way, because the road to it was also paradoxical. So far, in the context of 1970, more is said about the semi-final match between Górnik Zabrze and Roma than the aforementioned final against Manchester. After all, Górnik and Roma had to play three matches. The first two ended in a draw. According to the then regulations, another meeting was needed to select the winner. They also ended in a draw after extra time, so the state of competition had to be settled … by tossing a coin. The Poles were more lucky in the confrontation with fate, but for a total of 300 minutes of the football performance they were the better team. The Italians seemed to be scheming. Before the decisive match, the Poles did not come to their hotel by the bus, it was the Italians’ doing. The footballers went to the stadium with the fans in their cars. They had a short warm-up. During the match, the lights also went out twice. Poles still joke that this is also an Italian act. And this draw – The match with Roma was left to the Polish team and in the heads and legs, and there was only a week left until the final match with Manchester. The English had two weeks to prepare and rest. They defeated their semi-final rival (Schalke Gelsenkirchen) faster.

The $ 6 Final

Before the most important match in its history, the Polish team had only two training sessions. She was also getting used to the new coach, Michał Matyas. The Pole unexpectedly had to replace the genius and self-confident Geza Kalocsay. The Hungarian party authorities accused the indecency and depravation of Polish women and ordered the chairman of Górnik to get rid of him immediately. Nobody was interested in any European cups. Matyas was an oasis of peace with Kalocsay, but he approached the game against City with too much respect. He set the team defensively, withdrew the most dangerous Polish footballers. Włodzimierz Lubański and Jan Banaś, instead of the opponents’ goal, were supposed to think about securing the rear.

The Poles were going to Vienna as if all the best had happened for them. The promotion to this stage of the tournament itself was a huge success – this is how the activists from Zabrze approached it.

– Before the final, I went to the president and asked about bonuses in case of victory. He told me that it is a great honor for us to participate in the final. If we win, we will find out how much we will get – recalled Stanisław Oślizło, Górnik’s captain in an interview with the portal zabrze.naszemiasto.pl.

I ended up with $ 6 per diet for three days overseas. The English got £ 100 per head. At least that much, because other sources add one zero to this information.

“Lucky and smarts” and the audience whistled

The English also had their fans behind them. About 4,000 of them flew to Austria from the Islands. There were no Polish fans at Prater. The then authorities did not give permission to leave. Only two coaches left Poland for Vienna. One of the party’s most trusted people and one of the players’ families. The families were only allowed to enter the Austrian capital for 24 hours, for the meeting itself. This is why a few hours before the match, players could be seen shopping in Viennese shops with their wives. Those were the times. It all looked a bit as if the rivals were going to conquer Vienna, and the Poles to see him.

– I would not look for any excuses for that event – he tells us when we list the obstacles. – It is known that the coach has an influence on the preparations and the match itself, but players already play on the pitch. Maybe the stage fright ate us a bit, we could say that the conditions were unfavorable. The atmosphere was really not the atmosphere of the European Winners’ Cup final, a big holiday. There were indeed few fans in the stands, but there is no need to explain, because everything was similar for the two teams – tells us the outstanding Polish representative.

His colleagues noted that on April 29, even the rain was favorable to the English. The Poles joked that their rivals took the weather from the Islands. They were used to the wet pitch, and the puddles, which sometimes stopped the ball in Vienna, did not interfere so much with their game in the air and continuous throws into the penalty area.

– It was raining like hell, the weather was for Manchester -. The first Pole in the Bundesliga played against City in 1970 in the already mentioned semi-final against Schalke. – The English were generally lucky and smart. In the rematch with Schalke, they made sure that it was possible to play their ball, different from the one we knew. And when we were in the changing room, the heating was turned on so much that we were sitting in a sauna. But it was also a good team, there is nothing to talk about – he judged the class and cunningness of the rival.

This offensive team in Vienna was defeating the slightly scared Górnik 2: 0 until the break. First, Hubert Kostka did not hold the ball after Nail Young’s shot from a considerable distance, and just before the break, Francis Lee scored from the penalty spot. Eleven was dictated by Kostka’s foul in the penalty area. The Polish goalkeeper tried to avoid losing a goal in a one-on-one situation with an opponent. He decided he had to foul. He was close to save the penalty spot, but the ball slipped through his hands. Ah, the rain. The miners went to the changing rooms wet, angry and unsatisfied. They felt that they were not playing the way they should and the way they could.

During the break, after a short conversation with the coach, the system was changed to the one in which the players felt better. The miner attacked. The result was a goal by Oślizła in the 68th minute. There was no time for more. “Cwaniacki” Manchester, as Waldemar Słomiany called them, started to play against time when he saw the Polish pressure. He disturbed rather than constructed something himself. The Austrian audience (about 10,000 people) greeted it with whistles, and applauded the Poles’ commitment to change the result. It ended up trying.

Only memories remain

After the match, the English press reported that the celebration of the first City International Cup had moved to the English Hotel for good. Goalscorer – Lee was supposed to dance the piano to the accompaniment of the club’s chief scout. The English add that the manager of Manchester saw the soaked Górnik players returning from the stadium somewhere and invited them and their families to the tables. But there are many myths surrounding this meeting.

– I do not remember any such meeting with the English – relates Lubański when asked about the case. – And who would want to celebrate after defeat? We were not too happy then – he adds.

After the most important club match in Polish history, there are only memories, colorful stories about how the streets of Silesia were deserted during the match, and the miners’ duty hours in the mines were postponed so that they could see the hit match. The TV rental shops lacked any equipment, because everyone wanted to witness the events in Vienna. So far, there are black and white recordings of it reminiscent of goals scored. The living Polish players who played in that match recently met in a wider lineup for the 40th anniversary of this event. They were at the Górnik’s stadium and in the City Hall, and at a banquet at the “Pod Kasztanami” restaurant. On this occasion, even two English City players came to Poland, including the then captain of the team, Anthony Keith Book. Everyone got a commemorative T-shirt made for the jubilee of the final.

Photo Grzegorz Celejewski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Poles often complain that they do not have any souvenirs from April 29, 1970. UEFA did not give them to the club then. There weren’t even diplomas for the losers, let alone medals.

– I do not have anything from that match in my collection – Lubański admits. – Rather, only sad memories remain. From time to time, one of the journalists will call and ask for anecdotes related to that day. I understand this, because when we look at the history of Polish football, it turns out that nothing better has happened to us in it. It’s all the more pity.