Lech Poznań fans were not admitted to the stands of the National Stadium. During the Polish Cup final, their sector is still empty and it will probably be so until the end of the match. Soccer players who took half an hour. before the game they went out to warm up, they had to be surprised. There was so much talk about the football festival, so much joy that after two years the fans will finally be present at the Polish Cup final, while behind the goals virtually all the seats were empty. The most committed fans, who take care of cheering during the matches, were supposed to sit there. They were not there, because despite the ban on bringing flags and banners larger than 2m x 1.5m to the stadium, they took them with them. So the security guards and the policemen guarding the gates would not let them in. Until the last minutes, crowds were stuck in front of the stadium.
A week before the final, the Polish Football Association informed that the president of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, by issuing a permit to organize a mass event, banned the bringing of large flags and banners. In recent years, fans have often presented eye-catching luminaires covering entire sectors of the gate. They were spectacular and added color to the match. But the problem was that the sector flags were also a perfect camouflage for fans preparing to fire flares and other pyrotechnics. Many times at the National Stadium during the Polish Cup finals it was getting dangerous, because the flares were thrown onto the pitch and into other sectors.
In 2018, fans of Arka Gdynia fired a rocket launcher at the fans and thus damaged the roof of the stadium. Officially, neither the city nor the Polish Football Association has confirmed that this year’s ban is to prevent the fans from behaving similarly, but in the backstage, no one had any doubts that this was the point.
The fans appealed to the Polish Football Association, and Cezary Kulesza asked for a change of decision. “A match without a frame is like a wedding without music”
Raków and Lech fans in a joint statement called for a change of this decision, although they addressed their appeal to the president Kulesza, and not the city officials who were its authors.
“Once again, we appeal to the president of the Polish Football Association to make the final of the Polish Cup a real celebration of football and fans, but not only a few activists who, sitting in air-conditioned VIP lounges, sipping the most expensive alcohol, and from time to time look at the TV screen and check the result of the sports competition” – they wrote. Others compared that a match without a frame is like a wedding without music.
Kulesza admitted that he was surprised by this decision himself, because the fans of Raków and Lech are not hostile to each other. At the same time, the president emphasized that the federation had not made the decision. And he appealed against that decision. Conversations with the deputy mayor of Warsaw, however, did not help, because the city was supposed to have tied hands due to the negative opinion of the fire brigade, which did not want to change its mind on the sector sector. Unofficially, we heard that this decision of the guard suited the city because it reduced the risk that the match would end with a flare scandal again, and the matter was of a political nature.
“There is trouble. They don’t let them in. It’s about the fixtures”
In previous years, fans used a similar tactic. They waited until the last minutes to enter the stands and put more and more pressure on security guards and policemen. Later, some of them tried to break through by force, others in the confusion tried to bring flares and other elements of the setting to the stadium. When we called one of the fans who was waiting in front of the stadium, he reported: “There is a lot of trouble. They don’t let in. It’s about the fixtures.” A quarter of an hour before the game, there was not a single fan behind Lech’s goal in the stands. Behind Raków’s goal, the fans started to descend.
Without Lech fans in the stands of the National Stadium
When the Polish Cup final began, there were no Lech fans in the stands. In the end, fans were not allowed to bring in the frame elements and large flags. Cezary Kulesza stood on the side of the fans, who announced that this final could be the last one played in Warsaw.
“The position of the City Police Headquarters of the State Fire Service to ban larger flags strikes the beauty of sport, is incomprehensible and causes more harm than good. The rules that have been in force for years have been changed. If the State Fire Service does not change its position in the future, the PP finals will not be organized in Warsaw” – wrote Kulesza .
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
