Football hooliganism in Poland

On 15 June 1936, the Przegląd Sportowy daily sports newspaper published an appeal by the management of Śląsk Świętochłowice, asking their fans to "control their behaviour and maintain order".

During the occupation of Poland in World War II, the Nazi German occupiers banned all sports.

Skirmishes broke out, and the Milicja Obywatelska functionaries, with guns, lined up on the pitch and attacked the fans with bayonets and the fighting lasted for two hours.

There is no official information about football related violence in the 1970s as any incidents that happened were not reported by the Polish media which was compliant with the policies of the Communist authorities in the People's Republic of Poland.

Probably the oldest still active alliance is the one between fans of Śląsk Wrocław and Lechia Gdańsk which dates back to 1977.

Before entering a free-market economy, the bargaining power of supporters thus played a relatively marginal role in the Polish football scene.

Some skinhead members of firms are described as "official hooligans", and their role is to take part in disturbances at the stadiums.

[1] Data from the National Police Headquarters showed a steady increase from 1991 to 1997, although there was then a decrease in the subsequent years.

[citation needed] Often hooligans would join forces to attack the police, as happened during a World Cup qualifying match between Poland and England on 29 May 1993 in Chorzów.

[1] Feuding between Polish hooligans escalated when, before the match, hools from Cracovia stabbed a Pogoń Szczecin fan to death.

[1][8] Other hooligan disturbances followed the Polish national team, with incidents in Zabrze in 1994, and abroad in Rotterdam in 1992 and Bratislava in 1995.

However, like hooligans in Western Europe, Polish firms now pre-arrange their fights, which in Poland are known as ustawka, and are mainly fought in meadows, rural terrains, far from city centers and cops.

In December 2005 a huge organised fight took place in a forest outside Frankfurt between Polish and German hooligans.

Thousands of Legia fans had converged in the city centre celebrating the club winning the Polish League title, where they broke into shops, damaged cafes and restaurants and attacked the police with stones.

[10] Before the 2006 World Cup in Germany, German authorities and some of the European media were concerned that Polish hooligans would try to disrupt the tournament.

[2] Reports stated that Polish hooligans were ready to do battle with fans from England and other countries in Germany.

This is especially true now as English football hooliganism has become a rare and harshly punished occurrence, with few firms still running, the most prevalent being "The Soul Crew", the firm of Welsh football club Cardiff City FC, who have more fan bans than any other team in the English leagues.

[11] A match between local Warsaw rivals, Polonia Warszawa and Legia in April 2006 saw over 1,300 riot police, armed with CS gas and rifles with rubber bullets fail to control 3,000 fans.

[11] A common feature of Polish hooligans is also ambushing rival fans then stealing their scarves and flags, before tying them to railings in the stadium and setting them on fire.

In April 2012, Polonia Warsaw fans were attacked by security guards with tear gas after they refused to remove the flag "Down with Communism".

[14] At the Euro 2012, despite a generally peaceful tournament, a fight broke after Russian fans marched through the capital Warsaw for their match against Poland and were attacked by Polish hooligans.

[18] In home derby match against Legia's reserves, a fight broke out between two sets of Polonia Warsaw fans in April 2013.

KS Łomianki was later fined for failing to adequately secure the venue and poor organisation was cited.

[31] The club chairman, Radosław Osuch, and a large portion of the media[32] and public opinion, attributed the incident to football hooliganism.

[34] A 27-year-old fan of Concordia, Dawid Dziedzic, was shot, and despite attempts to resuscitate him he died shortly in hospital hours later.