Date: 25 May 2024 / League: Polish sixth tier
Final Score: 5-1 / Attendance: approx. 400
I visited Orzel Przeworsk to see history being made – this was, I was told, the last time their legendary away cage would welcome visitors inside. In many ways, this was to be a case of history coming full circle. First inaugurated in 2006, that time the lucky supporters were those of Czuwaj Przemysl. Fittingly, some thirteen years on, it was them that would give this place the send-off it deserved. At least, that’s what I’d hoped for.
Nothing goes to plan in Poland, and this time was no different. Despite being issued with 170 tickets beforehand, Czuwaj turned up just after kick-off only to be told that they weren’t getting in. Whose decision this was, I have no idea, but it came very damn close to backfiring in grand fashion. Rather than locking the away fans safely inside a Houdini-style, escape-proof coffin, the police instead marched them to its mouth before marching them back and past the home fans.
Although nothing serious, it did prompt a bit of Argie Bargie by the fences as the opposing factions rattled on the gates and exchanged greetings with each other. Had away fans been let in, this situation would have been avoided altogether.
Anyway, with Czuwaj’s fans shipped off to whence they came from, the rest of the match was played in the atmosphere of a backwater village match – whilst I got sloshed on the sidelines, a small but determined band of home Ultras kept the atmosphere ticking.
Certainly, they had plenty to cheer about. Closing in on promotion from the sixth tier, Orzel played with the confidence of champions in the making. Final score: 5-1.
For me though, this was never about the football. Having visited a few years before (for that, CLICK ME), I was already aware that this was one of the best lower league grounds Poland had to offer. Sadly, this looks to change.
A full renovation looms, and this will signal the end not just of the zoo cage, but also pretty much everything else. Also slated to vanish is the stone and wood grandstand, and so too the rusting scaffold tribunes that sit either side. The plans don’t look all too bad in fairness, but you can’t help but mourn the loss of somewhere special.
As it was, Orzel seemed to symbolize everything picture perfect about the lower leagues. Oozing charm and personality, its rickety quaintness sat in perfect motion with the blissful, backwater spirit of the town and its surrounds. I’ll be sorry to see it change.
No Comments