Date: 21 September 2024 / League: Polish eighth tier (I think!)
Final Score: 0-1 / Attendance: approx. 70
Experience
What a name. Even in the canon of Polish tongue-twisters, Siemianowiczanka Siemianowice Slaskie stands out as something of a mouthful – good luck trying to build a catch terrace ditty around that one.
Fortunately, that’s not a problem for Siemianowiczanka’s Ultras, because these seem to amount to little more than two old blokes taking sporadic turns on a trumpet. Otherwise, at least from my experience, expect a sedate(d) crowd of teenagers, mothers, and the odd Ruch Chorzow fan from one of the neighbouring estates.
Of course, that’s not to say Siemianowiczanka isn’t worth the visit. You visit not for some hair-razing experience, but to immerse yourself deep in the essence of district level football.
Set about 20-minutes’ drive from downtown Katowice, Siemianowiczanka’s stadium is a beauty to behold – a broken concrete oval surrounded by creeping vegetation. The trees almost seem to hang over the pitch.
Poland has lost many fantastic stadiums in recent times, and that’s especially true of the Silesian region. Siemianowiczanka, however, holds on. Simply beautiful to admire, it’s a ground seemingly built on history and tradition.
Unfortunately, that’s just a hunch – with so little information online, I can provide next to no background. In fact, the only tasty tidbit I can offer is that it was here that Zygmunt Maszczyk first cut his teeth as an up-and-coming footballer. Later joining local giants Ruch Chorzow, Maszczyk would earn 36 caps for the national side, and appear in the 1974 World Cup as part of the thrilling Polish side that finished third.
Alas, I can’t really say much more about the club, other than it appears to have done little of consequence since its foundation in 1945. This, mind you, is part of the charm. Something of an unknown quantity, visit Siemianowiczanka to simply enjoy football in its most sincere form – it’s absolutely magic.
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