Date: 1 June 2024 / League: Polish sixth tier
Final Score: 0-1 / Attendance: approx. 400
Experience
I had a fantastic time the last time I visited Tarnovia (for that, CLICK ME!), but one thing I failed to mention in my report – either out of shame or amnesia – was just how wrecked I got thanks to the hospitality of their chaps.
After a skinful in the ground, and a couple of puffs of something pungent and Jamaican, I remember sitting on the train as it waited to pull out of the station, gently sniggering that someone had left a camera bag that looked just like mine sitting on the platform. Oh, wait, that is f***ing mine!!!
Five years later, I’m delighted to say I must have made an impression that time – mooching around the town square in the hours before the game, I was hanging around a bar watching Tarnovia mob up for their pre-match march to the ground when I was spotted by one of their lads: “you’re that Bristol City bloke that was here a while back!” Guilty as charged.
Great set of supporters are Tarnovia, and with pleasantries out of the way I was given the green light to shadow their mob as they made their way down to the stadium.
And my, what a stadium this is! Although renovated since my previous trip, the refurbishment of the main stand hadn’t taken away any of its character. Repainted in prim red-and-white colors, the home tribune retained the sense of shadowy intimacy that I recall from before.
As for the rest of the ground, little had changed – composed of little more than a club house lopped onto the main tribune and an overgrown terrace running the opposite side, this remains one of my favourite grounds in Poland: adding to the charm, a beautiful clock tower poking out of some bushes, and a stunning church peering above the tree line.
Lovely as it is to admire, the thing I love most about this ground is the atmosphere it can generate – although this was against Unia Tarnow’s B-team, this was an absolute derby day banger.
To my knowledge, the away pen hasn’t been opened for year, but even so a few people – me included – were harbouring hopes that Unia would turn up outside to cause a kerfuffle. This wasn’t the case, but even without their input this was a cracking day out in one of Poland’s best unsung cities.
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