Silence

Today was a national day of mourning in Poland. This was declared after the death of Tadeusz Mazowiecki  (the 28^th of October), the first “non-Communist” prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe.

What is more, two days ago we had All Saints Day, therefore it just so happens that the mourning ‘celebrations’ came at a time when one (supposedly) should reflect upon whatever he/she deems as necessary to reflect upon.

During yesterday’s Legia’s home game against Zagłębie Lubin (2:0), the speaker announced that before the match starts, there will be a symbolic minute of silence for players, fans, and other figures related to Legia who have died in the past year (not to exclude this silence solely for the late prime minister). The silence was respected before the match, however I am very sure that it is because of the fans, players, et consortes, who had passed away in the past year, and not because of Mazowiecki. If the silence were to be just for him, then the supporters would not be so humble.

I bring this issue up, due to the fact that during today’s ‘friendly’ (in terms of fans, not the actual game, since it was a league one) match between Lechia Gdańsk and Śląsk Wrocław there was an ‘incident’. Before the match began, there was a minute of silence in commemoration of Mazowiecki and Gerard Cieślik (spent his entire career in Ruch Chorzów (1939-1959), playing in 237 matches, and scoring 168 goals (3^rd place in this general classification). Scored 2 goals against the Soviet Union on the 20^th of October, 1957. He is also the only person to be in the Klub Wybitnego Reprezentanta (Club of Eminent Representatives), even though he only played 45 matches for the Polish national team (a minimum of 60 is required). He died the night before.). During this silence, fans of both teams chanted “Precz z Komuną!” (“Down with Communism!”) and “A na drzewach zamiast liści, będą wisieć komuniści!” („Communists, not leaves, will hang from trees!”).

Of course, the TV commentators felt appalled that such a situation occurred. Not to mention other journalists for whom Mazowiecki was one of the most cherished ‘moral authorities’ in Poland. They somehow could not grasp and understand WHY fans with strong anti-Communist roots were displeased with this mourning-celebration. Gdańsk is the birthplace of “Solidarność”, and Lechia fans were engaged in fighting Communism in the 1970’s and 1980’s – both on and off the terraces. Nobody seems to care that Mazowiecki spoke (well, wrote about, in a book he co-authored, “Wróg pozostał ten sam” (1952)) very wrongly about the Żołnierze Wyklęci (Cursed Soldiers), that  he criticized those who emigrated to London and tried to help Poland in any way they could during those horrid times, or that he threatened people (Catholics) who did not accept the agreement which the Communist government  forced upon the Catholic Church in Poland, etc. Surely, everyone makes mistakes, but at least have the decency to apologize for your wrongs, especially if you are a ‘moral authority’. I will not dissect Mazowiecki’s words and actions during the 1980’s and 1990’s, since (firstly) this is not a historical blog, and (secondly) I for one do not have the time to elaborate on all of his doings. Right or wrong. Allow for me not to be the judge in this case.

In my opinion, what the fans did was nothing wrong. Just because there is a minute of silence for someone, that does not mean that it has to be respected. “But he was the first non-Communist PM…” you say? Well, first of all, he was first a prime minister of a PRL (People’s Republic of Poland) government. Secondly, just because somebody was ‘the first’ in a ‘democratic’ country, means diddly-squat. General Wojciech Jaruzelski was the first president of the III RP (Republic of Poland), does this mean that there will be a minute of silence in his commemoration on all the stadiums as well? If so, then the TV commentators, journalists, and all other ‘moral authorities’ (and their ‘oh-so-innocent’ supporters) better be prepared for a minute of hate, not silence.

On a side note, I thought that all of the ‘moral authoritative figures’, TV commentators, and the like, wished for football stadiums to be rid of politics? Unless, once again, as with those ‘tolerance-spewers’ (“there is no tolerance for the enemies of tolerance”), we are dealing with a “no-politics-unless-they-are-the-proper-politics” type of agenda? Whatever the weather, I will definitely not lose any sleep over the death of Mazowiecki, but that goes for the majority of the ‘brave’, ‘intelligent’, and ‘cunning’ fucks which partook any role in the infamous Round Table Agreement. Fate rest their souls. 

For better or worse

Legia lost to Zawisza Bydgoszcz 1:3. This wouldn’t be such a big deal, since losses are like shit. They happen. If we were to win every match, then we would have many (many) more trophies in our showcase. Not to say that our display cabinets are fraught with ghosts of “should-have-won” trophies. We are the fourth most titled team in Polish football history.

Since 1916, Legia has taken 3^rd place 13 times, 2^nd place 10 times, and 1^st place 10 times (in official statistics this number is 9, due to the fact that in 1993, PZPN (the Polish Football Association) decided to take the championship title away from Legia. The day after the last (34^th) round of the Polish first league matches, PZPN decided that the matches played between Wisła Kraków  and Legia (which ended with a 6:0 away win for Legia), as well as ŁKS Łódź and Olimpia Poznań (which ended 7:1 for ŁKS) were rigged, and therefore the results were annulled. Lech Poznań jumped from 3^rd to 1^st place, taking the championship home proudly. There was no investigation in this matter, no witnesses (players, coaches, referees, et consortes) were questioned with respect to corruption in this matter, and no court ruled upon this case. The only body which was responsible for this decision was the Presidium Board of PZPN, which voted 5:4 in favor of stripping Legia of the championship title, the day after the “Sunday of miracles” (the 34^th round) occurred. We were given the 2^nd position, and ŁKS the 3^rd.).

We have won 16 Polish Cups (Puchar Polski; 3 in the last three years), the most out of any other teams in Poland (behind us are: Górnik Zabrze (6), Lech Poznań (5), Wisła Krakow (4) and Zagłębie Sosnowiec (4)).

We have won 4 Polish SuperCups (Superpuchar Polski), and, ex aequo with Lech Poznań, we are the leaders in this category as well (behind us are: Amica Wronki (2), GKS Katowice (2) and Śląsk Wrocław (2)).

Anyways, enough with the statistics, since I actually want you to finish reading this, instead of taking a nap. Legia lost against Zawisza, and as I have mentioned above, (sh)it happens. However, with respect to this loss, a few things come to the forefront:

i). This was by far the worst match Legia has played this season (taking into account matches on all three fronts: Polish league, European cups, and the Polish cup). We did not have any creative ideas necessary to construct any proper play. We were lucky enough to have the free kick which Helio Pinto turned into a goal. The first one this season (out of 32) scored from outside the penalty box.

ii). Our second squad is not as great as we had thought. With around a dozen players recovering from injuries (Kuciak, Astiz, Cichocki, Broź, Łukasik, Efir, Mizgała, Augusto, Radović, Żyro, Kosecki, Mikita, Saganowski), half of whom are – theoretically – from the first squad, Legia did not have much to show for. Apparently, some players still have not reached ‘that’ level, or perhaps the (L)arge shoe is too big for them, and they should try a smaller fit elsewhere.

Of course, this was only the 14^th round (out of 30 in all) of the first half of the season (before all the points get cut in half, the league gets divided into the “relegation” group and “championship” group, and 7 additional matches are played, amounting to 37 league matches in all), and it is better for such a faulty match to occur now, than later, but the main task at hand should be to eliminate all of the erroneous decisions which the players made throughout yesterday’s match, before it is too late.

We possess the infrastructure, (some) players, and finances to dominate this league from the get go, but actions need to follow spoken (or written) words. Everybody makes mistakes, and thank fate for that, but it is vital that one should learn from them, in order to improve that which is faulty.

On a positive note, those who never disappoint did their best to support their team. 1750 fanatics were on tour last night, and taking into account that it was a Wednesday, then that is quite a good number (we received 1900 tickets).  

So, referring to what I began with, feelings are like shit, they happen. Sometimes, because of a loss, you feel shitty, and perhaps that’s the common denominator between the two. However, there is always a brighter side to something. Legia may not always win, and I have come to accept that quite a while ago. The thing is (and this is perhaps as old a cliché as football itself), it is most important to be with your team when they are losing, since any fool can tag along for the ride on the glorious wave of success. Of course, (here comes another cliché) nobody likes a loser. Nonetheless, it is most vital to be with your team when they lose. As the old marriage saying goes, “for better or worse”.